Matt McAvoy Book Review

Killer Instincts by Anna Lee Rose is the story of Hanna the virgin sex slave and Jake the caring hitman. For the most part, it was a lot of fun. Sex and crime sell books – and I won’t deny that this is what the author is doing here - but she has not lost her essential humanity (at least, I don’t think so). Booze, drugs and a Bacchanalian lifestyle haven’t dampened Hanna’s enthusiasm for sex either, and Jake shows his compassionate side by flashbacks to a lost love and a sister he finances by assassinating drug barons.

But the novel suffers from First Chapter Syndrome. An excellent opening that really shows what this author can do, and carries on through the first several chapters. She can observe humanity and weave her observations into attractive fictional characters. This is what we want: good writing, great characters. I wasn’t really into the ballistic sex, but it was imaginative (and ongoing) and it wasn’t the problem. (Jake has a separate agenda, in any case, that adjusts the thermostat in the steamiest scenes.)

The second half was very racy and deposited the villain some distance from the finish line. I felt that discipline and patience were lacking in the writing from this point. Have your villain not only violent and vengeful, but lurking in the background, brooding on his wrongs. Build up the tension. Keep us on the edge of our seats. Obviously, this author can do this. She has proven her ability to write by the great opening.

And I was longing for the return of that sex-crazed mother from chapter one. She was the most enjoyable self-centred ball-breaker I’ve ever read.