Blackwater Tango

Rating:
Summary: Blackwater Tango
Review: As a fellow who's pushed a lot of fiction at the masses over the years, I really enjoy a good psychological thriller. And Blackwater Tango delivers all that one expects from the genre, including lots of surprises, complexity of plot, and a riproaring ending that leaves one on the edge of his chair. Its protagonist is a sympathetic character, one imbued with uncommon grit but with just enough vulnerability and human frailty to make her three dimensional.
Gena Hollender is a woman with a vicious beast riding within her, the terrible but veiled memory of capture and torture that requires a good exorcism. A working psychologist and ex-FBI profiler, Gena has intimate knowledge of one particularly nasty serial killer, psychologist turned killer Victor Trikonis. Victor, who has long been the object of an FBI manhunt, is into the cruel mindbending of his helpless victims, all young women whom he kidnaps, tortures, and later discards with a farewell slash across the throat and an ignominious display of the remains.
His latest victim has shown up naked from the waist down in a lobster trap at the bottom a harbor in Maine. This sort of ghoulish display is Victor's trademark and it sends Gena, who lives in Manhattan, to Maine on the hunt for her nemesis, aided by two ex-compatriots, one a cop, the other a high ranking FBI agent and Gena's ex-lover.
While hunting for Victor, whose victims begin to surface again, Gena becomes increasingly aware that whether she's in Manhattan, enjoying the close friendship of her elderly neighbor, or is tramping around the cold topography of Maine, she is being stalked by the shadowy Victor, who has some undefined and unfinished business with her.
Thus we are always kept in suspense, right up to the sizzling and surprising climax.
A splendid read, a page turner.

Rating:
Summary: Intrigue, romance and the unknown!
Review: Blackwater Tango flows with intrigue, romance and deliciously dark journeys into the unknown! Intricate detail and plausible character development add to the plot's suspense and contribute to the reader's emotional involvement.We feel as though we are walking in the well heeled shoes of Gena Hollender, the savvy yet vulnerable psychological profiler. Each time she looks over her shoulder, wrestles with her past and matters of the heart, or faces the present, we care about her fate.Remaining bound to her every turn, we sense the lurking evil as well as her determination to conquer it. A myriad of other fascinating characters adds to the depth and luscious complexity of this story. Each description carries the reader to the desolate, eerie, yet breathtaking coast of New England in winter. Throughout this thriller, the smell of the salty sea, the cold of the frigid ocean,and the gloomy silence of the fog as it creeps across the water to the mountains are experienced with a chilling sense of reality.
Blackwater Tango is a must for both reading and gift giving. Let us hope that the author will bring Gena back someday in another tingling adventure!

Rating:
Summary: A creepy thrill ride!!!
Review: Blackwater Tango lives up to everything it promises, but one thing in particular really stuck out for me-this is a true, bona fide psychological thriller. It has all the typical plot twists and surprises to make it a page-turner, but the psychological aspect of the story is really what left me thinking about it after it ended. We end up witnessing an interior struggle and transformation of Gena Hollender, the smart but tormented FBI profiler. The fact that the killer is a brilliant (yet twisted) psychologist really adds to the spice and intrigue. Great characterization, lots of secrets, it reads with a fast pace and has excellant character developement. A few great surprises at the end, too. Highly recommended!!

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Psychological Thriller
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I'm a big fan of books with female protagonists, and found Gena Holender, a psychologist who is a criminal profiler working on a serial murder case in Maine, to be a unique and fascinating character. I hope Polisar considers doing a series with her. Gena's web of relationships, to the lead detective, her former boss (an FBI attorney) and the killer himself draw you into the mystery. Gena is a multi-dimensional character, and the integration of her life in New York City, her personal life (including her romantic relationships with both the detective and her former boss) and her elderly neighbor into the plot line is cleverly done.

The book has an authentic ring to it, and convincingly brings you to understand the psychology behind criminal profiling, and how the different branches of law enforcement interact. It sounds like the author has some background in the criminal justice field. Victor Trikonis, the serial killer, and the nature of his crimes, offers a fresh twist on the definition of a serial killer. He too is a psychologist, who captures and studies his victims, young girls, before killing them, slitting their throats and removing their clothes from the waist down. That's his signature. The psychologial profiling, and psychological interplay of the characters is a compelling strength in Polisar's writing.

There's some clever plot twists as things unfold. It's nice to see a Hingham born writer make good. According to her web page, Lisa now lives in New Mexico, but she does a great job catching the ambience of Maine. I'm looking forward to her next book.

Rating:
Summary: Horrific and frightening in its portrayal of cruelty
Review: Lisa Polisar's Blackwater Tango is a chilling and suspenseful novel about the hunt for a brilliant yet twisted psychologist turned serial killer. Horrific and frightening in its portrayal of cruelty and the erosion of sanity, Blackwater Tango is a riveting read of one woman's determination to find her personal nemesis and nightmare before it claims her life as its next victim.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping page turner
Review: The heroine, Gena Hollander, once a profiler and now leading a quiet life as a psychologist, reluctantly agrees to help in the search for a serial killer--a killer that she knows far too much about. Her agreement takes her back to a place she wanted to forget--and relationships she didn't want to renew.

The novel is full of twists and turns, plenty of suspense, intriguing characters, and several surprises--the kind of book you want to read through to the end without stopping.

Rating:
Summary: Blackwater Tango
Review: This book has a way of bringing you along not only to see what is going to happen next, but also because Ms. Polisar has such a knack for getting into the heads of her characters. Her insight into human behavior and motivation is both refreshing and addicting. It is easy to see that she speaks from the heart and allows the language to flow.
In Blackwater Tango, we are introduced to a number of characters and are forced to decide who will be the most important. Some are more obvious than others, but all are colorful and interesting, even if only for their understated but suspicious appearance in the plot.
Lisa has a masterful way of tying it all together into one fabulous read leaving you feeling lost at the prospect of not having it to pick up and read more of. We can only hope that she continues to produce her mysteries with her refreshing and classy style, giving the mystery novel a new and exciting level of sophistication.