I found this instalment to be a particularly dark one for the In Death series. As a detective, Eve Dallas is no stranger to death and violence, and, quite naturally, all of the stories to date have featured a serial murderer of some sort with all of the gruesome and gory components that would entail. But for whatever reason, I found this book much more disturbing than previous entries.

As always, Robb delivers the details of the crimes with devilish flair. For the first time in this series the crime appears to be based less on the hard facts and evidence that Eve so loves and thrives on, and instead, has more of a woo-woo supernatural vibe. A twist I wasn't sure I appreciated at first, but that intrigued me nonetheless.

It deals with ritual, ceremonial killings (as the title would suggest) and also the brainwashing of innocent, susceptible victims. I found the sick, twisted mentality of one of the main suspects also very repelling.

I think perhaps I'm always affected more by a crime novel when children are involved. The reported abuse of a child in this story was very hard to read.

This is the first one so far to get less than perfect marks from me, and I think although the writing was up to its usual high standard, the creepy ick factor was just a little too overwhelming in this one. It could have used a few more moments of levity via Roarke or Peabody to lighten the tone.

All in all, still a great read, but I may need to watch some cartoons before bed tonight....