Books 85-86: The 1st Victim and The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag
Book 85: The First Victim (Kovac/Liska #3.5).
Author: Tami Hoag, 2013.
Genre: Police Procedural. Crime Fiction. Serial Murders.
Other Details: ebook. 62 pages.
New Years Day is a time for new beginnings, but Minneapolis homicide detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are focused on endings: specifically, the tragic end of their latest murder victim, an unidentified young woman. Kovac and Liska are determined to do the girl the small justice of returning her body to her family as they investigate her case, but it is no simple task matching the broken corpse to any of the scores of missing persons reports, especially when no one seems to be looking for her.
Meanwhile, recent widow Jeannie Reiser is frantic when she is unable to get in touch with her daughter. And her desperate attempts to get the police to believe her child is in trouble lead her closer and closer to the New Year's Doe, and to an evil even Kovac and Liska may be unable to stop. - synopsis from UK publisher's website.
These days quite a few writers are releasing free or low cost short stories/teasers ahead of their latest book. In this case the ebook also served as an introduction to the detectives for anyone new to the series as well as setting up some back story for the next novel in the series. The 1st Victim turned out to be quite a poignant story of a mother trying to get the police to take the disappearance of her 18-year old daughter seriously while elsewhere police are seeking to identify a Jane Doe.
The final short chapter was a major revelation; dramatic music would have accompanied it if it was a TV episode. Anyway, having read that I moved on to read 'The 9th Girl' straight away. The theme of a serial murderer nicknamed 'Doc Holiday' due to his timing of murders on holidays seemed perfect fare for a Bank Holiday weekend for a crime buff.
Book 86: The 9th Girl (Kovac/Liska #4).
Author: Tami Hoag, 2013.
Genre: Police Procedural. Crime Fiction. Serial Murders.
Other Details: Paperback. 416 pages.
As Detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska stand over the brutally disfigured remains of an adolescent girl in the early hours of New Year's Day, they suspect they've stumbled across the ninth victim of the notorious Doc Holiday. A horribly sadistic killer who strikes during the holidays. But with the girl's identity obscured by her injuries, they have little to go on. Until Liska discovers that one of her son's friends - Gray - is missing... And it seems that everyone who knew Gray is telling lies. Liska and Kovac are in a race against time to discover whether this is indeed the ninth girl, or an entirely different nightmare altogether... - synopsis from UK publisher's website.
This story takes place a year after The 1st Victim and in the intervening year more victims of the serial murderer nicknamed Doc Holiday have surfaced. Due to the crimes taking place in various States and jurisdictions there are difficulties in co-ordinating the investigations. The gruesome way this unidentified girl is discovered leads her to be dubbed 'Zombie Doe' by the media.
Overall this was a terrific police procedural featuring the established team of Detectives Kovac and Liska. Once I started I wasn't about to stop until the final page so spent all of Good Friday reading. Some quite serious issues underline the central story about Zombie Doe relating to actual and cyber bullying that hits close to home for Nikki Liska.
Cross-posted to 50bookchallenge.