Blood Memory: A Novel

From Publishers Weekly

Iles's previous thriller, 2003's provocative The Footprints of God, featured an omnipotent supercomputer and an on-the-run duo racing around the globe from North Carolina to Jerusalem. This time, Iles returns to more familiar ground: Natchez, Miss.; New Orleans; and the Mississippi delta, where a serial predator has been killing middle-aged men. Forensic odontologist Cat Ferry, an expert on teeth and the damage they can inflict, is called in by the New Orleans PD to explain the bite marks found on the bodies. Cat, the alcoholic granddaughter of Dr. William Kirkland, owner of the sprawling Malmaison estate and the richest, most powerful man in Natchez, has solved previous murders with her married detective lover, Sean Regan. This time, though, she's pregnant with Sean's baby, and this plus the discovery of old bloody footprints hidden in the carpet fibers of her Malmaison childhood bedroom threaten to plummet her into the depression that's plagued her since she was 15. She thinks one footprint might be hers, made on the night her father died of an ill-explained gunshot wound. Iles weaves in dark strains of child sexual abuse and the resulting repressed memories as Cat searches for the serial killer and for answers about her father's death. This overlong novel lacks the scintillating originality that made Iles's last outing so memorable, but he ties up all the loose ends in an exciting climax. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the

Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile

Joyce Bean has a winsome feminine voice; what's more, her male characters, unlike those of most female readers, actually sound like men. This gives more differentiation to the character of Cat Ferry, a 31-year-old forensic dentist who is asked to help find a serial killer who leaves bite marks on his victims' bodies. Cat is a woman with issues. Haunted by the shooting death of her own father twenty-three years earlier, Cat is an alcoholic who is pregnant by a cop she works with. How she tracks the killer and solves the mysteries of her own past make this engrossing tale one of the author's best. And it's made even better by Bean's slick delivery. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the

Audio CD edition.