I read 70 pages and found the writing style just too convoluted, too hard to follow. Giving up. ( )

Having read--and thoroughly loved--[b:Redemption Road|26883206|Redemption Road|John Hart|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452743616s/26883206.jpg|45785424], I decided I had to go back and read everything else he'd written.

This is the first one and, though it's not quite as amazing as his last book, the signs of the writer he'll become are all here. Well-defined, tortured characters, a complex, yet engaging plot, nasty people, and wonderful language.

I enjoyed the hell out of this one. ( )

In this, John Hart's first book, the protagonist's father is found murdered and Work Pickens believes his troubled sister may have done the deed. Meanwhile, Pickens is juggling a collapsing law business, an unhappy marriage, and deep feelings for another woman. Almost as many twists as a Harlan Coben book, with the killer not revealed until the end. His newer books are better: Hart spent too much time setting up the suspense here. ( )

I liked it, the author successfully kept me guessing throwing a few good candidates for the murderer. The ending was a major let down - as if the author realised he already had enough pages and just called it a day. Not really a deus ex machina, it just ends and neatly resolves all the subplots.
It's actually baffling. The chapter ends, the villain wins, fade to black. Next page it's all over but actually it turns out they all lived happily ever after. The ending is so upbeat that I wonder if it was different at some point, more in line with the rest of the book. I'm just going to go with my interpretation of the ending being the last seconds of the brain activity of the dying protagonist as it makes more sense. ( )

Meh ( )