"The List", by J.A. Konrath

The story revolves around a group of people with a number tattooed on one foot. One of them is, a Chicago Homicide cop named Tom Mankowski, the main protagonist. It opens with the discovery of a headless body… gruesome indeed but hold on folks, this is just the start….

Of course we find Tom as lead investigator. Looking into the circumstances he discovers that the corpse has a number seven tattooed on his left heel, strange enough Tom has seen this before on his own heel, his is number five. This revelation opens the door to a great puzzle putting Tom in middle of it…..and the fun continues….

This is not your typical thriller although it has lots of violence, some intrigue and a puzzle to solve. What set it apart from the others I have read through the years is the tad of horror and supernatural we find here. I found the plot to be interesting at first but as it moved along it became quite outlandish, completely unrealistic and constantly jumping from one place to the other. The dialogue and writing style is quite crude with a great chunk of jargon and some clumsy humour. The premise may be brilliant but it sizzled out quite fast, it seemed the author wanted to make an action type comedy but I failed to see anything funny, one thing though, we do have endless action. I have mixed feeling about this story, partly captivated and taken in with the action but rather disappointed with the silly characterization. Not my preferred story but not to say it was a bad one, it was not meant for me. My first experience reading this author may not have been the best I will nevertheless take a second look with the Jack Daniels series.