Sheldon Rusch

A series of bizarre and baffling crimes draws Special Agent Elizabeth Taylor Hewitt into a deadly pursuit of a madman calling himself The Raven who is paying homage to the literary works of Edgar Allan Poe with his twisted and violent killings.

For Edgar

Kirsten Simkiss

I wouldn't recommend this one. I'd give it two stars, but I really didn't enjoy it.

My biggest complaint is that there are 88 chapters. In my hardback copy, that meant there was a new chapter every three and a half pages. It was tedious and a waste of paper. Most of the time it did shift between characters, but sometimes it was just used to segway to a different time period in the story. However, most chapters in my copy wound up leaving two-thirds of a page blank. And when there are 88 chapters, it really starts to seem like a waster of space. I mean, good grief, put some illustrations in or something. They could have saved about 50 pages in this book if they just smushed a few chapters together. I question the editor on that decision for sure.

My other complaint is that the sex scenes were awkward. Nothing like a paragraph on a murder victim's perineum in the middle of a sex scene to make it feel really realistic. I don't care if you're gonna kill the girl a minute later, the sex scenes were all pretty odd.

The revelation at the end was something I guessed early on. (view spoiler)[I mean, it doesn't take a genius to spot the Poe professor might not be as good as he says he is. Who would be a better Edgar Allan Poe serial killer? A random guy from a mental asylum with no fixation on Poe or a Poe enthusiast who can quote full poems from memory on demand. It's not exactly a hard conclusion to draw. (hide spoiler)]

All in all, not a tremendously satisfying book. If you want a good Edgar Allan Poe inspired serial killer, I suggest Season 1 of The Following. While not direct recreations, much more in the spirit of it.

For Edgar

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