Product Description

When the first body is found, mutilated and strangled on the riverbanks, Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano suspect yet another case of random urban violence. Then it happens again. And again. Carefully dressed and posed, each victim seems to tell a story so gruesome that Byrne and Balzano struggle at first to make sense of the killer's dark and twisted imagination. But when they stumble upon a collection of old fairy tales, the fragile link between the murders suddenly becomes clear - and with it the terrifying conclusion of the killer's plan. Desperately, they try to anticipate the madman's next move, but as the body count rises, the killing spree spirals out of control...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47212 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

From the Publisher
The new spell-binding, unputdownable thriller from the bestselling author of The Rosary Girls and The Skin Gods. Please note that Merciless is the US title for Broken Angels.

From the Inside Flap
Darkness has fallen on the streets of Philadelphia, sparkling red and green lights and festively decorated windows shining thinly through the cold, wintry city. That same night, the strangled corpse of a woman in an oddly old-fashined dress is found on the banks of the Schuylkill River, her feet mutilated and torn. Homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano know that this Christmas won't be much of a holiday for them. There are no leads, no motive, and just when it begins to look like yet another case of random urban violence … it happens again. Another young woman, dressed in vintage clothing, is found strangled on the bank of the river. This time the victim holds a bird in her lifeless grasp.
The second murder exposes a fragile link between the two and Byrne and Balzano begin to peel away the layers of the victims’ lives, only to discover a twisted chain of events stretching back in time, to a series of even more sinister crimes.

Flash back six years, to 2001: A serial rapist turns up brutally murdered. Flash back further, to 1995: Two girls are followed into the forest and disappear.

As, piece by piece, a chilling legacy of malevolence and retribution is revealed, more bodies start surfacing – every single one of them connected to the five murders. Moving cautiously along the dark banks of the old Schuylkill River, towards what they think is the heart of the madness unleashed upon their city, Kevin and Jessica know they’re fast running out of time.

Someone is preying upon the citizens of Philadelphia. And someone else is killing the suspects.

From the Back Cover
When the first body is found, mutilated and strangled on the riverbanks, Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano suspect yet another case of random urban violence. Then it happens again. And again.

Carefully dressed and posed, each victim seems to tell a story so gruesome that Byrne and Balzano struggle at first to make sense of the killer’s dark and twisted imagination. But when they stumble upon a collection of old fairy tales, the fragile link between the murders suddenly becomes clear – and with it the terrifying conclusion of the killer’s plan.

Desperately, they try to anticipate the madman’s next move, but as the body count rises, the killing spree spirals out of control …

Customer Reviews

Broken Angels
This is the 3rd in Montanari's Byrne and Balzano series and is what I found to be the weakest of the trilogy.
Richard Montanari is a skilled storyteller, he has created highly likeable and readable characters and effortlessly keeps the pages turning, however after reading the first two in the series I know he is certainly capable of better. Unfortunately the two lead characters Jessica Balzano and Richard Byrne don't seem to progress very much, their private lives seem to be put on hold for this book and it is more focused on police procedure, while also entertaining i felt it's lack of character progression was sorely missed.
As usual Montanari keeps the reader guessing as to who the killer is right up to the final pages, he really seems to have a knack for this as is evident in his first two books of the series.
I shall certainly continue with the series although I found this to be a bit of a letdown after the high calibre of the first 2.

Byrne & Balzano are Back
Broken Angels is a novel guaranteed to have your knuckles turn white. With Byrne and Balzano, Richard Montanari has created two characters who make the reader live with them through each tortured step of their investigation until, at last and breathless, they uncover the truth.
When the first body is found, mutilated and strangled on the riverbank, homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano suspect yet another case of random urban violence. Until it happens again. And again. One by one, women are lured to the old Schuylkill River, their violent and increasingly staged deaths the only clues to the killer's twisted imagination. All are wearing oddly old-fashioned dresses, holding a prop of some kind. And each one seems to have a story to tell, speaking of nightmares that are not just the stuff of fairy tales ...Desperately, Byrne and Balzano try to uncover the fragile link between the murders, until they realise they are up against two different kinds of evil. A ruthless killer is preying upon the citizens of Philadelphia. And someone else is killing the suspects.
Richard Montanari? What else can be said? An excellent, or just simply a fantastic storyteller, doesn't do the guy justice. With Broken Angels, Montanari's third outing for Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano, he looks set to take the lists by storm ... again.
Montanari's ability to captivate through his description and dialogue sets him apart. The sound of the rivers rushing and the wind blowing are echoing in the ears long after the book has been completed, whilst the emotions of the characters are at once uplifting and downright terrifying, depending on which one you care to mention.
Reading Richard Montanari is a bit like being thrown in the air by a beloved family member when you were a child. You know full well its dangerous, but you can't help but scream "again, again ...AGAIN".
[...]

Excellent 3rd book
I found this third book to be on a par with the first in the series of Detectives Byrne and Balzano, or even better than!
This book hooks you from the start and keeps you guessing right to the end on who the killer is!
It has just the right amount of characters in, unlike the second book where i thought there were too many, and the story flows along very smoothly.
A must read!!