Three female bartenders in South Florida have gone missing and the finger of suspicion points at Colin O'Shea, a childhood friend of Max Freeman's, also a former cop that he worked with in Philadelphia. But Colin swears he is innocent and Max believes him.

So Max finds himself trying to work out if there is a serial killer on the loose, and at the same time he is trying to prove that it isn't Colin.

Max is also working for Billy Manchester, a black attorney that he also grew up with in Philadelphia. Billy is working on a case of cruise liner employees who are being threatened by stand over thugs,

I found the story a bit slow in the beginning. The author seemed to need to fill me in on some details that I already knew even though I have only read #1 in the series. This story has many strands and both Max and the serial killer speak in the first person, which initially takes a bit of careful reading, ( )

The first book develops the character of Max Freeman - intense, dark, passionate, and most of all done. Subsequent books bring him back.

Cop killing woman bartenders - story from JK's own journalistic background in Philadelphia. I felt a little uneasy with this serial killer - he didn't quite ring true for me - he seems more like a one-off killer (which is in fact what the original inspiration was.) BUT the coward/bully depiction was compelling and believable, a strong story element.

Freeman's relationships with the women (ex-wife, ex-lover) merited more internal. Yeah, I get that it's tough to have a first person narrator who's a reticent guy reveal himself, but I think he has to do more because there's real weight here that isn't capitalized on. Also, does any guy really think of his lover by her last name? (If so, yuck!)

Loved the secondary characters the first time, still love them. (Billy, the warden or whatever he is down on the water.)

I miss the shack, though. When the story had Freeman back at his true home, I thought he was at his strongest. ( )