BOOK REVIEW: The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer

There's no safety in numbers...
Eve Singer needs death.With her career as a TV crime reporter flagging, she'll do anything to satisfy her ghoulish audience.
The killer needs death too. He even advertises his macabre public performances where he hopes to show the whole world the beauty of dying.
When he contacts Eve, she welcomes the chance to be the first with the news from every gory scene until she realises that the killer has two obsessions.
One is public murder.
And the other is her...

Publisher: Bantam Press

Belinda Bauer brings something extra to the crime genre and her latest book The Beautiful Dead shows off her talent in all its glory.
Eve Singer is our female protagonist; she is a hard hitting crime reporter but with new talent snapping at her heels, she knows her job hangs in the balance. When a murderer contacts her and gives her the details of his next crime so she can be there live, she jumps at the chance as it is the exclusive she needs. However, knowing that the killer may not have carried out such an act if she had not gone along makes Eve feel incredibly guilty; she has almost become part of the crime. But it is too late now, she has made that fateful connection and it soon becomes clear that the killer is not going to lose interest in Eve anytime soon.
The Beautiful Dead is a very clever and well-thought out book, it was a bit more action packed than her previous books yet it still gives you a lot to think about. Bauer delves quit
e deep into her character's emotions; especially Eve and the murderer which makes for interesting and often uncomfortable reading. It is this aspect of the book that sets Belinda Bauer apart from other writers in this genre. It feels like she really lays her characters bare which in turn almost makes them seem quite vulnerable.
Eve is an excellent creation, she has so much going on in her life before she makes contact with the killer, you begin to wonder just how much more she can take as she becomes tangled up in his web.
I would highly recommend this book and Belinda Bauer's others too. She avoids the cliches that often come with books in this field and instead provides you with an original and thought-provoking story.

Many thanks to Dead Good Books for sending me a copy!