* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this book. *

Zack Herry lives a double life; Detective Inspector in the Special Crimes Unit by day, and club-hopping drug-taker by night. He is haunted by the memory of his dead mother and the chronically-ill father that he had to care for as a child instead of a normal childhood.

Zack and his colleagues are called in when four Asian prostitutes are brutally murdered in a quite gruesome way. Evidence seems to point towards either a racist extremist motive, or some kind of gang warfare that could be going on. Things get worse very quickly, and Zack, his partner Deniz and the rest of the Unit struggle to keep up with a killing spree, making almost no progress as the body count grows. A horrifically brutal attack on a witness sets the clock ticking quickly as the pressure mounts. It's a taut, pacy plot, but it does get violent.

Zack is a very unlikely character but one that you can get behind if you suspend disbelief a bit. Mons Kallentoft does a good job of fleshing out some other characters such as Deniz, Rudolf and Sirpa, but the other members of the Unit are fairly stock characters, mostly with little to do with the plot. A couple of them could probably have been cut without impact.

I have to confess that I couldn't figure out what Kallentoft intended with his beginning of the boy lying in the grass, and how that tied in with the main plot. Either I missed something basic, or perhaps that will be explored in a future book.

This is the first in a series called Hercules, based around the myth of the Twelve Labours. It seems that this entrant is inspired by the first labour, the killing of the Nemean lion. It will be interesting to see where Kallentoft takes this. ( )

There were so many things I loved about this book. Between the twists and turns, the "double" life of Zack Herry, the characters, and the plot, I couldn't put this book down.

This book is written with such precision and detail. There was no stone left unturned. There was no question of who was who or what was what. Although the story as a whole was pretty straight-forward, it was also complex. The contradictions that make up Zack Herry are as much of a compliment to his character as they are a flaw.

I was so invested in this book as I read it. I needed to know just who the killer was. Would Zack be able to close this mystery and come out unscathed? I had so much apprehension on how the story would end. I truly hope that the rest of the Zack Herry series is translated and published in the U.S. because I truly want more. ( )

Just wasn't in the mood for it. ( )