Another good book from Barton. Not utterly fantastic five-star worthy, but a solid 4-star. Which is typical of her books for me. I usually enjoy them quite a bit, but they tend to be lacking...something...to give them that extra kick to make them really great.

To read this book, you really have to have read Barton's previous book, The Dying Game. You'll end up a bit lost if you don't. The plots are fairly heavily intertwined. Which relates to one of the minor problems I had with the book.

Despite the fact that timeline wise there is a year's space between the two books (plots), the beginning of The Murder Game has this feel as if I'd just turned the page from one book to the next. Barton jumps right into the new book full force. I ended up feeling a little disconnected from the storyline, but more so the characters. I read The Dying Game months and months ago so the details had faded quite a bit. Then this book throws you right into the plot and characters and I found myself stopping and trying to refresh my memory on the last book. A slower start to the book would have been better, in my opinion, with more introduction to the characters.

I think because of what I mentioned above, it wasn't until about 150-200 pages into the book that I really started to feel the Griffin/Nicole relationship and connect with the main characters. For a little while in the beginning, Nic annoyed me quite a bit with her attitude, but once I got into the book more, I liked her. And once the romantic angle picked up, I enjoyed it. Griff and Nic make an interesting couple.

Plot-wise...no complaints. I don't think the plot is quite as intense as the previous book, but it was still good. And creepy. The chase scenes were well done really engaging. One thing I didn't quite like, though, was how much Barton personalized the soon-to-be victims. There was one woman who Barton played up as a loving wife and mother, made us like her...then snuffed her out. And it was rather depressing. I just didn't think it was necessary to personalize them as much as Barton did. But that's a personal preference.

The most disappointing aspect of the book for me was how Barton dealt with Griffin's mysterious past and his "missing" ten years. I wanted more. She gives the basic details of where he was and what happened, and then a deeper detail here and there in short flashbacks, but it wasn't enough for me. I finished the book, and was like 'that's all I get?' His missing past has been this big thing, and I just expected a deeper explanation, more details. They didn't come. So I was disappointed in that aspect.

Overall, though, a good read. I wasn't bored at any point and I wanted to keep reading even when I was tired. If a couple of things had been done differently, it would have been a great book for me.