"As the dreary, 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 desperate 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, saddled with a green new partner younger than most of Sam's wardrobe. But Kovac is distracted from his troubles by an especially ...
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"As the dreary, 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 desperate 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, saddled with a green new partner younger than most of Sam's wardrobe. But Kovac 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 homes: a beautiful home, a family, people who love her, a fulfilling job. But a danger from her past is stalking her idyllic present. A danger bent on destroying the perfect life she was never meant to have. As the trails of two crimes a quarter of century apart twist and cross, Kovac and Liska race to find answers before a killer strikes again."--
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The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag is the latest Kovac and Liska novel. Liska has transferred to the new Cold Case Unit (funded with a half a million-dollar grant) in Minneapolis, Minnesota to have regular hours and spend more time with her two sons. After going through hundreds of files the new unit meets to discuss their first case. Gene Grider (a retired detective) has come back to the cold case unit with an agenda. He wants the first case they work on to be the Ted Duffy case. Ted Duffy was an officer who was killed on the job twenty-five years previously. Grider is very determined (and a misogynist). The boss decides it will be the first case, but Liska will work it (a new set of eyes and since Grider did not solve it the first time around). Grider is not thrilled and goes out of his way to make things difficult for Nikki Liska.
Sam Kovac misses his old partner, Nikki Liska. Kovac is on his third partner in three months. His latest is Michael Taylor (a fledgling homicide detective). Kovac's latest case is the death of Dr. Lucien Chamberlain and his wife. They were murdered (in a gruesome fashion) with a Japanese sword from Dr. Chamberlain's collection. Who wanted to kill this professor and his wife?
Nikki Liska dives into her case. However, it seems like the Duffy family does not seem to really want the case solved. No one will answer questions. Liska is relentless in her pursuit of closing this case especially when she discovers that her case and Kovac's are connected. Someone is not telling the truth. Liska and Kovac will have to work through the secrets and lies to reveal the killer.
The Bitter Season was just wonderful. I did not want to put this book down! There were so many wonderful twists and turns (I just loved it). The mystery was complicated and not easy to solve (but I did). I enjoyed how this mystery was revealed to the reader. There is an overabundance of foul language in the book (which I did not enjoy). The Bitter Season is well-written, fast paced, and has great characters. The Bitter Season can be read if you have not enjoyed the previous books in the series (I have not read other books in this series). I give The Bitter Season 5 out of 5 stars. I cannot wait for the next book in the Kovac and Liska series.
I received a complimentary copy of The Bitter Season from NetGalley in exchange for an honest evaluation of the book.
