A solid read!
The King's Justice (Maggie Hope #9) by Susan Elia MacNeal
After having escaped the serial killer Nicholas Reitter, dubbed by the press, the “Blackout Beast”, Maggie Hope's life is grim and becoming more so. She's frenetic, drinking too much, smoking too much and defusing bombs with the Bomb Disposal Unit. She is doing all she can to feel alive whilst flirting with death, to live in the moment. After all she's been through, with Reitter and her "false imprisonment and near death" at the hands of the Special Operations Executive, Maggie feels not only betrayed but shattered. In today's parlance we'd say she's experiencing PTSD.
Her relationship with Detective Chief Inspector James Durgin has rocks strewn in its path. It seems Maggie's looking for the quick fix but Durgin is holding back. They are drawing further apart. And then there's Maggie's mother, a constant undercurrent in her thoughts.
Nicholas Reitter is convicted and sentenced to death. Maggie attends his sentencing but even that doesn't bring her peace. Really it just opens up more wounds.
When a new serial killer starts to upstage him Reitter requests her presence. He knows who the killer is and he will milk his meetings with Maggie until the very end. The victim, persecutor, rescuer, triangle seems to be closing in as they unwittingly interchange roles. That the victims seem to be Conscientious Objectors or those escaping from military service adds further frisson and impetus to finding the killer.
On top of this there's the rumored possibility that the King might commute Reitter's sentence to life imprisonment. Such a move is called the "King's Justice." Maggie is shattered. She starts to investigate what makes a serial killer and seemingly has an ephinany about captital punishment after her readings. It is only after this that she can step outside the roles assigned her in her meetings with Reitter and look for a new way through the miasma of their association.
I found the story fascinating on many levels, but this was not a comfortable read. Maggie is at a crossroad. As she metamorphoses throughout the series, a new pathway beckons. And yes there are clues throughout, particularly the Phoenix reference. What Maggie's rising from the ashes will look like is for the future.
A Random House Ballantine ARC via NetGalley
****
Her relationship with Detective Chief Inspector James Durgin has rocks strewn in its path. It seems Maggie's looking for the quick fix but Durgin is holding back. They are drawing further apart. And then there's Maggie's mother, a constant undercurrent in her thoughts.
Nicholas Reitter is convicted and sentenced to death. Maggie attends his sentencing but even that doesn't bring her peace. Really it just opens up more wounds.
When a new serial killer starts to upstage him Reitter requests her presence. He knows who the killer is and he will milk his meetings with Maggie until the very end. The victim, persecutor, rescuer, triangle seems to be closing in as they unwittingly interchange roles. That the victims seem to be Conscientious Objectors or those escaping from military service adds further frisson and impetus to finding the killer.
On top of this there's the rumored possibility that the King might commute Reitter's sentence to life imprisonment. Such a move is called the "King's Justice." Maggie is shattered. She starts to investigate what makes a serial killer and seemingly has an ephinany about captital punishment after her readings. It is only after this that she can step outside the roles assigned her in her meetings with Reitter and look for a new way through the miasma of their association.
I found the story fascinating on many levels, but this was not a comfortable read. Maggie is at a crossroad. As she metamorphoses throughout the series, a new pathway beckons. And yes there are clues throughout, particularly the Phoenix reference. What Maggie's rising from the ashes will look like is for the future.
A Random House Ballantine ARC via NetGalley
****
Comments
Post a Comment