Thursday Thrillers: 9th Girl by Tami Hoag

 

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,

   Tami Hoag once again makes an appearance this week with one of her best thrillers. Yes, I know I saw that a lot, but she tends to outdo herself with each read. Her Liska and Kovac series of thrillers are always a great way to end a reading slump.

  9th Girl is the fourth novel in Tami Hoag's widely popular Liska and Kovac crime series. It is published by Penguin-Random House under their Dutton books imprint. Introduced in the Summer of 1999, the crime-fighting duo has solved dozens of crimes all while trying to balance a normal life. Their latest homicide to solve is that of a teenage girl who fell from the trunk of a car on a highway on New Year's Eve. Badly beaten, stabbed, and doused with acid, the girl resembles more of a zombie than a young girl. This earns her the nickname Zombie Doe. What is believed is that she may be the ninth victim of the serial killer known as Doc Holiday. His previous victim had also been found at the turning of the year just twelve months prior (as told in the novella, The 1st Victim). 

  As the mystery deepens and we learn the identity of Zombie Doe, a sad and tragic story of a girl just wanting to be accepted emerges. With a name to their victim, family members are told of her death, and Liska's son, Kyle, may have more information on Zombie Doe than he would like to share. But waiting in the shadows is Doc Holiday, who watches news reports exposing his latest victim to the public. Enter Dana Nolan, the perky and friendly reporter who has earned the exclusive to tell Doc Holiday and Zombie Doe's stories. And her reporting has her in the crosshairs of Holiday's sight, which will ultimately make her the serial killer's next victim. 

  Tami Hoag never stops surprising me, and always leaves me with a "book hangover" that can be tough to shake. 9th Girl was thrilling, thought-provoking, and featured extremely likable characters that stuck with me. I was finding myself laughing out loud at Nikki Liska. Her bold and take-no-crap attitude always delivers. And if you are a principal at a school, and you want to accuse her son of something he has not done...look out! 

  I read 9th Girl in part with the audiobook narration of David Colacci. I found Colacci's reading to be very entertaining. And his conveying of the character's emotions was excellently done. I found his Sam Kovac to be particularly entertaining, as he brought out the seasoned detective's often abrasive personality with wit and humor. I definitely was happy to see that he had narrated a few of the Liska and Kovac novels. I like it when a narrator sticks with a series. It makes me feel like I am visiting an old friend.  

  At the end of this novel, I was shocked, saddened, and on the edge of my seat. That alone gives this book a four-star rating.   

 Let me know in the comments below what you are reading.

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