Passions of the Dead (A Detective Jackson Mystery)
Passions of the Dead (A Detective Jackson Mystery) book cover

Passions of the Dead (A Detective Jackson Mystery)

Price
$11.24
Format
Paperback
Pages
288
Publisher
Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1612186191
Dimensions
5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
Weight
14.4 ounces

Description

Review “The author has again raised contemporary issues in a suspenseful tale of families and their complexities, examining the ramifications of a world struggling with financial uncertainty. Another winner from L.J. Sellers!” ―CrimeSpree Magazine About the Author L. J. Sellers is a native of Eugene, Oregon, the setting of her thrillers. She is a former award-winning journalist and editor, and current standup comic, cyclist, social networker, and mystery-conference attendee-as well as a skydiving and thrill-seeking fanatic. A long-standing fan of police procedurals, she numbers John Sandford, Michael Connelly, Ridley Pearson, and Lawrence Sanders among her favorites. Her own novels, featuring Detective Jackson, include The Sex Club , Secrets to Die For , Thrilled to Death , Passions of the Dead , Dying for Justice , Liars, Cheaters, & Thieves , and Rules of Crime . She’s also penned three standalone thrillers: The Baby Thief , The Gauntlet Assassin , and The Lethal Effect .

Features & Highlights

  • The scene is a bloodbath: Jared and Carla Walker lie brutally bludgeoned and stabbed to death, along with their young son, while their teenage daughter barely clings to life. Detective Wade Jackson’s boss believes a gang of carjackers has graduated to home invasion…and homicide. But there are other suspects in the mix: a bitter brother-in-law convinced the Walkers ripped him off big-time, a young heroin addict in forbidden love with the Walker’s daughter, and the shady former employer who was being blackmailed by Jared Walker.
  • Still, with only inconclusive forensic evidence and a sole survivor who can’t remember anything, Jackson and his team are getting nowhere fast. And so is Jackson’s personal life―as he duels over money with his alcoholic ex, struggles to raise his teenage daughter, and fights to keep his high-pressure job from destroying his new romance. Add the looming specter of departmental downsizing, and things couldn’t possibly get worse. At least until the only living witness to the massacre vanishes―along with the shocking truth buried in her mind―and the killer follows in hot pursuit.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(902)
★★★★
25%
(752)
★★★
15%
(451)
★★
7%
(211)
23%
(692)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Competently Written Police Procedural

This is a very competently written police procedural. When a family are slaughtered in their home with only the young daughter surviving, albeit injured, the culprit is not immediately obvious to Jackson. The case is gradually built as each of the possible murderers is investigated although it proves difficult to rule anyone out completely. In the end dogged police work prevails and there is a rather dramatic finale.

Police procedurals are an overcrowded genre. To the credit of the author she avoids the most obvious cliches. One gets a little bored with damaged detectives who are barely functioning due to addictions, handicaps or other issues. To be sure Jackson has his personal problems, but these amount to little more than giving some background to his character.

Given the number of books written which cover police investigations, it is difficult for an author to write a story which really stands out from the crowd, and I would not say that Passions of the Dead succeeds in doing this. It is not the sort of book which, having finished it, the reader is going to recall much about in a few months time. However it is a good, entertaining read which keeps up a steady pace throughout. Incidentally, although there have been a number of previous detective Jackson books, it is not necessary to have read these as this is very much a standalone volume.
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I loved it.

Has this preordered and started reading it immediately. It was awesome as usual. You will love this book. I hope this is no the last of the Jackson series. Can't wait if there is a next one.