City of Fire by Robert EllisMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 5 days
Publisher - Pan Books
Pages - 380
Blurb from Goodreads
When a businessman arrives home to find his wife in bed, carved from belly to throat with a very sharp knife, the elite Robbery-Homicide division of the L.A.P.D responds in full force and Detective Lena Gamble prepares for her first major case.
At first all fingers point towards the victim's husband, but best-case scenarios only happen in films and it soon transpires that this murder is one of a series of brutal crimes against women and the work of a killer dubbed 'Romeo' by the ravenous Hollywood media.
Lena is all too aware of the peril of the public eye - she has found herself in it before, on the night of her rock-star brother's unsolved murder five years ago. And now she risks a far more dangerous fame as a cloud of conspiracy descends on her investigation and she edges towards Romeo's deadly line of sight . . .Lena must catch this psychopath before she becomes his next glamorous victim . . .
'Ellis's writing is a cut above that of most authors in the crowded serial-killer field' "Sunday Times"
My Review
The book opens up at a child's home, it's time for birthday cake when things take a horrific turn. We flip to present day, a business man comes home to find his beautiful wife horrifically murdered. The husband is a suspect however it becomes apparent this murder is the work of a serial killer who is dubbed with the name Romeo due to the nature of his crimes. Detective Lena Gamble is on the case, it is high profile and it is not the first time she has been in the limelight after her rock star brother was killed years before. Will she catch Romeo before Romeo turns his eye on her?
This is my first dance with this author, it is quite a dark and descriptive book, especially with the murders and sexual violence. It is a fairly fast paced book with some disturbing scenes dottered throughout, this is definitely not for the faint hearted.
The book centers around the killer, we read passages from the killers thoughts and what he is doing and this is identified through the chapters being in italics. Then we go back to the present day and investigation whilst the police are trying to catch him and like it to previous cases. Lena's brothers murder comes up throughout, she has never gotten over it or closure and I felt the story was split it could have been two different tales. By the time you reach the end of the book you do have clarification and closure but I felt it would have worked better had the story been about one or the other. That said there are a lot of twists and turns throughout and if anything, you certainly won't be bored!
I would read this author again, 3/5 for me but I strongly recommend picking this up with caution as it is graphic and brutal in parts, especially if you have a vivid imagination.
This would have been something that I would have read and liked when I was younger. I I get a little older I find that this stuff really bothers me and I have gotten a bit squeamish. Sometimes stuff like this stays with me for days.
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