While She Was Sleeping, by Suzanne Forster

I hadn't read Suzanne Forster in years (and I don't remember enjoying her books that much, to tell the truth), but While She Was Sleeping sounded interesting, even if the reviews were lackluster.

He knows when you're alone...
He abducts women from their beds at midnight, gagging and terrorizing them and then dumping them, drugged but alive, days later. None of the victims have been able to identify him, and the Seattle police have no leads-until now...

And after the lights are out...
There's been a new abduction, but with a terrifying twist--the latest victim, a cop working on the case, has been found dead. But the police may now have the break they need-a witness...

He comes for you...
The sole witness is a homeless woman with a shaky memory. Forensic sketch artist Jennifer Nash has been called in by the SPD. However, her unconventional techniques have made her unpopular with cops­--one cop in particular. Russ Sadler was the victim's ex-partner. He's now the chief investigator --and the last person Jennifer wants to work with. Their affair left them both burned, but they can't let their emotions interfere. The killer is a lot closer than anyone realizes, and now he has his eye on Jennifer...

Well, I should have listened to the reviews and stayed away from this one, my grade for it is a D.

Russ didn't make a good impression at the beginning. He looked like the worst kind of cop, the kind which will actively sabotage someone (Jennifer, in this case) who has a real chance to break the case simply because he wants to "win" himself. I just couldn't believe the way he hid the witness from her and contaminated the witness' memories, all the while knowing that Jennifer's methods, however polemic, were so often successful.

Still, in the beginning, the book at least looked interesting, even with Russ behaving like a baboon. Soon, however, it started to drag and drag and drag. Nothing would happen for pages, they kept either running around in circles or doing nothing that would help catch the murderer. Even Jennifer's sketching thing, which was interesting, was ruined by her stupid, stupid behaviour when it came to the way she evaluated her results. So the "police procedural" part was basically a bust.

And the characters! I didn't perceive even a smidgen of chemistry between these two former lovers. Their interactions felt wooden, and my personal un-favourite part of the book was the way their previous break-up was explained. Lots of meaningless psychobabble from Jennifer about her father and trust and having lied to her mother, and this apparently made sense to Russ, as a good reason to leave someone practically at the altar? No way!

Things picked up a bit at the end, but only because the Forster made Jennifer behave like a brain-dead twit and recklessly endanger her life just because. I ended up skimming the completely unbelievable ending.

What a waste of time! This one's going straight to my trade list!