Question Q

[Jonetta]

Any other topics you’d like to discuss? Your overall opinion of the story?

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

This wasn't my favourite in the series. At times the cases seemed a bit confusing and convoluted. And I really didn't like the outcome of the Tricia part of the story. It would have been more effective and realistic if Tracy's investigation had led to Nick being convicted in a court of law. Totally unbelievable that Tricia would have been able to get away with that set up. I did like the interactions between Tracy and Kim. Even though they both have their issues with each other it did show if they were both willing to bend a little they might even move towards friendship.

And the other case was also a bit out there. The traumatised cousin killing those witnesses in horrible ways mirroring the original murder case just to get close to Leanne to find out where Boy X was. Seemed a lot of unnecessary murder to get no result.

But even though the cases had their problems, I still enjoy Kim and her team. 3.5 stars .

[Sharon]

I loved the story, the characters, and the murder mystery. Marsons is developing Tracy into a very interesting character. I love the way she covertly helps the police. I wasn't a big fan of Tracy in the beginning of the series, but she is becoming a favorite.

The central case is very interesting. I'm sure there is a fine line the witness protection needs to walk. It must be a tough balancing act when someone is in the system. The police need to evaluate each situation and how much information they can share.

The murders were gruesome. It made me think that every method used was a punishment for crimes in previous centuries. I wonder how the punishments were justified. It gave me chills.

[Robin]

Overall, I thought it was a great book that made me stay up late to keep reading. I was sure that Leanne had something to do with the murders. She was sitting in on Kim's investigation and knew their every move. Then she would disappear for hours and I was sure she was the killer. I was actually surprised when she wasn't the killer.

And, I loved the twist at the end concerning Trisha. Now I don't know how someone could pull that off without help from someone else to get them out of town and to a hospital. You just don't cut off your arm and keep on going about your business.

[Robin]

I do have a question. Why did the real Liam (who we thought was Jacob Powell) commit suicide? He was suspicious of the real Jacob's behavior at school and seemed to be afraid of him. If I remember correctly, they got the real Jacob's address and found the computer with child images. Liam (fake Jake) could have eventually got out of that mess. I was very confused. Was it just because he was depressed?

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Robin wrote: "I do have a question. Why did the real Liam (who we thought was Jacob Powell) commit suicide? He was suspicious of the real Jacob's behavior at school and seemed to be afraid of him. If I remember ..."

I agree Robin. I think this was just thrown in as a red herring. Wasn't it mentioned at the end by the Head Teacher that Liam (The real one) had depression. I think his suicide wasn't really linked to what had happened, was it? Just thrown in there by AM to muddy the waters.

And I also agree about Trisha. How could a pregnant woman, cut off her arm, and stage what looked like a murder then disappear without a trace. A bit far fetched for me.

[Lynn]

I agree that the cutting off of the arm was a bit far fetched and I was also wondering about the attempted suicide of Liam too, but neither of these things bothered me. What did bother me was the gruesome nature of the murder. It did add a layer of interest to the story, but it wasn't necessary. However, none of that made me like the story any less.

I'm curious - are we going to discuss next month? I have received my copy and plan on reading it anyway.

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Lynn wrote: "I agree that the cutting off of the arm was a bit far fetched and I was also wondering about the attempted suicide of Liam too, but neither of these things didn't bother me. What did bother me was ..."

I think we are, Lynn. I've ordered my copy from the library.

[Lynn]

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I agree that the cutting off of the arm was a bit far fetched and I was also wondering about the attempted suicide of Liam too, but neither of these things didn't bother me. What did b..."

🥳

[Sharon]

Liam killed himself because of his on going problems with depression. I do believe he was suspicious of Jacob, but I didn't get that had anything to do with his death.

We are told that Trisha study all the people who cut off a limb to save their life. I'm sure she had a tourniquet on hand. To me, Trisha isn't any different than the folks trapped and needed to self-amputate to live. Some people say that these cases of self amputation show the extremes that a human can go to survive. Also, there are two men in her room during the first narration. They took her cell and broke it. That is why I thought that she was in a protection service of some kind.

I have Stolen Ones too. I believe Jonetta added it to the list when the release was announced.

[Lynn]

This isn't about this book, but I started reading Angela Marson's If Only, but unfortunately, it was a DNF. I discovered early in the book that one of the main characters is sleeping with a married man. It would be different if she just found out, but this character has known for awhile and is trying to lure him away from his wife. I was so disappointed, but I just couldn't get past the cheating.

[Sharon]

Lynn wrote: "This isn't about this book, but I started reading Angela Marson's If Only, but unfortunately, it was a DNF. I discovered early in the book that one of the main characters is sleeping with a married..."

I have a problem with cheating books too. Good to know.

[Jonetta]

Yes, the next book is on the schedule for next month.

Lynn, thanks for the warning. Cheating is one of my most hated tropes.

[Jonetta]

If Trisha hadn’t gotten pregnant, her amputating her arm would have been over the top for me. There are a lot of abused women in prison for murdering their abusers so this was in the realm of possibility.

The gruesome aspects of the murders only felt acceptable to me when they turned up as strong clues. Jacob was mirroring what was done to his cousin by Boy X.

I have a harder time accepting Jacob having the capacity to do something this twisted to innocent people. I suspect he fell through the cracks when she was murdered and no one paid attention to his trauma or knew he had seen the crime scene photos. Still…

I thought this a great story, too. At some point I figured out Tracy’s investigation had nothing to do with Kim’s, which made me happy. They were two different mysteries and I loved that Tracy shed a light on Trisha’s trauma, wiping out Nick’s campaign as a good guy. I’m still troubled that he didn’t murder her, though.

[Lauren]

Marsons has an engaging writing style, and I love the recurring cast of Kim, her team and Frost, who is growing on me.

That said, I agree with others that the plots in this one are problematic. There are just too many incongruent points and leaps in logic. I cannot see Jacob killing innocent people in such a heinous manner given what happened to his cousin.

Regarding the crimes themselves, it reminded me of one of Lisa Jackson's books where the victims were being killed in pairs - saints and sinners. The saints were killed in accordance with the method of death used on female saints in medieval times. *shudder*