The Bottom Line: While I didn't love the final third, the rest of the book was quite well-done, and enjoyable.
I very much enjoyed about two-thirds of Boris Starling's Messiah. I was completely immersed in the "who done it" aspect, and enjoyed the mounting mystery surrounding the very evil serial killer.
Scotland Yard Detective Red Metcalfe has a real nasty killer on his hands. A man who appears to kill randomly, always with a different method. However he leaves a distinct signature, tying the murders together.
Red pulls together a team to help him work the case, but months go by, with barely any clues to the killer's identity, and more bodies are piling up. Red is perplexed, and so are we, the readers.
The enjoyment of this book came from knowing there had to be a pattern among the victims, somewhere, even if it wasn't an obvious one. Following one wrong path after another leaves us all scratching our heads.
Along the way, we learn about a traumatic event from Red's past. Experienced readers will suspect that the past will tie into the current investigation, at some point, although it's hard to fathom exactly how.
While all of this was going on, I was completely immersed in this book. The characters were well-defined, the action was exciting, and I turned the pages quite quickly, wanting to know how it would all work out.
But then, finally, the pattern is discovered. Suddenly the previous murders make sense, and we can even predict when the next murder will take place. Knowing the pattern, we can determine the method that will be used in the next murder, and the first name of the next victim. Sadly, that's not nearly enough information to actually stop the murders from happening, or to capture the killer. But it does cause the book to start its downward spiral.
I simply wasn't overjoyed with the pattern, once it was discovered. It wasn't one I was particularly interested in, and the explanations that went along with it were far too long, and boring. I didn't feel the killer was particularly realistic at that point, and my enjoyment of the story waned.
Another problem is that Red made some bad calls, which led to unnecessary deaths, before the killer was finally caught. He had been doing a fine job until that point, and to see him suddenly start making these bad moves seemed inconsistent for the character.
I will say that the very end of the story was "different" and left me thinking about it, days later.
One last thought - the murders are quite gruesome, and they're described in detail. This might not be the book for you, if you're squeamish about such things.
Overall, I very much enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book, I managed to get through the next third, and the very ending was well-done. I recommend it for lovers of the serial killer genre.
Recommended:
