Gallery Of The Dead

My rating: * * *

Goodreads Description

`Thirty-seven years in the force, and if I was allowed to choose just one thing to erase from my mind, what's inside that room would be it.'

That's what a LAPD Lieutenant tells Detectives Hunter and Garcia of the Ultra Violent Crimes Unit as they arrive at one of the most shocking crime scenes they have ever attended. In a completely unexpected turn of events, the detectives find themselves joining forces with the FBI to track down a serial killer whose hunting ground sees no borders; a psychopath who loves what he does because to him murder is much more than just killing - it's an art form. Welcome to The Gallery of the Dead.

My Review

The truth of the matter is that I should have liked this book more than I did - it had a crafty serial killer, no clear suspects, plenty of mystery, bodies that didn't seem to be linked in any way, an unusual signature left by the killer - but there was something about the author's writing style that just didn't work for me.

The plot was great, and as I mentioned above, on paper there was lots to like about this novel, but I found the book to be a tad mundane. I've never read a Chris Carter book before and so I was pretty geared up for this one but by the time I finished it, I felt pretty let down by the writing. I couldn't help but feel that the author completely missed the "show and don't tell" aspect of creative writing. There were so many places in this book where the author would tell the reader something, or would tell us what happened, almost lecturing to us in a way, rather than showing us with clever, descriptive writing. When you "show" the reader what is happening, you draw them in to the story, and they feel invested. But because the writing never did this, I never felt any real bond with Hunter, or with any of the other characters for that matter.

I also feel that I didn't learn anything about the man behind the name. I never got to know Hunter, to understand him, his background, his thoughts, and why he felt or acted as he did. He seemed sterile to me. There was nothing about him that made me feel attached to him, and as such, I didn't really care one way or the other what happened to him. I didn't like that. It made Hunter bland and uninteresting. He's clearly smart, and he clearly has a knack for detective work, but it ends there. I never got to know the man in any way.

Unfortunately, I also found the dialogue to be slightly off. There were a number of occasions where I'd think to myself that the dialogue just seemed staid, like people don't actually speak to each other that way, let alone senior adult detectives. I might also mention that there were serious POV (point of view) issues in this book. Each chapter, rather than being written from a specific character's POV, jumped between different POV's every few lines. This was very noticeable to me, and made for difficult reading, especially in the first half of the book.

On the positive side, and my reason for awarding 3 stars when it may seem like I was going to award less, is that I did like the story and the plot. I'm a massive fan of serial killer stories, and this serial killer had me totally stumped. I couldn't work out what he was getting at with his signature, I couldn't understand how he chose his victims, and overall I was intrigued by him. There was also a fairly good twist towards the end of the book which jumped out and knocked me around a bit. For that reason I felt that the book deserved 3 stars.

This book has an average rating of 4.47 on Goodreads, which is an impressive number and so it may be that you'll love it. For me though, the writing missed the mark. I don't think I'll be rushing off to read any more by this author.

My Rating: * * *

Publication Date: March 2018 (South Africa)

Genre: Crime Thriller / Police Procedural

Format: Trade Paperback

Source: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Chris Carter and Jonathan Ball SA for my review copy.