Death of a Thousand Cuts by Barbara D'Amato

Description:

"The Hawthorne House was once known for its remarkable success rate with autistic children. Now, fifteen years after it closed former residents have returned to Hawthorne House for their first-ever reunion. But the gala event turns into a bloody nightmare when the House's revered founder, Dr. Jay Schermerhorn, is found tortured to death in the mansion's basement.

Schermerhorn had enjoyed a worldwide reputation for his innovative methods and compassionate treatment of autistic children. How could anyone have hated him enough to kill him? As Chicago detectives probe deeply into the history of Hawthorne House, a troubling picture emerges-of a man who inspired both fear and hatred in the children and families who came to him for help."

My thoughts:

This book was a good police procedural with an emphasis on the wide spectrum of autism behaviors. I liked how the point of view switched from former patient Jeffery Clifford who has developed ways of coping with the world to detective Emily Folkestone who learns about how autistic people behave.

Date read: 6/1/2008
No. of pages: 386
Year: 2006
Genre: Mystery

A THOUSAND Bones

P. J. Parrish

Genre: Mystery

Published: 2007

Personal Rating: 4/5

P. J. Parrish is actually a sister team and this is the first in their new series starring Joette (Joe) Frye, who was plucked from their Louis Kincaid series. One sister is more adept at "character development" while the other's strength is the "gory stuff", so they make quite a pair . . . and it works!

In A Thousand Bones, Joe (note: pet peeve of mine - naming characters with cross gender names) who is currently on the Miami Police Department's Homicide Division shares with her lover, Louis (too close to Louise for my liking) Kincaid, about her past harrowing experience of being a rookie cop in Echo Bay, Michigan. Almost the entire book is told in flashback, which gives the reader a great understanding of Joe and how she dealt with chasing down a killer.

Ultimately, Joe's experience happened to be one of terror. The word choice and sentence structure contributed to a very fluent flow with no lulls in the story. I didn't find it to be a page-turner, yet I was always interested. I look forward to following this series.