Overall, “The Killing Lessons” isn’t a bad book — it just has a hard time separating itself from the hundreds of other serial killer investigations out on the market. The overall plot is compelling, but it ultimately has little payoff with the final act being the most disappointing. There’s little explanation of motive for the killer and the subplot between the main character, Valerie Hart and an FBI agent is just dumb. Give me more of this compelling plot and less of the personal bull shit of the detective’s subplots. It manages to fall into many of the same old tropes, including a hardened detective damaged by a past case. It seems as though the author went into this with the intent of creating a spanning series, but it’s disappointing for this first book. Maybe in a later sequel it will pay off.
On another note, this guy needs an editor. Thoughts and concepts that could easily be conveyed in a sentence or two span entire paragraphs. “The Killing Lessons” could have had the same effect at just a fraction of the page length