Book Review: "The 1st Victim" by Tami Hoag

"The 1st Victim" by Tami Hoag is out in e-book awaiting your next need to read. The book is a short novel (61 pages) that introduces  the "Doc Holiday" serial Killer case that is continued in the fill length "The Ninth Girl" mystery.

Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are the detectives who catch the case of the first Jane Doe of the New Year. The victim has been beaten, raped and tortured before her dead body is thrown onto a lonely stretch of seldom used highway. The detectives suffer late nights agonizing over the fact that they cannot seem to identify the body of a well cared for young woman. Who is missing their daughter? The medical examiner estimates her age to be between eighteen and twenty two so why is there no missing girl inquiry looking for someone of her description?

This short mystery is a precursor to Hoag's "The Ninth Girl". Some of the previous reviewers bought this kindle offering for the low price of $1.99 mistakenly thinking it was a full length book. I can understand their ire at being left hanging with no satisfying ending for this book. That ending will come after reading "The Ninth Girl" which I will be reviewing several days from now. This spicy tidbit really whets your appetite for the full book to come, it sets up the story well and gives you the background to Doc Holiday's story.

I like the two detectives in this story, Sam and Nikki specifically because although they do an unusual job, hunting murders, they also come off as normal people with lives outside the horror they see on the job day after day. Det. Nikki Liska is divorced from a lazy pompous man who doesn't seem to like visiting their two children. She worries about raising her sons right and keeping them from harm. Sam Kovac is a well worn old time cop, he's unmarried and finds himself wishing he could do more for the victims he stands for. I can't wait to read "The Ninth Girl". My appetite has been piqued and I'm hungry for more.

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