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IM - Rick Reed
IM
Rick Reed
ISBN-10: 1932300791
ISBN-13: 9781932300796
Quest Books
Reviewed By Renee Washburn
Official Apex Reviews Rating:
When it rains, it pours...just ask Ed Comparetto…
The Chicago police detective's life is losing its luster: his lover has just left him, and, blamed for his failure to solve a rash of gruesome killings, he is suddenly run off the force. The reason for his dismissal: falsifying a witness at a crime scene. Ed may be losing his touch, but he knows he's not losing his mind, so this reasoning doesn't fly with him. He knows what he saw, and he knows who he talked to...slowly but surely, he gets the feeling that someone, somehow is playing him - little does he know…
Before long, Ed finds himself inextricably caught in the middle of a deadly game being waged by a sadistic killer with a malevolent axe to grind. More bodies are found, more questions go unanswered. As the clues begin to pile up, so does the danger, which Ed can handle as long as he's the only one involved; however, when his newfound love, Peter, gets entangled in the mess, the stakes are raised to a much more urgent level, and Ed knows it's imperative that he solve the case before more innocent blood is shed...
What he doesn't know, though, is that nothing can prepare him for discovering who is truly responsible for the murders - especially considering the fact that all roads actually lead to someone who died in similar fashion just two years before…
The action of IM is unmatched. Reed deftly weaves intriguing characters throughout an intricate plotline of misdirection and manipulative sleight-of-hand. The resulting mosaic is a masterpiece of suspense and nail-biting drama. Many make noble attempts at crafting whodunits, but few pull it off with such convincing realism as Reed.
The backdrop of IM lends much to the enjoyment you experience in putting all the different pieces together along the way, as you truly don't know just who/what the big picture will ultimately reveal. With equal parts action and mystery, Reed's tale is an enjoyable, fast-paced read entertaining to the fullest. Highly recommended for all readers, whether you're fans of the genre or not.
Official Apex Reviews Interview: Rick Reed (IM, In The Blood)
Apex Reviews: Rick, thanks for joining us for this interview. We truly appreciate having this opportunity to learn more about your writings.
Rick Reed: You're welcome. And I appreciate your having me (which is a line some of my vampire and serial killer victims would NOT utter).
AR: Your books cover a range of different issues, from vampire tales to suspense thrillers. Where do you get your ideas?
RR: There's a dollar store down the street from my house that sells novel ideas in packs of ten and I usually stock up on those. I figure I have enough ideas now to last me through 2010. But seriously, inspiration comes from a multitude of places, some as fanciful as actual dreams or snatches of imagery and others more prosaic, like reading the newspaper and thinking how something could translate into a good story. For IM, the whole rise of online predators and online "hooking up" was the seed of inspiration for that book. IN THE BLOOD actually was insprired by a series of art photographs I saw once of goth looking models in seedy locales...thus, the characters were born and from them, sprung the tale.
AR: In the book, you're able to mask the killer's real identity until the very end. When you wrote it, was it hard for you to maintain that suspense throughout the unfolding of the tale?
RR: It was only hard in the sense that I wanted to stay one step ahead of the reader and make the twist at the end seem logical without having him or her guess what it was early on. I think the best mysteries are those that put everything in your face from the start but that you can't actually figure out until you're near the end, which is I hope what happens in IM. When you see everything put together, it all makes sense, if it's done right.
AR: Out of curiosity, why did Ed's lover, Dan, leave him?
RR: I think many of us, gay or straight, try on different relationships and abandon them in the quest to find someone just right (for me it took me sveral tries, anyway!). Ed is young and so was Dan and I think that, while Ed was the type to nest and want a family, Dan was still hungry for new experiences and so he moved on.
AR: Where does your writing versatility come from?
RR: I get bored. That sounds like a pat answer, but it's true. Writing from different perspectives and style help me get into the tone of whatever piece I'm writing as well as individual character voices. I also like to think it gives readers more of a richly textured experience, whether it's in a single work or several by me.
AR: What's next for you?
RR: In January, a novel I'm really proud of will be published: DEADLY VISION. It's another thriller about a small town single mom who, through a head trauma, becomes a reluctant psychic and caught up in the web of two viscious killers, who are preying on teenage girls in her small Ohio River town. I think it's not only the best suspense I've ever written, but also has a lot of heart and pathos. Also coming up for 2008 will be two other novels: HIGH RISK, a thriller about the secret life of a housewife who gets daytime kicks through a series of pick-ups until she meets the a very handsome--and very rage-filled--sociopath; and ORIENTATION, a novel that explores gender, sexual orientation...and reincarnation.
AR: Any final thoughts you'd like to share with our readers?
RR: Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me.
AR: Thanks again, Rick, and best of continued success to you in all your endeavors!
RR: You're welcome! Same to ya!
Rick Reed
ISBN-10: 1932300791
ISBN-13: 9781932300796
Quest Books
Reviewed By Renee Washburn
Official Apex Reviews Rating:
When it rains, it pours...just ask Ed Comparetto…
The Chicago police detective's life is losing its luster: his lover has just left him, and, blamed for his failure to solve a rash of gruesome killings, he is suddenly run off the force. The reason for his dismissal: falsifying a witness at a crime scene. Ed may be losing his touch, but he knows he's not losing his mind, so this reasoning doesn't fly with him. He knows what he saw, and he knows who he talked to...slowly but surely, he gets the feeling that someone, somehow is playing him - little does he know…
Before long, Ed finds himself inextricably caught in the middle of a deadly game being waged by a sadistic killer with a malevolent axe to grind. More bodies are found, more questions go unanswered. As the clues begin to pile up, so does the danger, which Ed can handle as long as he's the only one involved; however, when his newfound love, Peter, gets entangled in the mess, the stakes are raised to a much more urgent level, and Ed knows it's imperative that he solve the case before more innocent blood is shed...
What he doesn't know, though, is that nothing can prepare him for discovering who is truly responsible for the murders - especially considering the fact that all roads actually lead to someone who died in similar fashion just two years before…
The action of IM is unmatched. Reed deftly weaves intriguing characters throughout an intricate plotline of misdirection and manipulative sleight-of-hand. The resulting mosaic is a masterpiece of suspense and nail-biting drama. Many make noble attempts at crafting whodunits, but few pull it off with such convincing realism as Reed.
The backdrop of IM lends much to the enjoyment you experience in putting all the different pieces together along the way, as you truly don't know just who/what the big picture will ultimately reveal. With equal parts action and mystery, Reed's tale is an enjoyable, fast-paced read entertaining to the fullest. Highly recommended for all readers, whether you're fans of the genre or not.
Official Apex Reviews Interview: Rick Reed (IM, In The Blood)
Apex Reviews: Rick, thanks for joining us for this interview. We truly appreciate having this opportunity to learn more about your writings.
Rick Reed: You're welcome. And I appreciate your having me (which is a line some of my vampire and serial killer victims would NOT utter).
AR: Your books cover a range of different issues, from vampire tales to suspense thrillers. Where do you get your ideas?
RR: There's a dollar store down the street from my house that sells novel ideas in packs of ten and I usually stock up on those. I figure I have enough ideas now to last me through 2010. But seriously, inspiration comes from a multitude of places, some as fanciful as actual dreams or snatches of imagery and others more prosaic, like reading the newspaper and thinking how something could translate into a good story. For IM, the whole rise of online predators and online "hooking up" was the seed of inspiration for that book. IN THE BLOOD actually was insprired by a series of art photographs I saw once of goth looking models in seedy locales...thus, the characters were born and from them, sprung the tale.
AR: In the book, you're able to mask the killer's real identity until the very end. When you wrote it, was it hard for you to maintain that suspense throughout the unfolding of the tale?
RR: It was only hard in the sense that I wanted to stay one step ahead of the reader and make the twist at the end seem logical without having him or her guess what it was early on. I think the best mysteries are those that put everything in your face from the start but that you can't actually figure out until you're near the end, which is I hope what happens in IM. When you see everything put together, it all makes sense, if it's done right.
AR: Out of curiosity, why did Ed's lover, Dan, leave him?
RR: I think many of us, gay or straight, try on different relationships and abandon them in the quest to find someone just right (for me it took me sveral tries, anyway!). Ed is young and so was Dan and I think that, while Ed was the type to nest and want a family, Dan was still hungry for new experiences and so he moved on.
AR: Where does your writing versatility come from?
RR: I get bored. That sounds like a pat answer, but it's true. Writing from different perspectives and style help me get into the tone of whatever piece I'm writing as well as individual character voices. I also like to think it gives readers more of a richly textured experience, whether it's in a single work or several by me.
AR: What's next for you?
RR: In January, a novel I'm really proud of will be published: DEADLY VISION. It's another thriller about a small town single mom who, through a head trauma, becomes a reluctant psychic and caught up in the web of two viscious killers, who are preying on teenage girls in her small Ohio River town. I think it's not only the best suspense I've ever written, but also has a lot of heart and pathos. Also coming up for 2008 will be two other novels: HIGH RISK, a thriller about the secret life of a housewife who gets daytime kicks through a series of pick-ups until she meets the a very handsome--and very rage-filled--sociopath; and ORIENTATION, a novel that explores gender, sexual orientation...and reincarnation.
AR: Any final thoughts you'd like to share with our readers?
RR: Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me.
AR: Thanks again, Rick, and best of continued success to you in all your endeavors!
RR: You're welcome! Same to ya!