It's really two books: one about a grisly murder committed by crazy people and another about male boding and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
The second one is more interesting and potentially better. It almost stands on its own. It's not really part of the murder and the process the cops went through to solve it. (The resolution of the murder seemed anti-climatic to me.)
Because the male bonding/PTSD story is intertwined with the other, it's not really fleshed out, and Kellerman's take on male bonding seems superficial. In addition, the role of Rina Lazarus in this book could have been much more central if her own PTSD had been explored as much as that of her lover Peter Decker and that of Decker's Vietnam vet "buddy," Able Atwater.
I didn't like this one as much as The Burnt House. Maybe I enjoyed the novelty of my first Kellerman mystery. I'm not anxious to go seeking another. Enough's enough. Unless one of you has a specific recommendation.
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