NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Five by Ursula Archer







3.5 out of 5 stars - Police procedural set in Salzburg, Austria, features the team of Detective Inspectors Beatrice Kaspary and Florin Wenniger as they try to discover the perpetrator of some very gruesome murders.

The uniqueness of this thriller lies in the way that the constabulary are given clues -- the killer is leading them on a scavenger hunt using GPS coordinates and the hobby of geocaching. Referred to as the "owner" because he or she is placing items in the caches, the team tries to stay one step ahead of him as body parts keep turning up and one find leads to another. The victims don't seem to have any connection to each other and Beatrice becomes very frustrated as the police continue their round-the-clock, sometimes tedious, investigation. Meanwhile, Beatrice (of course)has a host of personal problems as is typical of crime fiction -- the messed up policewoman.

Although I found this very interesting because of the geocaching element, the thriller moves slowly, but the pacing seems to fit for this case. The revelations were interesting though it did seem to take a long time to get there and some dubious coincidences provide a few moments of eyebrow raising. I enjoyed the novel and would likely read another featuring this pair of detectives. I hope that the author doesn't plan for a romance between Beatrice and Florin and that Beatrice gets her personal act together.

TFTH - thanks for the hunt!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-book ARC to review.

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