Resuscitation by D.M. Annechino

There's a serial killer running loose in the city. He opens his victims' chests and performs odd experiments on them that leave the police baffled. When the lead on the case, Diaz, is called away by a family emergency, Sami Rizzo approaches the police and asks them to reinstate her. Still healing from her narrow escape from a previous serial killer, can Sami catch the killer before he strikes again???


Oh where to start! Well, well done! Those who have read Annechino's first novel, They Never Die Quietly, have been anxiously awaiting this sequel. For those of you who have never heard of Annechino, this is a great place to start. Resuscitation reads alone just fine, but I can guarantee you that before you finish this book, you'll be looking for the first one to read out of sheer curiosity

What made this such a great read? First, I couldn't put it down. The opening sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading. Annechino's writing style keeps you engrossed in the tale, but it's so much more than that. As a suspense/thriller, you're kept on the edge of your seat, just waiting to see where things will escalate. Parts are gruesome and creepy. This is one of the few books in my history of reading that has actually made my flesh crawl. At one point, I had to take a few minutes to breathe and clear my head because it was almost too much. The scare factor pushes you to the brink but not over the cliff.

The best part of this book for me, and the reason I'll be coming back for every Annechino novel, is that I was completely outfoxed. I spent hours reading this wonderful book and enjoying every moment of it, thinking I was reading a suspense/thriller. I was so wrong! I was reading a mystery and didn't even know it. From the very beginning of the book, I knew who the perpetrator was. I was positive. Every chapter I read just cemented that fact further and further into my brain until it was just a given and not even a variable anymore. Again, I was so wrong! Never before has the ending of a book blindsided me the way this one did.

For anyone who enjoys crime novels in any capacity, this is a must-have for your shelf!