Title: Now You See Me (Goodreads)
Author: S.J. Bolton
Series: Lacey Flint #1
Published: Bantam Press, 2012
Pages: 432
Genres: Crime
My Copy: Personal Copy

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Lacey Flint is a young detective constable in London with a secret past.  When she finds a woman stabbed right by her car everything changes for her. The killer has a special interest in Lacey and with her special knowledge on serial killers she finds herself a part of the terrifying murder hunt to catch this copy cat killer. Is this killer’s interest in Lacey personal or professional? Can Lacey continue to keep her past hidden when she is pushed further and further into the spot light? Read Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton to find out.

I found it interesting that the struggles of Lacey Flint seemed to be the main focus of this novel while the Jack the Ripper copy cat killer serves as a way to build the characters. It is a fine balance to get right but I tend to feel like Bolton didn’t focus on catching the killer as I would like. I love the idea of a Ripper copy cat and the killer known as Joesbury went to great lengths to attack Lacey, but in the end I never really felt like it was a balanced novel. Lacey is a great character and everything felt like an attack on her,; both from the killer and the other detectives, which in the end helped give us a better perspective of this character.   However the hunt and the killer side of this book just become formulaic back story. I just think it never really seemed to come together in the end; sure there is closure in the book but it felt a little messy.

One of my major problems with Crime novels like this is the fact that everything all feels predictable and everyone writing bestseller novels are following the same outline and formula. I would have loved something a bit more dark and gritty. There were some good elements in this novel but as I said before the balance wasn’t there. I think Bolton really let the reader down in that aspect; especially in the end of the book where it all felt rushed and never ended neatly. I know it was an attempt to setup the second book in the series but it never really worked.