Body of Evidence (CSI Crime Scene Investigation) (Mass Market Paperback)
Review
“No one can twist you through a maze with the intensity and suspense of Max Allan Collins.”
Product Description
Early one quiet Monday morning, in an empty executive office, assistant Janice Denard begins to prepare for another ordinary day – but instead discovers evidence of horrific crimes, shocking photographs left abandoned in a printer. Now, with the help of the LVPD’s computer forensics experts, the CSI team must track through hardware and software, deception and deceit to find the perpetrators. But while Willows and Stokes investigate the once well-hidden secrets now revealed in print, Grissom, Brown, and Sidle uncover new and disturbing evidence in a high-profile media case…the brutal murder of the Mayor’s long-missing secretary.
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This is a fairly good book, the first 3 were much more entertaining. Not sure who is proof reading and/or editing but that seriously needs to be improved upon.
Another glaring error – in the first 3 books (as in the TV show), it’s stated that Sara is a vegetarian. However, in one part of the book, the author has her eating a turkey sandwich!
Also, you can tell which character is the author’s favorite – it’s noted that a lot of space is devoted to Catherine Willows and her flowing strawberry blonde hair, clothes, how intelligent she is. Sara seems to just be part of the background – in the portion of the book dealing with the case of the mayor’s secretary – Grissom, Warrick, Sara and Brass are meeting in the mayor’s office. The author focuses mostly on Warrick’s reactions to things said – was Sara meant to be a only a casual observer at the meeting? This is prevelant throughout the book series. Would like to see a little more time and space devoted to Sara.
When Catherine Willows and Nick Stokes catch a call at the end of their shift reporting “unknown trouble”, it is all Catherine can do to drag herself down to the Newcombe-Gold Advertising Agency, knowing that her daughter will once again wake up to her regular babysitter instead of her mother. But, when Catherine and Nick discover that the unknown trouble involves graphic photos of child pornography printed from Mr. Gold’s computer, they both are willing to do whatever it takes to find the person who would buy such filth. All of the evidence points to one man in the office, even though the computer forensics show that his computer was not used to print the photos, but Catherine’s gut tells her that the obvious suspect is not the one who did this – but who did?
Meanwhile, Grissom, Warrick & Sara catch the case that could make or break their carriers outside of Nellis Air Force Base. They discover the body of an unknown woman, called in by a good Samaritan. The body was carefully wrapped and duct taped, but when they open up the package, they recognize the face of Candace Lewis, the Las Vegas mayor’s personal assistant who disappeared a few weeks past. Grissom is forced to put aside his distaste of politics and deal with the mayor’s relationship with Candace and the sheriff’s political aspirations. With so much pressure coming from outside sources to solve the case and keep the details under wraps, Grissom is forced to walk on eggshells and use careful maneuvering in his investigation or ruin the wrong person’s career…
This is the fourth book in the CSI series by Max Collins and, while it was not as entertaining as the first three, it was still a very enjoyable read. The endings of the mysteries were particularly interesting in that it reminds us that sometimes the simplest and most obvious solution is the correct solution, instead of the convoluted and complex hypotheses that investigators come up with while working on cases. Again, Collins does a superb job of keeping the TV personalities consistent and clear – I always feel like I am watching an episode on TV when I read his books, I just get more detail this way!
Catherine and Nick are working a case involving child pornography found in the print out tray at an advertising agency. Sara and Warrick work on the death of the secretary to the mayor of Las Vegas. I didn’t like this one as much as I did the three previous CSI books. There is a lot of technical computer speak which many people might find interesting, but I thought was a little tedious. There was less humor too. I especially missed the frequent dry wit displayed by Gil Grissom in previous outings. All in all, it was less flashy, but still an entertaining read.