I found this to be not only confusing but rather boring as well; too many things going on at once. The firing & subsequent murder of the Palazzo's security man; the disappearance of a dog & a journalist/boyfriend; the internal investigation of Sandro's partner, Guilietta on drug use allegations at the women's' clinic where she also works; the smearing of the missing dog's poop on the outside of the owner' room; & the death of the most fascinating resident of the newly opened Palazzo Residences.

It was difficult to get a bead on the personalities of the main characters; Sandro Cellini, his wife Luisa, & partner Guilietta, they seemed very bland. While on the other hand the people staying in the Palazzo were outright Fugly people.

There was too much going on and not enough tie-in's. I couldn't even keep the characters straight as to who was who... ( )

The Killing Room by Christobel Kent is the fifth novel in the Sandro Cellini Series, but even though I hadn’t read the previous books, I have to admit that it was a gripping tale that could easily be seen as a stand-alone novel. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t like to get my hands on the previous novels, so keep that in mind.

The Killing Room starts off where a luxury residence is being renovated, and the builders have broken through to an otherwise unknown chamber of sorts. There’s no description about what this extra room looks like in the beginning, but from the characters’ response to this place, one can already feel that something is not right. It’s kind of ominous and wrong, if you know what I mean? Anyway, then we meet private investigator Sandro Cellini and his wife as they go to the launch party of this newly renovated place. Elegant people, important people, people with more money than brains, are all in attendance and Sandro is not in the mood … Of course, then things begin to spiral out of control, fast. And all of these events lead back to the room that the builders found.

Like I said, I’m not familiar with this series or Christobel Kent’s writing, but I quite enjoyed this books. The Killing Room is rich with imagery, it’s suspenseful and it swept me away from real life, which is always a plus when it comes to reading. I’d like to compare this book to the previous ones, but until I can, I firmly believe that this was an exciting read that thriller/mystery lovers will enjoy.

(Review originally posted on www.killeraphrodite.com) ( )

Found the writing style of this book extremely hard to get through. I felt like there were no complete thoughts or scenes, as soon as something was about to be fleshed out it jumped to another story line. I understand that's the intended style, and but it was not for me. ( )