Guilty as Sin: A Novel (Deer Lake)

The book begins with three little eight year old boys playing one cold dark evening after a hockey game. Two boys are picked up by families. The other is not. He disappears, taken by a stranger while waiting for mom to pick him up. The book is set in a small town in Minnesota. Josh's mother is a doctor in the small town hospital and moved here because Deer Lake, Minnesota seems a good place to bring up a family. Mom was supposed to pick up Josh but got busy with patients and forgot her son.

Readers are introduced to different characters, one bossy lady who runs the police station, another has been on other police forces and is able to take care of herself and any wrong doers who have the misfortune to meet up with her. Rough women but with hearts of gold. This lady is taking the place of a deceased man who smoked too much and ate too many fried foods. Will this small town police department be happy with a woman taking a mans job?

The police are called by a hysterical mother. The chief must tell his little daughter he won't be home to read to her. Another child is missing and must be found. There is a strange looking little man who doesn't like people, especially cops. But a lot of people are afraid of cops. This little man is highly intelligent and loves books and computers. The father of the kidnapped boy is angry at his wife. He feels the she thinks that hospital job is more important than her son. There is so much anger in that household. The marriage has been troubled before the boy went missing.

The book contains 540 pages and is filled with many different types of interesting characters. It's a good read. Tami Hoag is a good writer of escapist literature. She takes readers to a small mid-western town filled with solid citizens. The time is January, bleak and cold. The excitement of the holidays is over. Things such a kidnapped child taken on one cold night just doesn't happen in a mid-western, family oriented town. Some of the characters have strange pasts. Interesting. Will this boy be found, possibly never. He may be dead. He may be far away from home.. Read and enjoy.

I had never read anything by this author, Tami Hoag, before, but I surely will again. With amazing depth and clarity, Tami Hoag plunges her reader into a nightmare time of death and destruction. The twisted plot looms large, and becomes tangled and eerier with each page. Dr. Garrett Wright, a renowned professer and outstanding citizen is charged with the unspeakable crime of kidnapping eight year old Josh Kirkwood. When yet another child is kidnapped in the sleepy town of Deer Lake, Minnesota, while Dr. Garrett is incarcerated, the county prosecutor has a tough case to crack. Ellen North is our story's heroine, and she is portrayed as a tough nut herself. She is Deer Lake's county prosecutor, and she must face the fact that there is every possibility that Dr. Wright will go free, for a crime she is sure he committed. A lone writer named Jay Brooks appears, and Ellen despises him for his need to welsh on other people's pain, but he plays a strong role in her life, and she must face him, along with a ghost from her past, and a town whose children it is up to her to save. You will not be able to put this book down, I know I couldn't. Tami Hoag builds her characters in such a way that they are never confusing, and the end of the story will have you squirming in your seat.

This is, esssentially, a legal thriller, but Hoag, the wonderful author that she is, mixes lots of other elements in with it, giving it many extra dimensions, and making it stand as a truly stunning work.
Hoag's writing is excellent. Her descriptions are wonderful. and her character developement is the best in the business. Seriously.
I read Night Sins (the prequel to this) and Guilty As Sin back to back, and it was 1000+ pages of unadulterated pleasure. I was blown away first by the dark and sinister tale presented to us in "Night SIns" and again with the tense, thrilling, legal suspense novel which she gives us in "Guilty As Sin".
Hoag can write anything. All her books are very different. With this book she proves that she is even better than John Grisham when it comes to coutrroom thrillers. I was hooked, and couldn't put the book down.
Hoag is a simply brilliant writer, possibly my favourite, next to Cornwell. I love the way she subtly mixes the genres of romance and dark thriller. The relationships between her characters are great, and they are so well drawn it is as if you are really watching real people in a real town.
The plot here is a cracker. It follows on from the brilliant "NIght Sins", but is excellent in the fact that it manages to be very different from the first book. I liked the introduction of a new lead character "Ellen North" whilst still including Megan and Mitch. All the characters are intriguing and interesting, and the final twist at the end really is quite stunning. Hoag is wonderful. She never puts a foot wrong.

Guilty as Sin is a magnificently written follow-up novel to Night Sins, but unlike some sequels this one could stand alone. I would recommend to anyone interested that Night Sins should be read first, because it would give the reader a lot of background and history regarding what happens in the second novel, but Ms. Hoag covers her bases well enough that if Night Sins wasn't read first the reader would still be able to follow along and enjoy.

Ms. Hoag's character development is amazing in this novel as it is in all of her works. Guilty as Sin focuses on Ellen, the assistant district attorney prosecuting a high profile kidnapping case. Ms. Hoag weaves romance into a very suspenseful story as only she can do, and by doing so will catch the hearts of all of us hopeless romantics. This story is also full of twists, turns, and surprises. It keeps you guessing as to who the bad guy is, while it has you rooting for the good guys. It will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last pages, and will be very hard to put down.

I would recommend this novel to any and all readers as I felt there was something in it for everyone.

Tami Hoag began "Guilty As Sin" with a teaser. It's a sequence that actually occurs toward the end of the book. Apparently even she realized that she needed something to try to hook her readers. Personally, I thought it was a bad idea.
The book has a decent premise. A young boy has been kidnapped, and his family's neighbor, Professor Garrett Wright, has been arrested for the crime. However, the boy is still missing. All of this takes place before the book begins. Unfortunately for prosecutor Ellen North, the boy is returned, and another boy is subsequently kidnapped and murdered, apparently by the same person who perpetrated the first crime, while Wright is in jail. Is he innocent? Does he have an accomplice? Is it a copycat crime? Obviously, some other person is involved, either working with Wright or acting on his own?
Actually, I spotted this other person the very first time he appeared in the book. His identity should be obvious to anyone paying attention. (Hint: It's the guy who is always where he doesn't belong. No, not that guy, the other one.)
For me, there were two major problems with "Guilty as Sin". First, it is filled with every literary and dialogue cliché ever used. It was always pretty obvious to me where Hoag was going with her story. Also, I found myself cringing at the dialogue every few pages. The characters seemed to use one overused phrase after another. Second, there wasn't a single character in the book worth caring one iota about including the first kidnap victim. (The second victim never appears in the narrative.) The characters were all incredibly bland and unsympathetic.
Some mention must also be made of Hoag's treatment of the African-American characters in "Guilty As Sin". Apparently, all Blacks in the area of Minnesota where the book takes place are of college age, male, and very bright criminals who speak street gibberish and cannot complete a sentence without cursing.
Well, everyone kept saying how bright these men were.
Also, it appears that everyone in Minnesota is in love with, or having an affair with someone they shouldn't be involved with. We have work affairs, extra-marital affairs, affairs in conflict with both parties' self interests, and even that old standby of unrequited love between a parishioner and her priest. I guess you have to do something to stay warm on the frozen tundra of Ventura-land.
Hoag does try to throw in one surprise at the end, but by then why would anyone care. Besides, it is a pretty silly addition to an already poorly thought out novel.
I had previously read Hoag's "Ashes To Ashes" and found it a pretty good read. Clearly, she's a more than competent writer. Maybe she should have published this mess under a pseudonym.

Are you one of those readers who hates pesky surprises in their crime thrillers? Then this book is for you. Beautiful, single, dedicated-to-justice lawyer (of course) battles against her undeniable sexual attraction to ruggedly handsome writer (of course) while also having to face off with slick defense attorney who is also her ex-lover (of course). Not even mentioning suffering from frightening threats to her life (of course) by a sick, mysterious but ingenious criminal (of course) that you can spot as the one who did it when the character is first mentioned at the beginning of the book (of course). But in defense, it's a readable book that will occupy your time while you wait for the bus.

I think "Guilty As Sin" was a wonderful book. Having read "Night Sins" first, I understood the background of the whole book. Slow moving at some times, with many unneeded details, I only gave this book four stars. The main problem I have is that there is no indication on this book that it's related to "Night Sins". The consumer doesn't know that this is sort of a follow up. Although I read the books in the right order, I wish she would make this issue more clear on any other series she does. Over all, I think "Guilty As Sin" was great.

I truly enjoyed "guilty as sin", However "night sins" is a carbon copy of it. When reading the first I was revited to my seat and filled w/ suspence. "night sins" would also do the same if I bothered to continue reading it, but I could not put myself through the same story line. "Night Sins" is a more descriptive novel however if you read one of these two don't waste your time with the other. She is an incredible author who spent to much time on these two books, she could have done better if she just let the story end and gone to a new idea.

Read "Night Sins" first, but have this one on hand to start as soon as you finish it. I just happened across a copy of "Still Waters" a couple of weeks and read it without having read any Tami Hoag stuff before. I liked it so much that I immediately ordered both "Night Sins" and "Guilty as Sin" and read them back to back. Both are pretty long and I breezed through both in about 4 days - they were that good. I am a big fan of Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson and since I am caught up on their stuff I am now going to order a few more of Tami Hoag's books. She writes a good combination of love story and mystery, a little bit of a change from Cornwell and Patterson, but a good change in my opinion.

The continuation of the child abduction case Tami Hoag began in Night Sins. The story concerns itself with the perpetrator of the abduction of eight year old Josh Kirkwood. This is no simple case. The first suspect committed suicide. The second seems to have some alibi. Josh's father is even suspected to be tied into what has taken place. Ellen North, County Prosecutor and Mitch Holt, Police Chief for Deer Lake, Minnesota investigate. An excellent second part to a very well developed story. A complex and satisfying conclusion.

Full of great characters and twists and turns. Very suspenseful too.This a continuation of the story started in NIGHT SINS but does give background if you don't read that first. (Though you may not be as invested in the characters if you don't) Tami Hoag is a great story teller.

"Night Sins" was my first exposure to Tami Hoag, which set my expectation level very high for every book of hers that I read after. The storyline and protagonist/antagonist intrigue will capture your attention, but only if you haven't read "Night Sins". If you are looking for a fairly well developed plot, a decent character description, this is for you. I highly recommend reading "Night Sins" instead of this one.

I've read several Tami Hoag books, "Kill the Messenger" being my favorite at this time. Guilty as Sin had a lot of good mystery and twists, but several of the characters could have benefitted from more indepth development. A little hard to follow in places. Glad I read it, probably would not read it again.

When I read "Night Sins" it ended practically in the middle of a thought - very obviously (thank goodness) a sequel was planned. "Guilty" continues the story developed in the first book and does a good job of following through on the mystery. While I liked the first book better (personal preference, not quality of writing) "Guilty" keeps the suspense going and wraps up the storyline with a totally unexpected ending.
Don't try reading this book on it's own - you'd be missing the intensity & mystery developed in the first book.

While most reviews that you read, give you the opinion of the reader on that particular book, I tend to read as many books as possible by that author and then rate the book(s). I've always preferred history, biography and romance novels until my eldest daughter introduced me to a new mystery writer at the time...Tami Hoag. I started reading as a skeptic as mystery never really did anything for me; with an over populous of mystery writers, it was always the same storyline, thus I was always disappointed in the end. I have to say Tami's writing gave me a new respect for mystery. I have yet to read any other mystery books that I enjoy as much as Tami Hoag's. I recommend, Cry Wolf, Still Waters, A Thin Dark Line, Dark Paradise, Night Sins and my favorite, Guilty as Sin. I think what I love the most about her books is even when you've figured it out, your wrong, yes you are wrong fellow readers. Even when you finally know who "don-it" you still can't put her books down. As Tami's storylines unfold, I found them to be wickedly deceitful. The ending in Guilty as Sin shocked me and left me wanting to read more of her works. Full of suspenseful twists that only the written word can truly master, much like the old black and white Alfred Hitchcock tales did for the screen.

This is a continuation of Night Sins. Josh Kirkwood, the little boy that had been kidnapped, is returned to his home, but won't say a word to anyone about who took him or what was done to him. ADA Ellen North is sure Dr. Wright (a prof from the local college) is the mastermind. Will she be able to nail him? Add in other subplots, creepy characters, a wacko woman, and a few twists and turns of fate, and you get a story that's a bit too long, but most loose ends are tied up; or are they?

This is a good novel, and after reading "Night Sins", I felt compelled to read the sequel as soon as possible. I didn't feel quite that the main character was quite as well-developed as Megan in "Night Sins," but I still enjoyed the novel and had I read the books in reverse order, I doubt I would have been so critical. Any follow up to "Night Sins", which was a wonderfully suspenseful novel, would be difficult. I still recommend this book, it's a good read!

Another spectacular Tami Hoag book. If you want a quick read, this isn't for you. But if you enjoy well written thrillers, with complex character development, this is an excellent book. The ending was surprising, and it made sense. I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks and dream sequences. One minor dissappointment was the lack of a detailed explanation of the behavior of one of the university professors at the end.

I really enjoyed this book . I was expecting it to be second rate compared with "Night Sins" , but it was the exact opposite . The story grabs you from the beginning . The kidnapping teamed with the romance between attorney Ellen North and rogue journalist Jay Butler Brooks is intriguing and sexy . Anyone who enjoys a thriller with a dash of romance will love this book .

While I enjoyed the story, I listened to this one in audio book format and the narrator made this less enjoyable than it would have been had I read the words myself. If you plan to read this one, READ it--don't listen to it!

I enjoyed this book, my first Hoag read. Although I will say that I wanted to tell the heroin to get over herself several times throughout the book! She irritated me for some reason. Some parts of the legal drama were a little long winded, but overall the story was a good one, and the end a surprising twist. I'd recommend this read to a friend.

I really enjoyed this book . I was expecting it to be second rate compared with "Night Sins" , but it was the exact opposite . The story grabs you from the beginning . The kidnapping teamed with the romance between attorney Ellen North and rogue journalist Jay Butler Brooks is intriguing and sexy . Anyone who enjoys a thriller with a dash of romance will love this book .

While I enjoyed the story, I listened to this one in audio book format and the narrator made this less enjoyable than it would have been had I read the words myself. If you plan to read this one, READ it--don't listen to it!

I enjoyed this book, my first Hoag read. Although I will say that I wanted to tell the heroin to get over herself several times throughout the book! She irritated me for some reason. Some parts of the legal drama were a little long winded, but overall the story was a good one, and the end a surprising twist. I'd recommend this read to a friend.

Tami Hoag's tale of a cold-blooded kidnapper wreaking havoc in a small Minnesota town, has a good plot, some excellent twists and turns, but is a very long-winded and often laborious read. A good editor could have streamlined this story. Prosecutor Ellen North is the well-developed central character of this entertaining and hard -hitting whodunit.

I have never read anything by Tami Hoag before and I doubt that I will again.

This story starts off slow and gets worse quickly. It is very rare that I don't finish a book once I have started it. I only made it 60 pages into this and it took me four days. It is really very boring. It might be good if one is having some problems with insomnia.