3.5

On, Off (Carmine Delmonico, #1) by Colleen McCullough.

It's 1965 in the northeast when the dismembered body of a woman is discovered by a neurological research center. Lt. Carmine Delmonico determines this is a single murder and not connected to any other cases. That determination doesn't last long. This murder and soon to follow -murders occurred by serial profiling was considered. Delmonico knows he is at least two steps behind the killer. Something is missing in his thoughts as he attempts to link the few clues in this case.

The writing is superb. An excellent storyteller as well as suspense builder. The end caught me off guard as it was more than just a jaw dropper. This is a marvelous series and one that I will continue.

May be the most horrific and gruesome book I've read. Very sad and difficult subject matter to read about, maddeningly so... From the beginning to the very end hardly a break from the gore and keeps you wondering until the last page. I find myself so glad that I've finished reading it and yet at the same time I must read the sequel... ugh.....

Good story, but it dragged on forever

El libro resulta lento en ciertas partes, inclusive un poco repetitivo, pero el final es brillante, muy inesperado.

Lu 03/25. Sceptique sur l'écriture !
Bon démarrage mais rapidement on se perd dans des détails qui n'apportent pas grand chose.
Ensuite tout s'accélère et ça devient captivant
Quand on pense avoir des réponses sur les motivations du tueur un événement y met fin (pour ne pas spolier)
J'ai cru ne jamais comprendre !
Mais rebondissement dans l'épilogue et j'ai compris certaines choses mais pas toutes ?

Gore.

That ending! Wow factor!

Twists and turns dominate this Carmine Delmonico mystery. It's 1965 and the term 'serial killer' is not used; it is multiple murderers. Regardless of the term, as the novel opens, parts of a young woman's body is found inside a refrigerator in a research laboratory. Thanks to a macaque who is freaking out, the body is discovered, bringing Lt. Carmine Delmonico on the scene.

All of the people from the lowest to the highest in this facility are under suspicion for this murder, and it is up to Carmine to figure it out.

Then another body is found with a similar profile: sixteen-years-old, mixed race, impeccable manners and mores. Is this the second murder, or are there other disappearances that may up the total?

Discovering the pattern as more young women are raped and killed, Carmine and his crew race to figure out who is doing this before too many more bodies end up in the morgue. How many deaths will occur before the Connecticut Monster (the killer) (or is it killers as Carmine suspects?) is caught?

Surprising twists continue until the very last page.


,

Great and amazing ending! Well worth the read and all the vocabulary that goes with it! Just Wow!

This disturbing serial killer mystery leaves the biggest surprise for the end and may show that McCullough can succeed in any genre but but there is something kind of foreordained about the book. ALmost like the author is playing with the reader.



I really do not like when authors present something at the very end that is not even remotely revealed in the book. Part of a mystery is that we the reader are involved with the detective in solving it, and many times we guess way before the detective, but this ending left me seriously peeved.

So although the mystery was well presented, and the dtective was a good character I was ultimately unsatisfied with it and a lot of that had to do with the ending.

First ever McCullough novel I read so of course didn't expect this. Chilling, diaturbing & set in America !!! Fantastic