(This review is for the audio version.)

That's it with John Hart. I've had enough. His first book The King of Lies wasn't bad. In fact, it was pretty darn good for a first novel. His second Down River wasn't as good, but Hey! Sophomore books are always a bit of a disappointment. I next listened to--or rather tried to listen to--his fourth Iron House. I gave up on that one as the characters rapidly went from uninteresting to stereotypical to downright annoying.

I managed to finish this, his third book, but only because....well, I don't know why. It wasn't that the story/mystery was interesting--it wasn't. It wasn't that the characters were intriguing, they most definitely weren't. It wasn't that his pacing or descriptions or anything else was riveting..nothing was. If anything, I finished it out of a sense of not letting the author win more than anything else.

The kid who is the main characters is best described as a short adult. There's nothing kid-like about him. Nothing.

The mother is ridiculous. She's not even a decent portrayal of one of those druggy/alcoholic/slutty women who cry about how much they love their BABY when they haven't even spoken to or attempted to take care of their BABY for a year. Gimme a break! Someone call social services and get this over with!

The cop is a waste of ink. He does little but keep social services from taking the kid away. Why? Because he has the hots for the kid's mother...the druggy/alcoholic/slutty mother.

The best part of this book is the cover. It goes downhill real fast from there.