Hell

by Hilary Norman

Overview

The new Detective Sam Becket novel - The small red box wrapped in white ribbon seems innocent enough, but it protects a bloody secret – a human heart. When this gruesome package is discovered in a dinghy tied to the dock next to the house Detective Sam Becket shares with his wife, Grace, and their young son, he realizes that it can only mean one thing – Cal the Hater, the psychotic killer who has haunted his family for years, has returned . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780101385
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Series:	Sam Becket Mysteries , #5
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	425 KB

Editorial Reviews

At the outset of Norman’s contrived fifth Sam Becket thriller (after 2010’s Caged), a carefully wrapped human heart is found floating in the African-American Miami detective’s swimming pool. Sam’s Caucasian psychologist wife, Grace, immediately suspects they’re being targeted by her stepbrother, Jerome Cooper (aka Cal the Hater), a psychopathic racist who kidnapped their infant son two years earlier in Caged. Sam’s inquiries as part of the Miami police’s Violent Crimes Unit take on a new urgency after another well-preserved heart turns up in a luxury hotel’s pool and a third is deposited in the Beckets’ bathtub. Norman does a good job presenting Sam’s extended multiethnic family, whose members are particularly supportive of Grace as she faces jail time for a crime she committed under extreme stress. But a convoluted plot, a snarled skein of interwoven relationships, and a wildly improbable conclusion make this a less than satisfying read. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Lock the doors and think smartly: serial killer Cal the Hater is back (Shimmer), terrorizing detective Sam Becket's family and making their lives a living hell. Seriously psychologically scary stuff.

Library Journal

This gripping mystery opens as narrator Jeff Harding proclaims with searing pain, "Hell is watching the woman you love living a nightmare and not being able to help her." Miami detective Sam Beckett and his wife, Grace, experience a harrowing nightmare because psychopath Cal the Hater will do anything to hurt the Beckett family. Harding impeccably captures each diverse character, particularly Sam's partner, Martinez, with his ebullient personality and Latino accent as the duo rush to prove Grace's innocence when she's accused of murder. Equally realistic is the large extended Beckett family as they rally to support Grace in her time of need. Finally, hearing Harding’s renditions of Cal the Hater's voice and threats will make listeners' skin crawl in this game of cat and mouse. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2014 - AudioFile

A gruesome murderer stalks a tight-knit family of detectives, bringing them to their own personal hell. Norman's latest take on Detective Sam Becket (Shimmer, 2009, etc.) echoes earlier stories of the family: Becket and his family appear to be fighting off the unwanted attentions of psychotic serial killer Cal the Hater, aka Jerome Cooper. Cal's M.O. appears to have changed only slightly while maintaining its grisly edge. The tale begins by emphasizing the Becket family's cloyingly wholesome methods for dealing with his madness, then takes an unexpected turn when Sam's wife Grace goes beyond desperate measures to protect herself. Suddenly, Sam's playing a defensive role, one for which he's neither trained nor quite prepared. With the entire preachy Becket clan hunkered down together and Sam struggling to play bad cop against Cal, it's hard to find a sympathetic character in the fray, especially as some of the stakes for some of the suspense sequences are too low to encourage much buy-in to the cast members. Diehard fans will appreciate the ending, which promises another Becket mystery coming soon. Not exactly the high point of this series. But Norman still keeps up the pace as she puts familiar characters through their paces.

Kirkus Reviews