Until Judgment Day

Rating:
Summary: exciting police procedural
Review: After all their troubles, both professional and personal, District Attorney Kathryn Mackay and Santa Rita County Sheriff David Ganz are happily married. On the day before Thanksgiving Dave sustains a nasty head injury when pursuing a van that might have been used in a robbery homicide case. He refuses to stay in the hospital when he regains consciousness even though two doctors and his wife plead with him to take a MRI. Kathryn drops the matter because she is trying to cope with her own medical problem of a high-risk pregnancy.

While Dave still recovers, he investigates the murder of a priest. When a second priest is murdered, police begin to think they have a serial killer on their hands. Their theory is confirmed when another priest is killed even though the MO's are different. The police want the victims' personnel records to see if there is a link between the three but the bishop refuses and ends up in jail for contempt. When a fourth priest is gunned down, he gives the information they need which eventually leads to the police laying a trap for a killer who knows just how the police operate.

UNTIL JUDGMENT DAY is an exciting police procedural that also contains a beautiful and haunting relationship starring two protagonists who have a strong marriage due to the traumas and tragedies they survived. David loves Kathryn's daughter so much he plans to adopt her and Emma loves Dave as much as she did her biological father. The mystery is well executed but readers should be prepared for a shocking ending. Christine McGuire has written another enthralling installment in her best selling series.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: These books are great, but...
Review: I have enjoyed this author from the very first book. The characters are well written and engaging and the stories draw you right in. However, after reading the last two in the series, I can't help but wonder if the author dislikes the main character. I am not sure whether I will read the next book or not.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have read every book in the series and have enjoyed them all. However, this one stands above the others. A very interesting story with an unexpected twist. Ms. McGuire has taken a risk with this twist, but it keeps the reader involved. I am curious to see where this series goes from here.

By the way, this is a must read book.

Rating:
Summary: Keeps Getting Better and Better
Review: I have read every book in the series and have enjoyed them all. However, this one stands above the others. A very interesting story with an unexpected twist. Ms. McGuire has taken a risk with this twist, but it keeps the reader involved. I am curious to see where this series goes from here.

By the way, this is a must read book.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was very disappointed in this installment of the series which, to me, was predictable from the first chapter.

Dave and Kathryn's personal issues began overshadowing the priest killings less than halfway into the book, which just led up to what was the inevitable ending. Since I've enjoyed this series so much since the beginning, I was disappointed to find that there was no twist or turn and that this is the direction the author chose to go.

Add in all the graphic lust and sex, and it wasn't at all what one usually expects from this series.

Rating:
Summary: BEST EVER
Review: I've read all of Ms McGuire's books & her latest is her best so far. It's exciting & yet highly emotional. This book is a definite keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Ineffective and Capricious
Review: SUMMARY: District Attorney Kathryn Mackay and her husband David, the local sherriff, are on the trail of a serial killer stalking the local diocese's priests. Each time the murderer strikes, the M.O. changes, and there is no definitive link between the victims, leaving investigators to wonder if these heinous murders are the work of a group or a single person, and desperate to discover the assignation of victimology, in order to ward off the next murder.

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: Good characterization, fast pace, and crisp dialogue move this story along nicely.

WHY YOU WON'T: The personal issues between the married protagonists overwhelm the main focus of the work, which is the serial murders. The topic of sexual abuse in the Catholic church, while trendy, is poorly captured and pejorative in this novel, which may leave you feeling cold.

SUMMARY: I enjoyed the writer's style, and would consider reading another novel in this series, but would hope the plot is better laid out and more integrated, and definitely less predictable.

Rating:
Summary: Ineffective and Capricious
Review: SUMMARY: District Attorney Kathryn Mackay and her husband David, the local sherriff, are on the trail of a serial killer stalking the local diocese's priests. Each time the murderer strikes, the M.O. changes, and there is no definitive link between the victims, leaving investigators to wonder if these heinous murders are the work of a group or a single person, and desperate to discover the assignation of victimology, in order to ward off the next murder.

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: Good characterization, fast pace, and crisp dialogue move this story along nicely.

WHY YOU WON'T: The personal issues between the married protagonists overwhelm the main focus of the work, which is the serial murders. The topic of sexual abuse in the Catholic church, while trendy, is poorly captured and pejorative in this novel, which may leave you feeling cold.

SUMMARY: I enjoyed the writer's style, and would consider reading another novel in this series, but would hope the plot is better laid out and more integrated, and definitely less predictable.