It helps if you are familiar with European geography especially the flow of the Rhine River for one of the story lines concerns a serial killer who makes his living delivering goods on that waterway. His identity is not revealed until the very end but it is his motivation and methodology which are more essential to the plot. There is a caveat on the graphic violence in some descriptions. The first recollections of the killer are quite disturbing. He isn’t retrospective because his memories are so skewed. So when Tony Hill is called in to utilize his special skills in tracking the serial killer, it seems a shame that he isn’t able to confront the villain and prove his hypotheses. This is the primary argument that those who work in this field have against capital punishment. They want to preserve the killers in a secure and protected environment in order to glean as much information from them as possible.

Complicating the search for the killer is that a murder in the Netherlands and one in Germany are only linked when two female officers are chatting on-line. One mentions the gruesome scene she’s witnessed that day which triggers a memory of a similar scene in the other. As their talk is unofficial and technically illegal or at least unprofessional, they are stymied as to how to bring the possibility of a serial killer to the proper authorities.

The Berlin officer is in intelligence and in the middle of a sting operation against Tadeuz Radecki, a Polish businessman who seems to be behind all sorts of illicit activities such as drug and illegal alien smuggling. She hopes to capture him by sending out an English police officer, Carol Jordan, who resembles his murdered lover but is posing as a businesswoman in need of workers without papers to manufacture wooden toys. As Jordan is a former colleague of Tony Hill it is not difficult to approach her and ask for help in pursuing the serial killer.

All these jurisdiction entanglements give the story a basis in reality but also serve to take away from plot development. At one point Carol and Tony make a stupid blunder that changes everything and jeopardizes everyone involved in the intelligence operation. As a result I questioned Jordan’s competence. It certainly seemed over-rated after that.

Also included is the author’s obvious agenda concerning sexual preferences. I can guess at her own beliefs by her commentary on others. Can she not understand that the equality she seeks is best able to come about by not making an issue of gender whenever the opportunity arises?

Too many story lines and complications were introduced to make this a superior story. It was expected that readers were familiar with the Tony and Carol characters and could supply much of the details from previous books. This made it difficult for first time readers to comprehend the nuances and undercurrents in their discussions and relationship. A good try but far too much was on the plate for one serving.

--Jane Davis