Ashes to Ashes - Tami Hoag

Introduction Tami Hoag is an author I would probably have never come across if I hadn't lived overseas and suffered from a shortage of books in English. However, I did get to read quite a few, ranging from the frankly dreadful to the really very good. This particular book and its sequel, 'Dust to Dust' are two of the best and are incomparable with most of her other books, in particular the dreadful 'Lucky's Lady'. This is not a book for the faint-hearted, the descriptions of some of the murders are very graphic and probably unnecessary, although they do help to build up the suspense. An excellent book, one that I would thoroughly recommend. The ...  Read the complete review

The story begins in Minneapolis, where a dead body is burnt. The newspapers call the killer the ‘Cremator’ and he soon brings his total to four victims. However, a teenage girl sees his face and she can bring him down. However, the girl refuses to speak, not even to her advocate, Kate Conlan. Conlan was once an FBI agent but she had to leave after a scandal. Now, she is happy to protect people rather than try to catch the criminals – but here, something is not right. Is the girl a witness, a potential victim or something else? Special Agent John Quinn turns up; a man from Kate’s past who has a powerful secret. Kate finds ...  Read the complete review

I picked this up at a discount bookshop, and on reading it realised why it was discounted. The premise is simple enough; a serial killer is on the loose in Minneapolis, dubbed "The Cremator" by the press because he burns the bodies of his victims. A young prostitute witnesses him burning one of his victims, and Kate Conlan from the Victim Protection Unit is assigned to look after her and draw the evidence from her. The book follows Kate, and through her the police investigation into the crimes. It attempts to fool the reader into suspecting one or other periphary characters of being the Cremator, and tries to keep a romantic interest between ...  Read the complete review

I first discovered Tami Hoag when at a train station needing something to read for the journey. The book was called A Thin Dark Line, and was very thick, so I guessed it would keep me busy. And it certainly did. So when I spotted Ashes to Ashes in a bookshop, I didn’t hesitate to buy it. This book is about a serial killer, dubbed the cremator because he leaves his victims bodies burning. The heroine of the book is Kate Conlan, a witness advocate – which means she supports witnesses to crimes. After the third murder, a witness comes forward, a young runaway. As the book unfolds, Kate finds herself hot on the trail of the killer. A series of clues lead ...  Read the complete review

I thought that this book was very well written. The plot kept me guessing right up until the end. In fairness this was a book that was hard to keep reading in parts. It has some explicit violence in it, yet I felt that it wasn’t overly violent. The violence was there because the book needed it and it wasn’t just put in for shock value. I do think that the romance between John and Kate was unnecessary to the story. Other than that though I thought that this was a really good book. ...  Read the complete review