The Pawn by Steven James

I liked this book! It was squeaky clean as far as language and sex goes. It was pretty gritty as far as violence, murder and torture goes, though. I was very engaged in the story--stayed up late to finish it (yeah, it was one of those). I liked the main characters.

From time to time I felt aware of the writing which, to me, indicates a little less quality of writing--a little self-consciousness on the part of the writer perhaps? But those were only moments. Mostly I was too into the story to notice the writing.

When it comes to murder mysteries, I prefer police procedurals and cozies--my least favorite kinds have crazy serial murderers, guys who love to torture and have sick desires and urges and histories. This one was a police procedural (which I like), but had a crazy serial murderer, which I don't like. Also I have to roll my eyes when our lead investigator flies a family member to stay with him in a safe house (at the location of the murder investigation) because he's worried about their relationship--especially when that family member is a young woman AND the case he's investigating is one where a serial killer is torturing and killing young women. And he's flying in this precious family member? Hello!?! That seemed pretty silly to me--an obvious device on the part of the writer to increase the tension in the story.

Other than those objections, I really did enjoy the book--it was gripping!