Taker of Lives
(Tess Winnett #4)
by
Leslie Wolfe
Taker of Lives (Special Agent Tess Winnett, #4) is the fourth of the Tess Winnett series.
Is it a suicide, or the murder of a beautiful girl? Tess goes against all the experienced heads and decrees it is murder. And there commences a chase for a killer. A killer who uses the internet, especially the dark web, to announce thee crimes committed and to distribute photos of the girls murdered to the general public.
The Taker of Lives uses social media as means as of selecting victims and as a means of distributing photos and live steaming of girls being murdered. Beauty and social media popularity appear to be the main reasons the Taker is killing…..but why?
I thoroughly enjoyed Taker of Lives all the way to the end, which was a letdown after the build-up. It was what I called a ‘Perry Mason’ ending. An ending where the killer was caught and you realise there were clues but so scant that they were unrecognisable. I think I suspected nearly every one of the main characters a various stages.
Even the killer chapters, first introduced in The Watson Girl, while giving a clear insight into the killers mind did not reveal the villain. I only make this comment because due to previous research into the differences between Mystery and Thriller novels and according to writersdigest.com (today) a major difference between both genres is that in a thriller the villain, or killer, is usually known very early on in the story. By this definition, many novels claiming ‘thriller’ status are only ‘mysteries’.
This was my third back to back Tess Winnett book and it was heading for five star rating until the end. However, a definite 4 star read, maybe even 4.5.
Goodreads readers have rated
Taker of Lives
an average of
stars
from 1,544 ratings and 96 reviews
I have rated
Taker of Lives
a solid
read.
Taker of Lives
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
