Ashes to Ashes: A Novel

I was picking through my stacks at home and found this. Whew, this is an old one. Old, but damn good. I always forget how much I like Tami Hoag until I pick up one of her books.

I honestly didn't figure out the killer until near the end and one word was spoken. Then I started yelling at the book "OH NO IT'S NOT OH NOOOO IT'S NOT ARE YOUSHITTINGME?!?"

Good stuff.

In Minneapolis, a serial killer is hard at work, killing women and setting their bodies on fire in a park. The first two victims are sex workers (considered a "high risk" job so the cops don't spend too much time one it). The third victim appears to be the daughter of a billionaire. While setting this corpse on fire, The Cremator has a witness to his act. The Cremator is clearly a loser, who believes he's a god. Torturing and killing women because of mommy issues. He's disgusting.

The witness is just a kid and she ends up with Kate Colan, a witness advocate. Angie, the witness, is a tough nut to crack, and why not, the kid just witnessed some horrible shit. The billionaire, see above, brings in the legendary John Quinn, FBI profiler, to catch the killer.

Did I mention Kate and John have a past? Oh yes, complete with smoldering looks and everything.

We get really good background on the key players and then things get really twisted, like knickers twisted, really fast. I was impressed with the story and the twists and turns. Another great Hoag book!