Title: Kiss of Death
Author(s): Robert Skuce
No. of pages: 215
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Publication date: March 1st 2017
Date read: September 10th 2018
2.5/5 ★

Summary

Homicide detective, Bruno Norcross, is called to investigate the brutal murder of a college call girl. This isn’t just any other crime scene. Bruno has seen this scene before, only the last time, the killer got away leaving Bruno feeling as though his career is incomplete. Nobody escapes Bruno’s grasp twice and when his nemesis arises again, it’s time to bring him in. A serial killer, only known as the Kiss of Death, is back, only this time he made a mistake. A witness, like no other, was left behind and this witness knows the victim better than anyone.

Rosie’s stalker, Ashley Truelove knows everything about her, from what she wears to who she sees. The question isn’t can Ashley help Bruno catch the killer, but will he? With meager and confusing clues, two known victims and time running out, Bruno realizes that the cost of bringing the murderer to justice will be paid in blood. With the police Sergeant on his back to catch this killer and provide justice for the death of his daughter, Bruno is racing against time. Kiss of Death only hunts occasionally and time is running out before he vanishes again. Can Bruno find the evidence to stop him or will he escape his clutches once again?
(Goodreads)

Review

When I started this book I quite liked the concept and I was curious about how this would unfold. It had a lot of potential to turn into a great crime story! And it did, for a big part – I had some minor points that bugged me enough to end up giving it only 2.5 stars.

The first thing was the grammatical errors and some sentences that were just a mess. It could’ve used some thorough editing. This editing could also have been useful when it comes to the little details that make some crime stories so great. When all just falls into place when you eventually finish reading. Unfortunately Kiss of Death lacked these details, which made it an “okay” read. The last of my negative thoughts was about the female characters in the story. The only (two or three) female characters that were mentioned, were only there either to be murdered or to be sexualised. None of the investigators was a woman. It was a book filled with testosteron and irascible men and it definitely could have used at least one female character to clean up the mess the men made. And man, a mess they made.

To end this review on a positive note, because I quite enjoyed reading Kiss of Death: I loved the plot twist at the end! I didn’t see it coming at all, and I thought it to be very original. Here I have to mention that it could’ve been even better if there were some more subtle hints to this plot twist, so it would be even more shocking. Now it kind of came out of the blue. Nevertheless, it was a nice surprise!

* An ecopy of this book was kindly sent to me in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. *