Compulsion

Compelling Story Despite Flaws

Author Chase, says her brief bio, has degrees in forensics and criminology, and this background shows in her novel of serial killer hunter Emily Stone. There's much to like about the novel, more than enough to offset the flaws. In summary, Stone employs sophisticated gadgets and knowledge to track serial killers of children and supply the information to police departments anonymously. Two things occur to blow her cover, at least for a while. First, a psychopath moves in next door. She has a run in with him, not knowing he is a deranged killer. He and his buddy killer take after her. Second, she falls in love with a detective investigating a series of killings in the area tied to these two maniacs. She flees cross-country, from California to Indiana, to seek refuge and, ultimately, to trap and capture them. They pursue her, leaving a trail of victims in their wake. Chase's portrayal of the killer and his accomplice recommend the novel. She delves the mind of the principal killer Donald Everett and his cohort that shows a good synthesis of the psychopathology checklist (oh, yes, there is such a thing; see Robert Hare) into a disturbing character. There's also her measured, controlled writing that makes for compelling reading; though she does need to vary it a bit to bring more excitement to conflict scenes. And, finally, there's the original idea of Emily Stone, a new breed of techno detective. For these, three stars. Weaknesses, which are readily apparent and mar the book, are terrible copy editing, inexplicable tense changes, clichéd similes and metaphors (a failing of innumerable writers), stiff dialogue (akin to Det. Joe Friday talking to himself), and some implausible situations (again, common to thriller writers, even the very best). Hopefully, Chase has learned from her first effort and the other books in the series are better in these departments. Regardless, the book is worthwhile. For even better serial killer books, see my recommendations.

A thrilling and chilling page-turner!

Get ready for a page-turner! Compulsion is a thriller that will chill you as you turn up the heat flipping through the pages to see what will happen next. The action is furious and quick-paced. The plot twists and turns deliciously. The characters are engaging and will make you feel as if you know them intimately. God bless you if you ever meet up with a serial killer such as the two demons who do their dastardly deeds in this book!

I have not read a chiller that was as engaging as this book in years, though Ms. Chase's sequel won't disappoint either. I actually read her next book, Dead Game, first. It didn't really matter except for the fact that I already had a clue as to how the first book might turn out for the heroic protagonist, Emily Stone.

Emily Stone is a former sheriff who becomes a one-woman sleuth of pedophile and serial killers as the result of a personal childhood tragedy. She stealthily stalks those who would victimize the vulnerable and unsuspecting.

I loved every moment of my read! I have not been as engaged in a thriller since the books of Stephen King or Dean Koontz. The thing that I love about Ms. Chase's characters are that they are so much more fleshed out than some characters within other thrillers. Ms. Chase obviously is an adept student of human nature and she relates well with her fellow woman and man.

I also loved the fact that this book, along with its sequel, has a spiritual dimension. I will leave that to you to determine for yourself. The beauty of that was that I felt even more drawn into the stories since they reminded me of the untold mysteries of life. Ms. Chase has developed a series that is bound to be as successful as those of other well-established writers. Don't miss either of her first two books. I will be anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.

Davis Aujourd'hui
author of The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude and its upcoming sequel, Babes in Bucksnort

Not for the timid

Emily Stone has a mission, a life goal, she wants to track down child-killers and then after accumulating evidence against them, emailing that evidence anonymously to the police to lead to the killer's arrest.
After one such episode, while driving home, her car is run off the road in a hit and run accident. She's injured and taken to the hosp. While there, the police want to know about the weapons and laptop in her car. She tells them she's a writer and the weapons are for safeth and the laptop for her writing.
When she arrives home, her friend and neighbor, Theresa Blandon, tells her about the new neighbor, Donald Everett, who is a crazy man and has been intimidating the neighbors. Later, Everett has an unpleasant meeting with Emily.
She goes to the police to see if they can help. At the station she meets Det. Ray Lopez who is reading a homicide report. Em tells him about the neighbor and what he is doing to those living near him. She asks if Ray would run a check to see if there is anything on Everett. Ray seems preoccupied but after Em leaves he runs the check and there have been many complaints against Everett. Since Ray took a liking to Emily, he goes to her home and stop at Everett's house but they don't have enough for a warrant.
Emily can't seem to stop herself and she hears about a homicide and suspected two serial killers working together. She goes to a small town to the murder sceen and looks for evidence. When she walks into an old shack, someone closes the door and locks her in. Shortly thereafter a pit bull begins attacking the door trying to get to her. Luckily she sees that the walls are thin and kicks one out and gets to her car before the dog can reach her.

Arriving home, she decides to break into Everett's home to see what she can find. She looks at his computer and around the home but doesn't find anything useful. When he arrives home, she has a mask and ties him up and tries to question him. He recognizes her and she leaves. Why she went into the home to stir up the neighbor seems illogical knowing he's a crazed person and able to inflict harm on the other neighbors.

Em knows where Ray Lopez is staying. She visits him and tells him that her parents were murdered and that's why she tries to find and stop killers. They become intimate and later she asks if she can help with the homicide he's working on.

There is some good action and plenty of suspense in the story but the protagonist's motives were left unexplained for too long. Even then, her decision making was suspect, going to the murder scene without weapons and unleashing the neighbor and leaving him to possibly hurt others.

The story is a difficult one to read with the killings and the easy with which these people can take life. Still, it did keep my attention and for the reader interested in serial killer stories or crimes against women, and psychoanalytical theory of killers, this could be appealing.

The Killers are Coming

The Killers are Coming!

That's right two killers. Jennifer Chase takes us into the life of serial killer-hunter Emily Stone. Emily is the secret behind the resolution of many serial killings and kidnappings, but no one knows her name. Her messages to the appropriate detectives and investigators are always sent anonymously, but always full of information carefully collected to ensure convictions and long sentences for the criminals.

That is until one astute police officer traces the messages back to Emily's computers that are recovered from a car accident scene. As Rick Lopez zeroes in on Emily's latest investigative target, he discovers that she is next on the hit list.

You will enjoy the twists and turns, the ups and downs, the little touch of romance and the right amount of justice that Chase includes in this story.

My rating of three comes from my issues around the use of present tense and inconsistent verb tenses, mostly. I found it hard to set aside my editing hat and I never quite managed to wrap my mind around the third person omniscient POV in present tense. Third person omniscient is tricky enough to work with in past tense, and trickier in present tense.

I would still recommend the story. As a CSI/forensic science reader, I enjoyed it and know that others will as well. Perhaps other readers won't find the present tense an issue (I have read other reviews where the reviewers didn't seem to mind it).

Very suspenseful

The great start of this book hooks you right in and doesn't let you go. It opens to the mystery of a guy who looks just like any other normal fellow but he is not, he. is a child predator. Then there is the petite woman who tracks these monsters down in an expert manner and the cute detective who is trying to do his job the best way he can. Their path comes together when they are working in the same case and united after a series of events sets the petite woman in the path of death when a killer she hunts becomes her hunter. This murder mystery is a bit graphic for any young mind. I believe this story has a great potential and that Jennifer knit a terrorific plot. With a bit of editing this book could become a masterpiece.

Entertaining Thriller Ride

With her special talents and keen sense of criminal behavior, Emily Stone is on a mission to save innocent lives and take out the perpetrator at all costs. As a secret informer, she spends her time helping the police, revealing crucial information that she discovers.

As serial killers terrorize California, Stone is yet again on another mission to help the police stop the insanity before another victim is horribly murdered. But Stone becomes the target as the tables are turned and the serial killers begin to stalk her. Now Stone is in a race for her life, as she must face the insatiable evil that lurks closer than she could ever have imagined.

Jennifer Chase has written a gripping novel that pushes for a hope for resolve ending. She delivers on every accord. A highly recommend read with a satisfying end. I look forward to her next novel. Tamera Lawrence, author of The Pond.

A pretty good suspense read.

Emily Stone works hard at keeping her identity a secret. She is a one-woman task force who uses sophisticated equipment to track down some of the most dangerous child abductors and killers. Once she tracks the evil men down she documents her finds and anonymously emails the information to the police.

When a serial killer pops up in her own small town she takes it upon her self to hunt down the killer. But somehow the killer is on to her and she becomes the hunted.

Compulsion starts out strong and I was eagerly turning the pages but about half-way through the book loses steam and starts to get a little weird. Chase throws in some clues that are meant to throw you off as to who the killer is but it doesn't seem to do anything other than muddy the story up. The climax was actually sort of anti-climactic but the ending pulls everything together again and it turns out pretty good. I feel that with just a little more tweaking this could have been a great book but I still recommend it for all suspense and thriller lovers.

Great Suspense Read From a New Thriller Author!

I'm always on the lookout for new writers in the suspense and thiller genres. I found this new author almost by accident and I have to admit it begins with a terrific page turner. It really intriqued me from the first page about a hunt for child killers from a relentless woman. Chase weaves a great plot with believable characters and you really get inside the killers heads. It is a thoroughly enjoyable, fast read. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a new thriller writer. You won't be disappointed. I look foward to more books by this author.

Thriller...

Compulsion
Jennifer Chase
OutskirtsPress, 2008
ISBN: 9781432734169
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com, 2/09
5 Stars
Thriller¿
Jennifer Stone has a talent for putting together pieces of evidence and recognizing things that elude law enforcement. She does not want any recognition, because it will interfere with her investigations. Her main goal is to track serial killers and put them away. As a civilian, she works alone. Anonymously, she sends an email with all the evidence she has collected to the police or the FBI. In Compulsion, she is on the track of a pair of killers. They may be closer than she thinks.
Compulsion is one of those books you will not want to lay down until you have read every page. The suspense is strong. This is a thriller, yet it is not done in an over-the-top manner. Jennifer Chase has the unique talent of character development. She allows readers to slowly get to know the characters. The reader will find himself inside the mind of not one--but two serial killers. I look forward to more books by this author.

Captivating Thriller That is a Guaranteed Page-Turner!

I always gravitate towards thrilling mysteries that are filled with breath-taking action and plot twists. For literary satisfaction in this area, I am excited to have discovered new author Jennifer Chase. Her first book, Compulsion, is a fascinating story of serial murderers, pedophiles, and the one amazing woman who is able to bring them all to justice. When a book contains these elements and is well-written, which Compulsion most certainly is, you have the recipe for an amazing read.

Author Jennifer Chase introduces us to the great character of Emily Stone. Working anonymously with her camera, computer, and trusted weapon, Stone goes on the hunt for some of the most deplorable criminals one can imagine. She uses her police background and natural ability to get inside the criminal mind to gather detailed, on-the-scene evidence. Then, she sends her information to the police and another villain is captured. When Stone¿s identity is revealed to the latest killer on her radar screen, the fast-paced action that unfolds becomes the heart of the story and takes the reader on an amazing journey of heightened adrenaline and fear.

One of the greatest strengths in Chase¿s writing is the careful unfolding of her characters¿ personalities. The man known for most of Compulsion¿s pages only as The Killer is first revealed through the gruesome crimes he commits. Further into the book, we are let into the mind of The Killer and the motivation behind his violent spree. Chase¿s portrayal of a man sitting alone with his twisted thoughts brings the character into a more frightening focus. When the name behind The Killer is finally revealed, the weight provided by the complete picture of this terrifying man is felt. The author employs this same development technique for her other characters, which adds an important element to the tension and sense of uncertainty.

Both the language and overall format of this book are evidence of Chase¿s genuine talent in the genre of thrillers. For example, the terror of the book escalates as The Killer and The Accomplice become more voracious in their need for prey. As they drive across the country, their need to commit violence at every step is overpowering. Chase reminds us at the close of every chapter in this climactic series of events that, ¿The Killers are coming.¿ It is a taunt that helps to create a sense of terrified anticipation. Each chapter is also quite short, often not more than three or four pages in length. This purposefully abrupt approach jostles the reader from one event to the next, and generates the way Emily Stone must feel when moving from one case to the next and not knowing who or what may be around the corner.

The new novel Compulsion by Jennifer Chase is a captivating thriller that will keep you guessing until the last page. The careful character development results in real, three-dimensional men and women, even if some of them are almost unimaginably horrifying. The plot, with its slowly revealed layers, is one that engages the readers immediately and takes them on quite an adventure. I was excited to read on Chase¿s back cover that she is currently at work on the next book in the series. She can be certain that this new fan will be among the first to read the next installment. I believe that you, too, will find that Compulsion will leave you excited for more.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.