Rating: 
Summary: Unresolved suspense.
Review: I read both Night Sins and Guilty as Sin in the order they were written. Ms. Hoag spins an intricate web of mystery with twists and turns littering the path to the truth about who kidnapped a little boy in a Minnesota town. She also injects into the storyline romance fraught with secrets and obstacles for the main characters. Unfortunately Ms. Hoag does not answer all the questions that the plot poses. While the identity of the perpetrator of the crime is revealed, the books never delve into the whys and the hows. Instead, the reasons for masterminding a kidnapping and performing mind control on a child are summarized in a few vague pages. Since Ms. Hoag spent almost 1200 pages leading up the resolution she could have written a few more which explained the motives of the kidnappers.
Rating: 
Summary: Recommended
Review: I loved reading this book, it was a fitting sequel to 'Night Sins'. The characters really came across to me exactly the way the author had written them. My favourite was definitely Jay, I loved his somewhat jaded outlook, and the way he baited Ellen, yet he had his softer side as well. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because I think that you really have to read 'Night Sins' to keep from getting totally disoriented about what's going on and why. That's my only real complaint, so I am definitely recommending this book to romance and suspense readers for a thrill!
Rating: 
Summary: Like mysteries? Find another author
Review: This book is suspenseful as watching snail races and as exciting as waiting the leaves turn color in the fall. If you are an insomniac, try reading this to put you to sleep. If you like mysteries / thrillers / crime drama, find another author. This one is quite dry, boring, and unconvincing.
Rating:
Summary: Long-winded suspense tale
Review: I did not read the prequel to this book, but I did feel that the author gave enough information for me to understand the plot. Ellen North is given the thankless job of prosecuting a popular college professor who is accused of kidnapping a young boy in the community and then beating up a police woman. He is caught by the police chief, but his slick lawyer, who had betrayed Ellen romantically, works hard to prove him innocent. The characters in this book are painted as either good or evil and the plot winds and twists through about twice as many pages as is necessary. After reading this entry, I had no desire to go back and read another 600 pages to see what came before.
Rating:
Summary: "Guilty" of Many Sins, But Still a Fun Read
Review: "Guilty as Sin" is possibly more of a page-turner than it's soapy predecessor, "Night Sins." There are so many twists and surprises that its a wonder they can all be contained in a mere 606 pages (paperback edition). In fact, this time out, the story of the prosecution of a kidnapper who may or may not be guilty reaches a near histrionic level, with murders, car chases, exploding cars and, of course, romantic intrigue. Thankfully, Hoag doesn't spend quite as much time on romantic subplots as she did in "Night Sins." Actually, given that apparently almost every man in Deer Lake, Minnesota, is either a slimy, self-absorbed male chauvinist pig (Judge Grabko, Paul Kirkwood, hot-shot defense attorney Tony Costello--OK, he's an import from Minneapolis, but still...) or ineffectual weenie (County Attorney Rudy Stovich, a few sheriff's deputies), its a wonder the women there bother with the opposite sex at all. That's why Hoag has to have a visitor like true crime author Jay Butler Brooks, whose motives are as suspect as his frequent references to an Uncle Hooter. When he goes after Assistant County Attorney Ellen North, the fact that he wants to get into her pants more than into her filing cabinet is supposed to illustrate how he's really an honorable man. In a mating ritual usually only encountered in movies or on TV, he sets about winning Ms. North's heart by alternately scaring her or by being relentlessly irritating. Also like in movies or on TV, this tactic works.Like "Night Sins," Hoag uses a broad brush to paint "Guilty as Sin." There is much exposition about the evil lurking in this innocent little town, about how kidnapping and murdering people is evil (in case you didn't know) and how all this evil has changed lives forever. And when it comes to portraying the media--well, I think the Bush administration would paint a more flattering picture of reporters than Hoag does in either of her "Sin" novels. Apparently news-gathering is evil, too. Nevertheless, for sheer entertainment value, I enjoyed "Guilty as Sin." Hoag is a gifted storyteller and I was glad to lose sleep staying up to read "just one more chapter" of her engrossing, if a bit flawed, suspense novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Big letdown
Review: I think Hoag's writing is fairly tight and she keeps the suspense moving along but the reading was simply not worth the final ending. One small cliched twist at the end does not justify over a thousand pages of reading (Between Night Sins and Guilty as Sin). The shame of it is that there were so many other interesting aspects of the story that could have been wrapped up but were not (vague here so as not to spoil): the role of other significant characters and leads that were developed throughout that led nowhere or were left unexplained. And how did these brilliant perpetrators become so clutzy in the end? On a second point, I don't object to the mixing of romance and thriller but this romance was a copycat of Night Sins with different characters: complete waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Read only after "Night Sins" for full effect.
Review: When I read "Night Sins" it ended practically in the middle of a thought - very obviously (thank goodness) a sequel was planned. "Guilty" continues the story developed in the first book and does a good job of following through on the mystery. While I liked the first book better (personal preference, not quality of writing) "Guilty" keeps the suspense going and wraps up the storyline with a totally unexpected ending. Don't try reading this book on it's own - you'd be missing the intensity & mystery developed in the first book.
Rating:
Summary: good mystery, awful romance
Review: I've read many of Tami Hoag's books in the past and have always enjoyed them. This one, however, could have used a good dose of editing (as other reviewers have commented). While the mystery of the kidnapping and subsequent murder is well done, the romance between protagonist Ellen North and crime writer Jay Butler Brooks is really awful. The dialogue and general scenes between them were so poorly written as to be laughable, and that part of the story just didn't seem remotely credible. Hoag has done much better in the past, and I hope she'll get back on track for future efforts.
Rating:
Summary: Too Many words
Review: The follow up To Night Sins has a lot of words and little action. The suspect is in jail awaiting a trail and is proclaiming his innocence. When a second abduction occurs it seems as he may be one criminal who is innocence of the crimes accused. The police
department and the FBI agencies keep working on the theory there are two criminals working together. They even try to pin the crimes on the father of the first child and Hoag does a great job of taking up space proving this theory. I wanted more action that would of kept me reading late until the night, sadly I skimmed huge sections of this book waiting for her to get back on track. The ending left me unsatisfied as the whodunit didn't support the evidence trail throughout this book.
Rating:
Summary: Guilty as Sin
Review: Great sequel to a great prequel! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it in four sittings. The characters are believeable (where are you Jay when I need you?) and although I would have liked Tami to continue the theme of Mitch and Megan more than she did, overall thought this a thoroughly entertaining book.
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