Merciless

July 2, 2007
Philadelphia detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano trail another serial killer in Montanari's undistinguished third novel of suspense (after 2006's The Skin Gods). Byrne's chance encounter in a diner with Anton Krotz, a violent thug, ends tragically when a moment of hesitation costs the life of Krotz's innocent female hostage and the woman's grieving husband swears revenge. That threat looms over Byrne as a psychotic murderer begins to amass an alarming body count, mutilating his victims in ways that recall Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tales. Predictably, the killer nearly adds the attractive Balzano to his body count before a cliched last-minute rescue. Montanari deserves credit for hiding the solution in plain sight, an achievement marred by the failure to obscure it with plausible red herrings.

July 9, 2007
Philadelphia detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano trail another serial killer in Montanari's undistinguished third novel of suspense (after 2006's The Skin Gods). Byrne's chance encounter in a diner with Anton Krotz, a violent thug, ends tragically when a moment of hesitation costs the life of Krotz's innocent female hostage and the woman's grieving husband swears revenge. That threat looms over Byrne as a psychotic murderer begins to amass an alarming body count, mutilating his victims in ways that recall Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tales. Predictably, the killer nearly adds the attractive Balzano to his body count before a clichéd last-minute rescue. Montanari deserves credit for hiding the solution in plain sight, an achievement marred by the failure to obscure it with plausible red herrings.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2007
Philadelphia homicide cops Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano have another weird one on their hands: a serial killer is murdering people according to blueprints laid out in childrens bedtime stories (the dark-edged ones, not the happy-bunny type). And, as if that isnt enough, Byrne seems to have acquired a stalker, the husband of a woman who was murdered in a diner standoff and who blames Byrne for her death. This is another grisly entry in the Byrne-Balzano series, a tightly written story about tightly wound people (both bad guys and good). It starts out as a typical procedural, with the partners following leads and interviewing witnesses and potential suspects, but about halfway through, the tone shifts, and the story takes a right-angle turn into psychological-thriller territory. Fans of the authors previous novels will enjoy catching up with Byrne and Balzano again (they have become one of the more engaging duos in the genre), and newcomers to the series will discover in Montanari a writer who is equally adept at crafting believable characters and intricate plots.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)