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Blood Relations
When a seventeen-year-old model claims she was raped in the VIP room of a South Beach nightclub by three high-profile men, it's up to Sam Hagen, head of Major Crimes for Dade County, to decide if they should be put on trial. Hagen's ambition to become the next state attorney outweighs his reluctance to be drawn back into the moral twilight of South Beach, where his own teenage son died the year before.
Hagen's investigation of the case only exacerbates his wife's ongoing grief over their son's death, broadening the gulf between them and driving him into the arms of a woman from his past. When a key witness is found brutally murdered, Hagen is swept into a storm of suspicion that leads, in a shocking twist, back to his own shattered family.
Hagen's investigation of the case only exacerbates his wife's ongoing grief over their son's death, broadening the gulf between them and driving him into the arms of a woman from his past. When a key witness is found brutally murdered, Hagen is swept into a storm of suspicion that leads, in a shocking twist, back to his own shattered family.
447 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1996
20 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Parker
54 books60 followersBarbara Parker was an American mystery writer. She wrote 12 novels, the first of which, Suspicion of Innocence, was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first mystery novel by an American author. Parker was on the national board of the Mystery Writers of America and was the chair of its membership committee for two years.
Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 27, 2015
I would like to thank Open Road Media and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
The setting for this novel is the glitzy South Beach area, where all the models and high rollers like to come out to play at night. This is where the novel begins, a young model is invited to a high profile party at a club by her on and off again drug dealing boyfriend. He gives her some pills and leads her up to the VIP lounge. Ali the young model is just in awe of the people that she is surrounded by. The next thing she remembers is that she is being gang-raped by three men in the room it's pretty brutal and when she tries to fight back she's tossed out of the club like garbage. Two of the men are pretty prominent players in the area. Her friend, Catelyn takes her to the hospital where she is treated and notify the police to what has happened.
The new State Attorney doesn't want to take the case because of the players involved and hands it off to one of one of his prosecutors, Sam Hagen who has been in Felony crimes for eighteen years and knows his way around a courtroom. The State Attorney is convinced that this will amount to nothing that Ali, the victim will realize that it's best to keep quite and the charges against these men will go away. But it only gets bigger until the case blows up in everyone's face.
Ms. Parker's books have a lot of characters each with their own POV. But they are all come together seamlessly. She really goes into detail regarding the court system and how it works. The many cases that the prosecutors are trying at once, she leaves out no details, but they aren't boring at all so you're not stuck in a slow rut with her novels. I think her novels stand out because of the time she spent in the Florida State Attorney's office as a prosecutor. She knows her stuff and that's one of the reasons her novels are so good because she writes about what she knows. Her novels are gritty, believable and she is missed.
This novel was written in the 90's so its fun to go back into time when things weren't so convenient.
But one thing for sure Ms. Parker's writing style is timeless.
The setting for this novel is the glitzy South Beach area, where all the models and high rollers like to come out to play at night. This is where the novel begins, a young model is invited to a high profile party at a club by her on and off again drug dealing boyfriend. He gives her some pills and leads her up to the VIP lounge. Ali the young model is just in awe of the people that she is surrounded by. The next thing she remembers is that she is being gang-raped by three men in the room it's pretty brutal and when she tries to fight back she's tossed out of the club like garbage. Two of the men are pretty prominent players in the area. Her friend, Catelyn takes her to the hospital where she is treated and notify the police to what has happened.
The new State Attorney doesn't want to take the case because of the players involved and hands it off to one of one of his prosecutors, Sam Hagen who has been in Felony crimes for eighteen years and knows his way around a courtroom. The State Attorney is convinced that this will amount to nothing that Ali, the victim will realize that it's best to keep quite and the charges against these men will go away. But it only gets bigger until the case blows up in everyone's face.
Ms. Parker's books have a lot of characters each with their own POV. But they are all come together seamlessly. She really goes into detail regarding the court system and how it works. The many cases that the prosecutors are trying at once, she leaves out no details, but they aren't boring at all so you're not stuck in a slow rut with her novels. I think her novels stand out because of the time she spent in the Florida State Attorney's office as a prosecutor. She knows her stuff and that's one of the reasons her novels are so good because she writes about what she knows. Her novels are gritty, believable and she is missed.
This novel was written in the 90's so its fun to go back into time when things weren't so convenient.
But one thing for sure Ms. Parker's writing style is timeless.
December 17, 2018
Та значи бивша прокурорка (ака авторката) решава да издаде няколко розови романа по темата. Този според мен не е от сполучливите.
Има ужасно много правни "неща", от които аз нито се интересувам, нито имам квалификацията да разбера. Като сложим и превода, който едва ли е правен от филолог-правист, ето ви един неприятен момент.
Развръзката я биваше, затова и си слагам третата звездичка.
Има ужасно много правни "неща", от които аз нито се интересувам, нито имам квалификацията да разбера. Като сложим и превода, който едва ли е правен от филолог-правист, ето ви един неприятен момент.
Развръзката я биваше, затова и си слагам третата звездичка.
June 15, 2014
I've read Barbara Parker before and do enjoy her books. One thing, she has a lot of characters and a lot of POV's. Also she does a lot of narrative with scenery and background. You can basically tell she's one the "old time" writers because of her writing style. Most books today don't delve as deeply as she does.
This book deals with multiple murders, a suicide, adultery, politics, drugs and alcohol. The book moved fairly quickly. It was fairly simple to guess the culprit, but not all of the reasoning being the killings.
Not edge of your seat, but good police procedural.
Curse words and sexual situations for those opposed to that.
This book deals with multiple murders, a suicide, adultery, politics, drugs and alcohol. The book moved fairly quickly. It was fairly simple to guess the culprit, but not all of the reasoning being the killings.
Not edge of your seat, but good police procedural.
Curse words and sexual situations for those opposed to that.
July 21, 2008
I just finished this book last night. I have never read any books by Barbara Parker and I enjoyed her writing. This book was so full of drama. A little over the top in killings and messed up people! It has an affair with a married man and they try to make it better by ending the book finding out that his wife is a serial killer. I would not recommend this book to others because of the adultery and other gruesome scenes in the book. I do have to point out that it was a fast paced, exciting read though.
Read
October 16, 2008M Par
March 10, 2013
Cops, drugs, models and murder in South Beach.
September 20, 2013
This book took awhile to get into as there were so many characters introduced in the first few chapters. However, as I read more of the book, it was a very good mystery.
Read
August 29, 2013Read 9/96
April 15, 2016
Very slow read. Surprise ending!
April 3, 2016
excellent, not predictable
April 27, 2016
Not very good murder mystery. fashion models and Miami.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews