Jonathan Arnold reviewed Nightlife by Thomas Perry
Review of 'Nightlife' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Nightlife is a book by Thomas Perry featuring a serial killer and a policewoman determined to catch her. Yes, the serial killer is a "her" and Perry goes to great lengths to explain what drives Charlene to kill - usually being sorely aggrieved. The policewoman and the serial killer circle closer and closer until an explosive, twisty, finale.
Charlene Buckner grew up poor, getting dragged to beauty pageants by her flaky mom. She goes on to use the acting skills to attract men. When she is eventually dumped, she turns ugly and leaves behind a trail of bodies. But when she kills the brother of a tough guy and leaves behind slight traces, the race is on between Portland Oregon detective Catherine Hobbes and the fixer hired by the brother who isn't interested in the law, but justice.
Buckner assumes identities at will, seduces men and boys easily and just …
Nightlife is a book by Thomas Perry featuring a serial killer and a policewoman determined to catch her. Yes, the serial killer is a "her" and Perry goes to great lengths to explain what drives Charlene to kill - usually being sorely aggrieved. The policewoman and the serial killer circle closer and closer until an explosive, twisty, finale.
Charlene Buckner grew up poor, getting dragged to beauty pageants by her flaky mom. She goes on to use the acting skills to attract men. When she is eventually dumped, she turns ugly and leaves behind a trail of bodies. But when she kills the brother of a tough guy and leaves behind slight traces, the race is on between Portland Oregon detective Catherine Hobbes and the fixer hired by the brother who isn't interested in the law, but justice.
Buckner assumes identities at will, seduces men and boys easily and just slips out of their grasps. But when she circles back to Portland to try and take down her detective tormentor, things quickly spiral out of control of everyone.
Not really one of Perry's best. He is so adept at describing the bad guys and does a good job filling out Charlene's backstory. But Charlene is quite problematic. Sometimes she is very professional and at other times pretty inept. And she gets away with things that just seemed too farfetched.
And the book felt like it went on too long. The chase kind of dragged after awhile, with little or no reason. I did kind of like the quick cases that Hobbes settled on the way to Buckner that had nothing to do with it. That kind of extra arc was nice to read.
But after awhile, I just wanted him to get on with it. And I'm still not sure what Buckner had planned, but it of course went completely awry. So really, just an average book by Perry. The audiobook production was excellent, though. Really enjoyed Shelly Fraiser's narration.