A High-Stakes Gamble

Detective Darlene O'Hara of the Seventh Precinct and her partner, Serge "K." Krekorian, set out to find Pena. But when the case turns high-profile and Homicide is called in, O'Hara—who has an eighteen-year-old son she saddled with the name Axl Rose O'Hara, and whose binge drinking exacerbates the massive chip on her shoulder—refuses to let go. Risking both her and K.'s careers, she defies NYPD brass and Homicide legend Patrick Lowry to secretly pursue her own investigation.

A Desperate Chase—and a Chilling Twist

Following a deadly trail that leads from NYU's ivory towers to Brooklyn tattoo parlors, from a skanky strip club to a whitewashed boutique run by a Korean madam, O'Hara closes in on her prey. But she has to move fast, because Lowry and the NYPD are about to make a devastating mistake that will leave the real killer free.

My Thoughts:

This book had been languishing in my TBR for the better part of 6 months and I was in the mood for a mystery, so I finally pulled it out.  The author previously co-authored books with James Patterson, so I was anticipating great things, like Andrew Gross had done on his own.  I was highly disappointed.  There was just something missing from this book, but I can't really put my finger on it.  It's a well thought out police procedural with a surprise ending, but it lacked the fast-paced twists and turns I am used to reading from Patterson.  I almost stopped reading it a few times, but after I got to about page 50 or so, it started to pick up a bit.

It's a decent mystery, but it just didn't do much for me.  There were parts of the story that really bothered me on a personal level which also added to my negative feelings about the book as a whole.  If you like cop books, you will probably enjoy this.  It was just a bit boring for me.