Steven James

Dear Readers,

Opening Moves by Steven James should come with a warning on it.  It may cause sleeplessness and/or nightmares.   It also should contain the warning that if you have a busy weekend coming up don’t start the book as it may cause you to miss something important, like work, a business meeting or breathing.

Written as the prequel to the Patrick Bowers series, Opening Moves joins Patrick as he starts his career in Milwaukee.   He is a detective and a new case has come to him.  Someone is honoring Jeffery Dahmer.  The problem is the person who did the crime claims he only did it because his wife was kidnapped and the real criminal threatened to kill her.  Is he telling the truth?  What about these other crimes that are surfacing?  Are they the same person or are there two killers on the loose with similar MO’s?

Ok that is enough about the storyline as I don’t want to spoil anything for any of you.  I so loved this book.  It was right in Steven’s pocket of writing.  It is the creepy crime scene with a criminal that is evil beyond belief.  There are times when I read books like this that I wonder if someone could actually do this to a fellow human, then I read the evidence from actual criminals…  That is the stuff of nightmares. 

I have always enjoyed the discussions that Steven writes into his books.  Not only does he write a good crime story, he has his characters wrestling larger moral dilemmas.  One of those discussions in the book has generated lots of discussion here at the store.  What has been interesting is that as more and more fellow employees finish the book they have join the discussion also.  That makes for a good book.

Happy Reading.