The Killing Hands (Sophie Anderson Book 4) by PD Martin

Rating: 4 out of 5

ISBN 13: 9781405039024
ISBN 10: 1405039027
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 394
Dimensions: 234 x 153mm
Released: 26/07/2010

First Sentence: "He took another long drag of the cigarette and then flicked the butt, mesmerised by its perfect arc and fall"

This is the fourth book in the Sophie Anderson series. Sophie Anderson is an FBI profiler, she also has "visions". In this book Sophie is still in LA. This time her case is to do with the gangs of LA.

This time round the story focus is not serial killers but the gangs of LA. This makes for a different feel to the previous books that focused on serial killers. It also means there is a little more explanation in this book as Martin introduces all the different government branches that deal with crime (which there are a lot of if it is accurate, which I am sure it is).

The reader gets to learn more about Sophie's personal life in this book with her parents making an appearance. There is some development with Sophie's personal life. Which I think is a good thing because she was getting borderline crazy with all her exercising and keeping people at a distance.

The pacing is quite good considering this book has a lot of character development for Sophie. Martin has a good balance of information, story development, and action.

One thing I really like about PD Martins books are the topics she picks. She manages to deal with some really interesting ones that make her crime series just that little bit different. She also has clearly done a lot of research which also shines through in her writing.

One gripe I had which is not the authors fault was the character of Joe DeLuca. I actually work with a Joe Deluca and I found it hard not to super-impose the DeLuca I knew onto the DeLuca in the book. Unfortunately the DeLuca I know could never be an FBI agent, so this made it hard for me to find the character in the book convincing.

Another good book in the Sophie Anderson series. I will definitely be getting hold of the next book.