Hangman was a good story. The characters were all believable. The settings were believable. The story was credible. It was nice that everything came to a nice ending. The book was given four stars in this review. It is recommended. ( )

A bit better than her last two books. Two decent plots, a young woman found hanged at a construction site takes up Peter Decker's invetigative time while he also has to help figure out whether his friend Terry was murdered by her professional killer husband, Chris Donatti and what to do with their musically talented son, Gabe, who was abandoned in his and Rina's care. ( )

I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to others who enjoy reading crime/mystery books. The ending was a little disappointing. ( )

Peter Decker und Rina Lazarus stehen in dieser elektrisierenden Spannungsgeschichte der Bestsellerautorin der New York Times, Faye Kellerman, einem bekannten Soziopathen gegenüber. Als LAPD-Lieutenant Peter Decker widerwillig zustimmt, seiner alten Freundin Teresa McLaughlin einen großen Gefallen zu tun, weiß er, dass sein Engagement ihren soziopathischen Ehemann, Chris Donatti, wieder in sein Leben zurückbringen wird. Doch dann verschwindet Terry und Donatti und lässt ihren 14-jährigen Sohn Gabe zurück.

Währenddessen wird Adrianna Blanc, eine Party liebende Krankenschwester, von den Dachsparren eines Hauses in einer wohlhabenden Vorstadtgegend schwingend aufgefunden. Ihr letzter Telefonanruf kündigte an, dass sie sich von ihrem philanthropischen Freund trennen würde, und Decker fragt, ob es sich tatsächlich um Selbstmord handelte.

Da Leben auf dem Spiel stehen, müssen Decker und sein Team schnell Antworten finden. Auch zu Hause ist die Lage prekär: Während Decker und seine Frau Rina Lazarus sich um den jungen Gabe kümmern wollen, während Donatti frei herumläuft, ist niemand wirklich sicher...

This was my first read of a title from the Decker/Lazarus series and I was definitely engrossed in the story. I also love the fact that although I’m interested to read more titles in the series that I was able to enjoy this novel as a stand-alone story. The couple of Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus momentarily reminded me of J.D. Robb's Lt. Eve Dallas and husband Roarke but emphasis on momentarily. Characterically they can be identified in the same sentence only due to each of the Lieutenant’s commitment to solving crimes and their steadfast partners. I eventually tired of Lt. Dallas and Roarke. I can't see myself tiring of Lt. Decker and wife Rina. I don't give spoilers so you'll have to read the novel to identify with my comments.

As more and more characters are introduced in this novel through Decker's investigation of a missing woman and a murder on a local construction site, the spider web becomes more intricately woven of how the characters’ lives are related. I also liked the build of the missing woman investigation to develop an interesting tie to Decker and his family. I don't know that it would ever be allowed to occur in 'real life' but for me it added more complexity and showed the author’s sophisticated writing style in the linking between the professional and personal sides of Decker’s life.

This novel also provides insight to how thorough police investigations are, how many questions need to be asked to discern timelines and to decipher the relationships of the complicated webs of people's lives and how much time is needed to build cases for prosecution. At the same time it portrays the reality of understanding families of law enforcement personnel and how all of their personal lives are literally interrupted on an ongoing basis.

If you like to read mystery and detective novels to match your detective skills and figure out the outcome before the author's reveal, I highly recommend this novel. I want to read more novels in the series! ( )