Book Review: The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag

Title: The 9th Girl
Series: Kovac & Liska #4
Author: Tami Hoag
Pages: 405 pages
Published: June 18th 2013 by Dutton

GoodReads Description: "The worst evils lie closest to home in Tami Hoag's chilling crime novel.

As Detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska stand over the brutally disfigured remains of an adolescent girl in the early hours of New Year's Day, they suspect they've stumbled across the ninth victim of the notorious Doc Holiday. A horribly sadistic killer who strikes during the holidays.

But with the girl's identity obscured by her injuries, they have little to go on. Until Liska discovers that one of her son's friends - Gray - is missing...

And it seems that everyone who knew Gray is telling lies. Liska and Kovac are in a race against time to discover whether this is indeed the ninth girl, or an entirely different nightmare altogether..."

MY REVIEW:
2nd Tami Hoag and once again out of order in the series! What can I say? A free book is a free book.

This one focuses on homicide detectives Kovac and Liska. They are called to the scene of a homicide on New Year's Eve soon to be called Zombie Doe (as in Jane Doe). Is it the work of the serial killer they have been looking for?

Once again, Hoag is very readable. Like reading an episode of Bones or another police procedural - that's the only one I can think of at the moment, ha! The story of the young girl found on New Years Eve was heartbreaking and I thought the pace was just right. It was a quick read. I liked the focus on the detectives and Liska's guilt as a mom who works too much, dealing with teenage boys. I have two teen/pre-teen boys and I found her very relatable and her struggles authentic.

4 pulling on the parental heartstrings stars!