Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780425196571
ISBN number: 0425196577
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: May 04, 2004
Publishing house: Berkley
Release Date: May 04, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 762775
Studio: Berkley
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Product Description:
When Lindsey Metcalf's younger sister Traci disappears, Lindsey enlists the help of Michael Striker, a cop who plays by his own rules. But nothing about this case is as it appears--and soon Lindsey and Michael are drawn into a seductive and inescapable trap.
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Rated by buyers 
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My very first Linda Castillo novel, Dead Reckoning, was fun, suspenseful and sexy. When the book jacket description of Fade to Red referred to 'a seductive trap,' I took it at face value. I wish I hadn't.
Castillo is a fine writer and has a flair for creating sexual tension. I plan to read more, on the assumption that the torture theme of 'Fade' isn't likely to be topped by an even more repugnant plot device. The bad guys here are producers of "snuff" films which feature on-camera torture culminating in the victim's death. So much for the 'seductive trap.'
Mercifully, the author reminds us that snuff films depicting actual murders are an urban legend. Law enforcement agencies have investigated many such films, and have yet turn up a real murder. Low-tech special effects, poor lighting and a lot of fake blood create an illusion that's effective enough to satisfy the sickos who like these films, without risking a murder rap for producers out to make an easy buck. The villains of 'Fade to Red' are the exception to the rule. For reasons that are never fully explained, they've decided that it would be more trouble to fake their movies than to kidnap and murder a succession of young women. Presumably, they also have a fool-proof way to dispose of the bodies; that part of the scheme is never addressed.
I enjoyed the budding relationship between Lindsey, who is searching for her vanished sister, and her rough-on-the-outside ex-cop, who reluctantly agrees to help, even though he has only two remaining weeks of freedom before he goes on trial for attacking and nearly killing the suspect in his partner's murder.
I do wish the author hadn't felt compelled to describe that murder, too. It was even more gruesome than the knife-torture deaths of all those would-be starlets. It certainly wasn't necessary. I already felt sympathy for the hero, Striker, whose outrage over his partner's murder caused the single, tragic outburst of violence that ended his career and resulted in a felony assualt charge.
Sometimes it's enough to describe a crime as brutal, without providing the play-by-play. If I wanted to read another Hannibal Lechter sequel, I wouldn't be shopping in the Romantic Suspense section.
In a word: Yuck.
Rated by buyers 
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While it's true that I like to be surprised by the ending of a mystery novel, this ending was so out of left field as to be unbelievable.
Rated by buyers -
Well I'll start by giving a summary about the book then delve into why I only gave it three stars.
Lindsey Metcaff travels to Seattle to locate her missing younger sister Traci. Traci left a message on her answer machine and had not been heard from since. Upon arriving in Seattle she discovered Traci's house ransacked and a message on her answer maching from a guy named Striker. Lindsey discovers Striker is a an ex-cop and Private Investigator awaiting trial on charges of Felony Assault. She and Striker team up to find out what might have happened to Traci. They soon discover that Traci was involved in a world of sex and perversion. While investigating Traci's disappearence, Lindsey and Striker become romanitically involved. I won't say anymore since that will ruin the ending and will instead go into why I thought the story only deserved three stars.
The story was good and had potential but I could never warm up to the female lead, Lindsey. Time and time again she refused to believe the evidence in front of her. No matter what was told to her or shown her about her sister Traci she refused to believe anything bad about her sister. Even when she was shown a movie showing her sister engaging in group sex, and rather happily I might add, she believed that her sister had been drugged and forced to do those awful things. After awhile it just got to be annoying. Now don't get me wrong. I'm a police detective and know that families always refuse to believe the bad in their children or siblings but this was alittle much. It just made it very hard to believe she was the intelligent woman that the author was trying to depict. For some reason this story didn't really flow like the rest of her books but give it a try and see what you think.
Rated by buyers -
I will agree with the very first review, this story is a little more romanticly involved than I like. I didnt feel like the author actually got to know her characters until well into the middle of the book. The leading male, once he finally emerged beyond the shell the author held him captive in was quite endearing, but unfortunately I spent most of the read not knowing too much about him, as far as his emotions. One thing I can give the author, the very first love scene between the lead characters was hot...well worth drudging through the very first half of the book! Notice how the address of the sister goes to 353 to 3553? I really think the book was padded, it felt like we were being told things that the author had clearly stated in previous chapters.
All in all, I would not read again.
Rated by buyers 
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At the risk of sounding sexist, I have found many mysteries written by women to be involving, but more romantically melodramatic than hardboiled (by the same token, some male authors tend to be hardboiled without any balancing emotionalism). This book, the very first I've read by this author, hits a near-perfect balance between hard-edged and sensitive situations. I enjoyed it very much, enough so that I shall seek out the author's other mysteries.
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