EYES OF THE DEAD by Adam Netherlund

Eyes of the Dead: A Crime and Suspense Thriller by Adam Netherlund
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

BOOK DESCRIPTION: Detective Joseph Berlin’s life is a mess. He drinks too much, he dreams of his dead wife, and he’s been off the job for the last three months. After receiving a transfer to the Gardens Police Department, they waste no time in assigning his first case: the murder of one of their own, Undercover officer Tim Scott.

There's just one problem. No one in the department is talking. Not even Tim Scott's so-called "buddies" in the department are willing to help out. When Berlin and his new partner are nearly run off the road, and a number of strange occurrences start developing, he knows he's getting closer to the truth.

But how far can one man go before he breaks? Before he loses control and begins to lose sight of what he was meant to do?

Someone is desperately trying to keep their secret buried and Berlin is a man with nothing to lose.

The clock is ticking and time is running out...

In a city fueled by greed, corruption and deceit, Berlin will come to face face with his greatest fear in this exhilarating first book in the police procedural series, The Gardens. -- GOODREADS

MY REVIEW: This is the first book in a crime series by Adam Netherlund which I probably won't continue to read. The writing is uneven. In some places I felt a degree of tension and the ending is a great cliffhanger. But, overall, it feels rather amateurish with the attempt at stream of conscious writing (every so often, we have italicised thoughts from the characters) is distracting and redundant. I found the occasional colloquialisms of language (eg, nothin', what yah doing?) to be unnecessary and inconsistent (not sure why they were used in some places and not others). It may be that a good editor is required to do something with this book (and subsequent books in the series) to meet its/their potential. The plot is pretty basic and, when compared to the best crime writing available, falls short in my opinion.

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