The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska Series) by Tami Hoag (Epub)

Description

As the bitter weather of late fall descends on Minneapolis, Detective Nikki Liska is restless, already bored with her new assignment to the cold case squad. She misses the rush of pulling an all-nighter and the sense of urgency of hunting a killer on the loose. Most of all she misses her old partner, Sam Kovac. Kovac is having an even harder time adjusting to Liska’s absence but is distracted from his troubles by an especially brutal double homicide: a prominent university professor and his wife, bludgeoned and hacked to death in their home with a ceremonial Japanese samurai sword. Liska’s case—the unsolved murder of a decorated sex crimes detective—is less of a distraction: Twenty-five years later, there is little hope for finding the killer who got away.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis resident Evi Burke has a life she only dreamed of as a kid in and out of foster care: a beautiful home, a loving family, a fulfilling job. But a danger from her past is stalking her idyllic present, bent on destroying the perfect life she was never meant to have.

As the trails of two crimes a quarter of a century apart twist and cross, Kovac and Liska race to find answers before a killer strikes again.

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⭐ This is the second Kovac and Liska mystery, and i loved it! It features the hardened Detective Sam Kovac and his partner Nikki Liska. In order to spend more time with her two sons, Nikki Liska transfers to the Cold case unit, thinking that it is more of a nine-to-five job. At the same time, Kovac is called upon the scene of a grisly murder where a prominent East Asian studies professor and his wife are brutally murdered, with murder weapons that are part of the victim’s collection. Meanwhile, Nikki Liska struggles with her cold case which involves the mysterious murder of a veteran cop in his own back yard, 25 years ago. And this is how the book opens. Among the suspects are the professor’s two adopted kids, now young adults, a prodigal son of the cop’s neighbor who mysteriously signs up for the military shortly after the father’s murder, and even a seemingly happily married house wife who harbors a dark secret . Tami Hoag goes into detail about their checkered backgrounds. As the book progresses, it becomes a non-stop thriller with all sorts of clues, some leading, and some not leading. If you are a fan of this series, this is a must-read!

⭐ The old partnership of homicide detectives Liska and Kovac has dissolved because Nikki wants to spend more time at home with her boys. She is working an infamous cold case of the murder of a sex crimes detective from twenty five years ago. Her investigation stirs a hornet’s nest and intersects with a highly publicized double murder case which Kovac and his latest new partner are knee deep in a “really messed up” family. The book leaves the reader guessing the next development throughout. The unexpected conclusion is a terrifying and totally not what I predicted. The author’s foreshadowing will throw the reader off!If you’ve never read Tami Hoag, gives this book a try. Be forewarned! If you are squeamish, there are some gory descriptions of crime scenes. You may want to skim over those sections!

⭐ THE BITTER SEASON [2016] (Kovac and Liska Series) By Tami HoagMy Review Five Stars*****I just finished reading this final installment of Hoag’s most popular book series, arguably Book 5 or Book 6 (THE 1ST VICTIM released May 2013 was a Short Story and prelude to THE 9TH GIRL released the following month). Perusing a few of the reviews on Goodreads I happened to notice that COLD, COLD HEART (ostensibly a standalone by Hoag published in January 2015 not only mentioned Kovac and Liska but was also a liminal glimpse of what was happening in the time period between THE 9TH GIRL [2013] and THE BITTER SEASON published three years later in 2016 as the last book of the series. Reading books out of order just drives me nuts.That said, THE BITTER SEASON is an outstanding police procedural and piece of crime fiction that any reader should enjoy even if he or she were a total stranger to the works of Tami Hoag. Personally, I read a few of her early works before she transitioned from romantic suspense to crime fiction and into the subgenre of serial killer thriller territory. Recently I was hooked after reading DEEPER THAN THE DEAD [2008] and have mowed through both her more recent OAK KNOLL SERIES and all of her earlier and immensely popular Kovac and Liska books.This will be (for me) a short review, at least in part because between Goodreads and Amazon over 13,000 readers have taken their time to rate this novel. The story line drew me in immediately and the author had my undivided attention as she exercised her extraordinary talent in creating two impressively complex crime investigations for our beloved detective duo of Kovac and Liska. Liska has transferred to a newly created cold case division in the police department and her former partner Sam Kovac is feeling his age and doing his best to find fault with the third new guy assigned to be his partner. Liska finds herself relieved to have more time to spend with her two sons but feels like “a fish out of water” with her new job assignment.The action starts in earnest when Liska is assigned a 25-year-old murder case that has no forensic evidence, no witnesses, or virtually any basis for believing for even a millisecond that the mystery of a decorated Sex Crimes Detective is a solvable cold case. Meanwhile, Kovac and his new partner catch a horrifying double homicide that becomes infamous practically overnight. A middle-aged upper income professor of Ancient Japanese History and his wife are bludgeoned and sliced to death by rare ancient Japanese weapons, most notable a Samurai sword.Hoag creates a colorfully crazy collection of characters for this epic whodunit and the complexity of both the cold case and the fresh double-homicide are worthy of kudos. The twists and turns and momentum of the dual investigations kept me glued to the pages. Both storylines were absorbing and riveting with the character development simply superlative. I was completely stumped for a large portion of the book but had a stimulating and enjoyable time working with the puzzle pieces that were doled out to aid a potential solution to what seemed like a Rubik’s Cube.Hoag demonstrated a deft and commanding mastery of the two parallel narratives by weaving the two plot lines together seamlessly. The plots didn’t converge until the very end and I am aware that many readers felt like the end was rushed. Well, it was. The shocking murder scene toward the end was stomach-churning and emotionally horrifying. The reader was then placed on a “timer” like a game of Scrabble or Chess. My mind raced wildly in the short time between the reflections of the killer and the solution to the mystery. I successfully figured out the identity of the killer and the gist of the big reveal.However, I wasn’t able to piece together the remaining loose threads by the time the two complex plots dovetailed into a single tragic solution and all of the questions that arose in both investigations were answered.I don’t want to omit my absolute enjoyment and delight with Hoag’s ability to write sarcastic LOL dialogue which still shines despite this incredibly dark and chilling tale. Dysfunctional family dynamics and the chilling by products of such toxic climates of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse gave birth to both the flawed victims and villains in these simply outstanding intertwining police procedurals with enough psychological suspense to add an additional dimension to the crime fiction. This is my favorite installment of the Kovac and Liska series.

⭐ I have read a few of Tami hoags books in the past and really enjoyed them. My book club choose this book to be the book of the month to read. As much as I enjoyed her other books, I was really excited to start this one. I first liked that even though the main characters in the hook are part of a series, I didn’t have to read the others before this one. This book is a stand alone. The first few chapters were a little slow and at times I did get somewhat overwhelmed by the introduction of so many characters in the beginning. The more I read, the easier it got to keep everyone straight. Once I hit chapter 7, I could not put this book down. Detective Liska is working on a cold case that is connected to a murder case her old partner is working, which happens to be a double murder of a professor and his wife but a suspected ninja. The ending was not what expected at all. It is hard to explain the book without giving anything away. Great book!!

⭐ Reading Tami Hoag’s books is like putting on your favorite slippers. She hasn’t lost her touch. The story starts with a decorated cop getting murdered in his backyard. Jump forward 25 years when another horrific murder of two people getting murdered in their own home. How can these 2 murders be connected. The author takes you on a ride when people don’t their secrets to be exposed. While reading the book you can’t help but not like some of the characters and feel sorry for others and some you say well your stupid for putting up with all this time. The book leads you to believe who the killer is but is it really. I myself was surprised by the ending since I didn’t see the exact ending. You will have your suspicions on who did what but to what extent. This was a very enjoyable read.

⭐ Great characters, great plot, superb writing! I’ve read a number of Tami Hoag books, but this is the first of the Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska series that I have ordered. I don’t know why these have slipped off my radar before, but I’m glad I found this one.I don’t know how much to discuss without spoiling anything other than to say the final solution was indeed a surprise to me, and I’ve read many a mystery in my time. Great discussion of the effects of sexual abuse on children, and the types of adults those children turn out to be.Very full story. You have romance, broken marriages, academic rivalries, and even some insight into some interesting “Eastern” philosophies. Very insightful, with just enough banter among the law enforcement pros to keep the story from getting overly depressing. Very highly recommended!

⭐ I love Kovak&Liska… I’ve read them all and each one is very good.I could hardly put this down .In fact didn’t until I had to go to sleep then started in again with morning coffee.I look forward to the next one.I do hope Liska goes back to homicide partner with Kovak.These two as partners are so good together.I must say Taylor was an excellent ‘fit’ within this book and with Kovak.I’m not going to say any thing on the story itself- read it-you won’t regret it. I will say a couple of things that stood out to me.I was constantly stumped until the reveal as to :what the heck happened to Jeremy and who Charlie turned out to be.Through every one of Tami Hoag’s Kovak amd Liska books I find myself thinking how can these cops in like Homicide or sex crimes or narcotics divisions do these jobs day after day for years and not be impacted in profoundly harsh dark ways all the days of their lives.

⭐ I think the book would have read better if the gory had been left to one’s imagination. Not sure if I will read another book by the author because of that.The story had twists and turns at first, but then it cane to no surprise as it went along.

⭐ I have read every book of Tami Hoag, every one of them has been amazing. Not this one. It took me a month to get through it. I kept giving it another try since I admire her work so much I refused to give up on this book. I gave it two stars instead of one for the twist I didn’t see coming at the very end of the book.

⭐ In The Bitter Season — the biting cold days in the run-up to Thanksgiving in Minneapolis — the news is dominated by the gruesome home invasion murder of a university professor and his wealthy wife. The homicide detective assigned to the case, Sam Kovac, is a veteran of the police force for whom “the big five-oh was looming large on the horizon.”Liska and Kovac are a mismatched pair who have worked together successfully as partners on the Minneapolis police force for a number of years. Liska’s ex-husband, also a cop, appears to have the emotional maturity of a seventeen-year-old himself, leaving Liska to raise the boys with little support.To replace Liska, Kovac has acquired a promising young rookie as his partner, a former MP. “He didn’t want a new partner. He was too old and cranky to break one in.” And as the story unfolds, Kovac proves himself right.Meanwhile, the force is abuzz with the creation of a new cold case unit, and Liska has opted to join it in hopes she can avoid round-the-clock investigations and spend more time with her two teenage sons. However, against her will she is assigned to a quarter-century-old case that she believes to be unsolvable. And, as luck would have it, the investigation requires far longer hours than she’d hoped.“It’s cold in Minneapolis”This being fiction, and genre fiction at that, you won’t be surprised to learn that eventually the two cases prove to be related. But the path from here to there is full of surprises.The Bitter Season features two engaging protagonists with a colorful, bantering relationship; not one but two fascinating murder mysteries; exotic background information; plus a couple of bad cops, two key characters who are unspeakably obnoxious, and running dialog among the cops that is worthy of Elmore Leonard.This is not a morality play. As Liska notes, “No heroes in this story . . . Just humans, good, bad, and otherwise.” Amen to that.About the authorIf you check out the New York Times bestseller lists from time to time, as I do, you’ve probably noticed the name Tami Hoag. As Wikipedia notes, “She has had thirteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including five in a 20-month span.” Hoag wrote some two dozen romance novels before turning to writing thrillers, many of them standalone titles. The Kovac and Liska series of (now) five books is one of several short series of crime novels. Hoag was raised in Minnesota but now lives in California and Florida.

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