For my first book by Iles, this was a good choice. The first few chapters were good enough to make me want to keep going. From there, the plot thickens, but never gels....at least not to me. I'm not sure what Iles was trying to accomplish (other than to create a villain in the image of the wicked Hannibal), but it didn't work for me. The ending was too drawn out and gave the heroine almost superhuman skills, intelligence and strength to save herself. Besides, I quickly caught on to who the bad guy was. ( )

(2001)Very good thriller about a woman photographer who pursues the meaning behind ?The Sleeping Women? series of paintings that show dead women posed in living poses. Her sister is one of the subjects. From Publishers WeeklyIles continues to amaze with his incredible range, this time around crafting a complex serial killer novel with the intimacy of a smalltown cozy and the punch of a techno-thriller. As different from Spandau Phoenix and 24 Hours as possible, it scores with surefooted plotting, a diverse cast of characters and perfectly calibrated suspense. An anonymous painter's series of candidly posed nudes called The Sleeping Woman bursts on the art scene, each painting selling in the million-dollar range overnight amid rumors that the models are not sleeping but dead. Beautiful, burned-out war photographer Jordan Glass chances into a show and recognizes the subject of a painting as her identical twin, Jane, who was kidnapped near her New Orleans home and never found. Jordan contacts the FBI agent who handled her sister's case, thereby setting in motion a hunt that ties the paintings to the disappearance of at least 11 New Orleans women. Persuading the FBI task force to add her to the team, Jordan tags along to Tulane University, where evidence points to art department head Roger Wheaton, who has a peculiar terminal illness, and his brilliant but disturbed graduate students. Meanwhile, Jordan falls for damaged FBI agent John Kaiser, and together they link her sister's case to a French expat art collector from Vietnam who knew Jordan's war photographer father who disappeared in Cambodia. Are all the women really dead? Is Jordan's father alive and involved? Is there more than one killer? Iles keeps the reader guessing right up to the double surprise ending, delivering the perfect final payoff his readers expect.

TOTALLY AWESOME SUSPENSE THRILLER! ( )

One of Greg's earlier books, he introduces two characters that will later play an important role in the Natchez Burning trilogy, Jordan Glass and Agent John Kaiser. Jordan is far from typical as is Kaiser, the traits of well thought out characters. A rather unique spin to a crime story, various possibilities for motive and suspects fly, as the 'crescendo' of momentum builds. As I've stated in previous reviews of this author, he's mastered momentum building and utilizes this skill within the context.

That said, the biggest difference between this book and others, is a tinge of predictability in the outcome, something I hadn't experienced in his other stories. Regardless, its well crafted, engaging and definitely worth reading if suspense and crime are the sort of stories you enjoy.

I'd rate the book 3.5 stars were the system to allow it. Enjoy! ( )

This is absolutely on my top 10 for 2001. It's just about the best thing I've read since Greg Illes' Mortal Fear. Jordan Glass, professional photographer, is wandering around an art museum in Hong Kong and happens on a special exhibit of paintings of women who looked dead. She and the other museum visitors were jolted as they saw that one of the models was the spitting image of herself. Only she knew it was of her identical twin sister who had been missing for more than a year. The story is complicated and fabulous. ( )