Product Description

A series of murders sweeps across the country from California to New York City, and Chinese-American Detective April Woo teams up with psychiatrist Jason Frank to learn how the killings may be linked to Frank's actress wife's double life. Reprint. LJ.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #370753 in Books
• Published on: 1995-07-01
• Released on: 1995-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553561722
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
All superficial characterization and sadism, this thriller about a serial killer, its plot founded entirely on coincidence, is charmless in the extreme. When a man and a woman show up at NYPD headquarters to file a missing persons report on their college-age daughter, detective April Woo does the paperwork. Woo eventually learns that California cops have found the daughter's apparently fire-branded body near San Diego. Shortly thereafter, a New York psychiatrist approaches Woo with several disturbing letters sent to his porno-star wife. The letters have a San Diego postmark, prompting Woo to connect them with the murderer (3000 miles away, but not for long.) Horrific, if predictable, descriptions of the pyromaniac killer and his methods of torture are interspersed with updates on Woo's investigation. Glass ( To Do No Harm ) attempts a multicultural angle by casting Woo as a Chinese-American in conflict with her old-fashioned immigrant mother, but the tension between them is hackneyed at best. From its farfetched premise to its suspenseless action-drama climax, the novel is a chore to wade through.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
With the same intensity as Silence of the Lambs, Glass' thriller thrusts the reader into the terrifying world of the psychopathic killer. A young college girl is brutally burned, tortured, and left to die in the California desert. Thousands of miles away, beautiful actress Emma Chapman stars in a steamy art movie and suddenly begins receiving fan mail from someone who has an unnerving knowledge of her past. NYPD detective April Woo is assigned the case when Emma's husband decides the letters have taken on a menacing tone. Woo doesn't think Emma's in danger until she inadvertently finds a tenuous connection with the California murder. Then Woo realizes she's dealing with a sicko pyromaniac who's targeted Emma as his next victim. There's a heart-stopping, eye-popping race to see if Woo can outwit the killer before he ends Emma's life, and for just a few seconds, Glass stuns her white-knuckled readers into almost believing the good guys may not win. Glass is a masterly storyteller who combines a high-intensity plot with an engaging, attractive heroine whose personal predicaments lend a bit of welcome relief to the relentlessness of the hunt for the psycho. Emily Melton

From Kirkus Reviews
Already tormented by his actress wife Emma Chapman's screen debut in an art porn fantasy, New York psychiatrist Jason Frank is frantic with worry over a series of rambling letters to Emma signed ``The One Who Saved You.'' But while he's planning a trip to San Diego to match the letter-writer with Emma's old high-school classmate Troland Grebs, Grebs, who likes to tattoo and burn his women, is already in New York waiting (a nice touch) for Frank to leave Emma alone and vulnerable. But since this psychodrama is a lot less imaginatively laid out than Glass's sunlit gothic To Do No Harm (1992), it's obvious that Grebs will get a chance to hone his homicidal instincts on a Manhattan hooker--as well as on his suspicious landlady--in order to give Detective April Woo enough time to get within shooting distance of his unholy lair. Overscaled and overlong, but not otherwise remarkable. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Gory but good
I was made aware of Leslie Glass' novel by a Japanese friend of mine, who had read her translated books and thought that the Asianness of the book was great. We're both big mystery fans, so I quickly went out and bought whatever Glass novels I could find. Being half Asian, it is great to not only see a leading Asian character, but also see someone capture the Asian culture and essence so well. April's mother is somewhat like my mother (and definitely like many of my friend's Chinese mothers!), she always makes me laugh - especially her dialog, which is just so true to form. I would be very interested to find out how Glass learned so much about Chinese culture??

Compared to her other books (I'm afraid I haven't read then in chronological order), this one came across as a bit more gruesome and gory. However, I enjoyed it nevertheless. It's a good murder mystery, with solid characters, what else can one ask for?

Great "Time"
This was my first exposure to Leslie Glass - great first impressions! I really enjoyed the book, the characters were well defined and the plot was exciting and twisted. April Woo is a great character - strong, independent and smart! Other reviewers have correctly compared this author to Thomas Harris (Hannibal series) - April is similar to Clarice, the serial killer plot is well thought out and moves at a great pace.

I have already purchased Hanging Time and can't wait to get started!

The good novel that could have been great
Glass does a great job in getting the reader into the story, creating an interesting plot and intricate characters. Nevertheless, towards the end the action is too rushed and events unfold without a clear connection. It seems to me as if the author had to comply with a deadline and could not finish the book in the way it deserved. This series will get another chance from me, and hopefully the experience will be better next time!