Casey Hill is the pseudonym for the husband/wife writing team (Kevin and Melissa Hill) who write mysteries and live in Dublin, Ireland. Taboo is the first in the Reilly Steel, Forensic Investigator, Series.
Reilly Steel, California girl, was trained by the best at Quantico and has a sterling reputation as a forensic investigator when she transfers to the GFU team in Dublin, Ireland, mostly to keep an eye on her alcoholic father who isn't coping with their family's past. Resented by the elder old-school head of the unit, he takes off on an anniversary vacation. Horrific murders soon begin in his absence and they're no ordinary murders. Reilly does her best to upgrade the investigative science and methodology of her young team, and they respond well, but with obscure clues and Freudian implications, there is little evidence to point to a specific killer. Each staged murder displays another "taboo".
Detectives Delaney and the skeptical Kennedy are under extreme pressure to get this investigation resolved and when Reilly is pulled off the case because of their best lead, things get dangerous.
Let me tell you this, I think the trap to label this a thriller because of the subject matter is a misnomer and does the story a disservice. If you read the reviews on Amazon, you will find polar opposite opinions of this novel. Those expecting the typical thriller griped about its slow pacing. I wouldn't classify it as a thriller but as suspense or even as a mystery. Others who didn't like the book said it was filled with clichés and a convenient ending.
Because it was like reading an episode of the TV series Bones, I enjoyed the way the storyline developed. Yes, their were a couple of deus ex machina moments and a bit of suspension of belief, but overall the story worked with interesting elements added and not all tied up neatly at the end. Reilly is a vulnerable character all dressed up as a top forensic investigator who radiates a confident demeanor under fire. Until things just get too hard.
Very little profanity, a tiny smattering of prayer, and for all the perverse natures of the murders, this was not your typical offensive secular novel. I enjoyed it. With the unique (to us Americans) locale, it had a different feel to it. There were several missing words in the formatting, but most readers have come to expect glitches in ebooks. I'll be reading the second in the series Torn.
Father, thank you for Kevin and Melissa and the skills you've given them. Please continue to guide them in their writing and supply the stories you have just for them to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.