Devoted in Death

this was so so so boring. the gruesome murders seemed over the top and unnecessary. i don't have a problem with brutal murders, but these just felt like they were used to make the story more interesting and it failed spectacularly at that. ericksen's narration really bothered me this time around and made peabody seem SO ANNOYING. i think i need a break from the series or maybe just from the audiobooks

Lots of procedural work in this installment, not much focus on character development. Interesting choice to give the reader the identity of the serial killers right off the bat, and then watch how Dallas and Co. catch up. I'm giving it 4 stars for two reasons: 1) I liked the Southern police deputy who shows up unexpectedly to offer his assistance (wouldn't mind seeing more of him somehow) and 2) there is only one slight mention of Mavis and baby Bella (I find them extraneous to most of the plots).

Even though this is the 41st in this series there are still small moments that get an emotion out of me and I still get engrossed in the story. After 41 books these characters are truly known to me and I think that's what keeps me reading!