The Killing Lessons

The beginning of The Killing Lessons was insanely gripping. I could feel my heart pounding through my chest and I was hyper aware of the tension in my body.

But then Black just dropped the ball. We go to Valerie, the alcoholic, self-destructive, jaded cop who says she murdered love at least 8 times in that first chapter. It drove me nuts. I'm so tired of jaded alcoholic cops. I really am.

But where Saul Black really lost me was when Valerie is driving from San Francisco to Union City and he writes “It was snowing, the pointless sort that wouldn't stick, tiny flakes whisked by skirls of wind.” wtf. It has not snowed in the Bay Area at sea level since I was a year old. I'm 40. We get snow sometimes up in the mountains, up around 4,000 feet, but on the way from SF to Union City. No. Do some research or write about a location you know.

After that everything else kind of fizzled for me. The vendetta between Valerie and FBI agent York was pointless and silly (they're women so it must be about a man, right?!) the strange romance inserted into the story (even after murdering love!) and the eternal tangents of psychobabble that happen throughout the entire book all led to me really just wanting to skip ahead and be done with it. But I didn't. I finished. sigh