Tami HoagCríticas

Suspense

Suspense

Mystery

Mystery

Mystery

Mystery

thriller

Light romance between a physical therapist and a baseball player. Fair.

Recovering former police detective gets back in the game by helping a girl find her sister. It gets her into the underworld of horse racing and a dysfunctional family. Very good.

(2003)KIRKUS REVIEWHoag continues to exploit the theme of mutilated women (A Thin Dark Line, 1997, etc.) in a romance thriller about the hunt for a serial killer. Someone in Minneapolis is tying down women, then raping, torturing, and killing them. While they're still alive, the attacker sticks knives into the soles of their feet, then cuts off their nipples and aureoles. After they die, he stabs them in a ritual pattern, slices off their tattoos, and burns their bodies beyond recognition; to relive his moments of triumph, he audiotapes their screams for mercy and death. He's the ?Cremator?: just another ?sadistic sexual serial killer? with low self-esteem and an abused childhood behind him. His first two victims are prostitutes, but when he turns his hand to Jillian Bondurant, the daughter of a billionaire, Minnesota calls in FBI agent John Quinn, world-famous expert on serial killers and related ilk. In the Twin Cities, Quinn is reunited with his ex-lover Kate Conlan, a former FBI expert in violent crime and the only woman he could ever really love. After the death of her daughter and a bitter divorce, Kate has moved to Minnesota and become a victim- and witness- advocate. In that capacity, she's assigned to watch over Angie DiMarco, a runaway teenager who spied the Cremator while she was turning a trick in the park. As lots of tawdry details are dug up about Jillian (incest, etc.), the killer tortures and murders another woman, kills a small dog (in romance, always a sign of irredeemable evil), then begins to plot against Kate herself. Hoag's strong dose of S&M resolves in fire, blood, stabbings, and Kate spread-eagled on a table. Though Hoag grows more and more adept at juggling a complex plot, her sort of violent entertainment isn¥t for everyone.Pub Date: March 9th, 1999ISBN: 0-553-10633-3Page count: 496ppPublisher: BantamReview Posted Online: May 20th, 2010Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1st, 1999

(2004)Pretty good police procedural about a bicycle messenger who becomes an unwitting target in a blackmail scheme that is covered up by the DA and part of the LA police force. PW-Hoag's success (Dark Horse; Guilty as Sin), evidenced once again in this engaging new thriller, is the triumph of substance over style. In a genre overrun with self-conscious jargon, brooding descriptions and fragments masquerading as sentences, her clean, measured prose¥full, balanced sentences delivered at a steady paceÂ¥doesn't so much create an ominous mood as draw the reader into the worlds of her characters. Here, before they know it, readers are invested in the dilemma of Los Angeles bike messenger Jace (J.C.) Damon, on the run after picking up a package from high-powered attorney Lenny Lowell, who is subsequently murdered. Orphaned Jace lives under society's radar in Chinatown, with his 10-year-old brother, Tyler; his surrogate family includes sassy dispatcher Eta Fitzgerald and the Chen clan, the boy's closest neighbors. Similarly, the police in pursuit are an unconventional, if dysfunctional, family: long-suffering lead detective Kev Parker; his annoying and ambitious new partner, Renee Ruiz; squabbling second-string detectives Jimmy Chew and Bradley Kyle; and coroner Diane Nicholson, who is also Kev's lover. The wild card in the game is Lowell's daughter, Abby, volatile and full of secrets, which Hoag reveals at appropriate intervals. A link to Hollywood provides a burst of fresh energy in the later chapters of this character-driven, solidly constructed thriller.

(1997)Couldn't finish this one. Supposed to be a thriller but more soap opera/romance. Only made it to the big sex scene between Mari & JD but bailed out after 239 pages of this 530 page tome. Set in Montana, Mari is I guress trying to find out why her friend died in a shooting ?accident? and why she inherited her estate. Didn't move along all that thrillingly.

(2002)another very good story of ex-cop Elena Estes who tries to find a missing groom in the horse show world and stumbles into a nasty back-biting world that produces murder, rape & mayhem.

very good police mystery about a IA cop who is found hanged, apparent suicide, but leads to old case of murder & spousal abuse.

audio book/real good thriller-mystery in Louisiana.

Detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are involved in investigating a murder where a young girl popped out of a trunk and then was run over by a vehicle on New Year's Eve. Penny, the victim is traced to a school for gifted students, which Liska's son, Kyle attends. They find video of Penny's last known movements. They question whether she was a victim of a serial killer they looking into and are calling Doc Holiday. Penny was a loner and not liked by many other students. She was bullied by a number of classmates. Kyle becomes involved in Penny's murder as she was a friend of his. Kyle is ostracized by other students who appear to be have something to do with Penny's murder because they were some of the last people to be seen with her. There are many twists and turns to this book before its stunning conclusion.

Ashes to Ashes was my first Tami Hoag book, and I couldn't have enjoyed it more. If you are a fan of Jeffery Deaver, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, etc., you'll love this book. The plot was excellent, with enough twists and turns to keep me reading until 3am. The identity of the killer was a total surprise to this veteran thriller reader. Once you read it, you'll be hooked on the author's books.

I wanted to like this. I really did. But 50 pages in, I'm still very lukewarm on the characters and the plot, and I don't think it's going to get much more gripping. I can see where it's going... and although I don't know exactly who the murderer is, I also know it's one of the dads, and I honestly don't care enough to find out which one.

Having read, and loved, two of Tami Hoag's other books (Kill the Messenger and Dust to Dust), I had high hopes for this one, and it didn't disappoint. It did, however, read like an earlier effort -- perhaps slightly less polished than the other two. But that's a minor nitpick. The story held my interest. I genuinely liked Ellen (even though her constant leap to think the worst of people, especially Brooks, grated on my nerves a little). I also liked some of the secondary characters, and got teary eyed during the final scene between "Father" Tom and Hannah. There were a few loose ends that didn't quite wrap up well enough for my liking (like why was Josh so terrified of his father?), but otherwise I enjoyed the way the plot developed and its conclusion. I'd been craving a good legal thriller, and the courtroom scenes fit the bill here. All in all, Guilty as Sin gave me another good reason to add more of Tami Hoag's books to my ever-growing TBR pile.

This book has all the elements I love about well-written thrillers: a genuinely creepy bad guy, characters to root for, snappy dialogue, interesting situations, and tight plotting. I loved it. This is definitely the type of book I'd recommend to a friend who enjoyed the genre. My only problem was with the ending... I figured out the killer about half-way through, but I didn't think his motivation was anywhere near strong enough. The ending was somewhat of a let down, but not enough to ruin the enjoyment I got from the rest of the book.

Enjoyable crime book from Hoag (who is also a romance novelist, but dont let that put you off).[return][return]This book is set against the back drop of the rich people and large money involved in high end horse world, showing the dark side involving drugs, payoffs, murder, and crooks

Fun, light, romance from Tami Hoag. Have read other (non-romance) books by her and it's interesting to compare styles!

The characters felt a little wooden at times (and Ruiz is a caricature rather than a portrayal of a human being), but other than that, I thought the plot was good and the action moved right along. It was easy to root for the orphaned Jace and Tyler as they tried to navigate the situation and Parker as he tried to redeem himself to solve the case. A good read that doesn't require much brain power.½

FROM AMAZON: When the body of a murdered man literally falls at Elizabeth Stuart's feet, she's able to wash away the blood - but not the terror. Unwelcome newcomers to Still Creek, Minnesota, she and her troubled teenage son are treated with suspicion by the locals, including the sheriff. Yet nothing will stop her from digging beneath the town's placid surface for the truth - except the killer.

Running from a messy divorce, Elizabeth believed buying a small-town newspaper offered a fresh start for herself and her son. But idyllic Still Creek, nestled in the heart of lush Amish farmlands, hides secrets dangerous enough to push someone to commit murder.

Now Elizabeth must risk everything to save herself and her son and to unmask the killer - before the current of evil flowing through Still Creek drags her under.

This is a stand alone book even though Kovac & Liska have a chapter in the initial investigation. This book really wasn't up to the usual suspense & good thriller that Tami usually writes. A little disappointed but I will still read her books