A Thin Dark Line

Rating:
Summary: Suspense at it's Best
Review: A Thin Dark Line returns to the French Triangle, the setting of two earlier books, Lucky's Lady and Cry Wolf. Those of you who have not already read Cry Wolf may want to read it before reading Thin Dark Line as the killer and the victims in Cry Wolf are revealed in Thin Dark Line.

A few years after the Bayou Strangler's reign of terror is ended, Bayou Breaux again terrorized by a killer. After a prominent businesswoman's mutilated body is found, her accused stalker is investigated and arrested for the murder. Charges of corruption in the Sheriff's Office, tainted evidence, and a legal technicality set Marcus Renard free. Renard now focuses his obsession on Sheriff's Deputy Annie Broussard, the officer who found the body. Broussard feels an obligation to the murdered woman, and to the woman's child, to find and punish her killer.

Deciding to use Renard's obsession to get close enough to him to prove his guilt, Annie is caught in a dangerous crossfire. Her only ally is Detective Nick Fourcade, a rogue cop with a reputation of corruption and violence. Annie can't be sure if Fourcade is helping her or using her, since it was his investigation, his evidence, and his mistake that allowed a brutal murderer go free. Fourcade's only hope of redeeming himself and his reputation is in the hands of the woman most likely to die next.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and sultry
Review: Hey, chere', Tami Hoag has a new book. "A THIN DARK LINE" returns to the French Triangle, the setting of two earlier books, "Lucky's Lady" and "Cry Wolf". As a matter of fact, you might want to ready "Cry Wolf" first, as "A Think Dark Line" reveals both the killer and victims in "Cry Wolf".

A few years after the Bayou Strangler's reign of terror is ended, Bayou Breaux is once again terrorized by a killer. After a prominent businesswoman's mutilated body is found, her accused stalker is investigated and arrested for the murder. Charges of corruption in the Sheriff's Office, tainted evidence, and a legal technicality set Marcus Renard free. Renard now focuses his obsession on Sheriff's Deputy Annie Broussard, the officer who found the body. Broussard feels an obligation to the murdered woman, and to the woman's child, to find and punish her killer. Standing in her way is her own department. Deciding to use Renard's obsession to get close enough to him to prove his guilt, Annie is caught in a dangerous crossfire. Her only ally is Detective Nick Fourcade, a rogue cop with a reputation of corruption and violence. Annie can't be sure if Fourcade is helping her or using her, since it was his investigation, his evidence, and his screwup that let a brutal murderer go free. And Fourcade's only hope of redeeming himself and his reputation is in the hands of the woman most likely to die next.
Nina M.

Rating:
Summary: a good read for the beach
Review: In a nutshell - this is a good and easy read.

The pacing seems to flow rather well, and I hardly noticed the 600 pages. I plan on reading more of Hoag's writing, as it's a nice escape that you can pick up at any point.

Having never been to Louisiana, I can't testify to whether or not she adequately describes the area, but nonetheless, there is an unmistakable atmosphere in her descriptions of the people, the French and Cajun influences, and the attitudes of the town.

My one complaint is that in 600 pages, there could have been a little more in character development. There were characters that were seemingly one-note (see: Stokes as the perfect example of a "male jerk stereotype") and could have had a little more to them. Even Nick, one of the lead characters, seemed to be overly mysterious, in the sense that we know he's an angry withdrawn man who doesn't trust many people and has little time for BS....but he doesn't really get fleshed out the way he could have been in 600 pages of story.

But this is a minor complaint. It's not something that takes a considerable amount of enjoyment OUT of the book, just something that I was hoping would be done a little more than it was.

It's good and suspensefull, had my guessing until the final few chapters and made me wonder who to trust throughout the story. If this is your thing, I recommend with thumbs up.

Rating:
Summary: good
Review: The story takes place in Louisiana. A suspected murderer is set free because there is an accusation of evidence tampering by the cop who arrested him. The cop is later found beating the suspect by a fellow officer, Annie. Annie places Nick, the cop, under arrest as she feels duty bound to follow the law, but is harassed by her fellow officers. She and Nick end up looking into the case together in an uneasy and suspicious alliance. She finds herself being stalked in frightening circumstances. Is it the killer?