Review: Gallery of the Dead

Gallery of the Dead by Chris Carter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Crucifix Killer, the first book following Robert Hunter, guaranteed my status as a Chris Carter fan, and since then I’ve been devouring each additional book. In fact, the Robert Hunter series is one of my favourite crime thriller series. I’m not big on giving out five-star ratings – I reserve them for my absolute favourite reads, those that truly blow my mind – yet the Robert Hunter series has pulled a couple of five-star ratings from me, and every other book has been a solid four-star rating. With Gallery of the Dead, book nine, we have another solid four-star rating.

If the truth is to be known, I was more desperate for Gallery of the Dead than I have been for any other Robert Hunter read. You see, I managed to get my hands on an early copy of The Caller, which meant I had to wait longer between my reading of the Robert Hunter books than I usually do. Sure, it was only a few months more – but it felt like a much longer wait than usual. The big question, therefore, is whether the wait was worth it – with the simple answer being ‘yes’.

As with every Robert Hunter read, this one sucks you in from the very first page and leaves you hooked throughout. Things progress at a wonderful pace, slowly introducing us to elements, and throwing in numerous twists the deeper into the story you get. Whenever you think things are about to come together, when you think the end is in sight, an additional element is thrown into the works, ensuring you’ll be reading on to see where everything goes. Despite the page count, this is a book you’ll devour in no time at all, finding yourself lost and hooked to the story.

Although Gallery of the Dead is the ninth book in the series, like any good crime thriller series this book can be read as a standalone novel. The story works perfectly fine as a standalone, but the ending will have the biggest impact upon long-term fans of the series. I will not go into detail, as to do so will be to give spoilers, but the ending leaves with a serious cliff-hanger. I cannot begin to explain my desperation for book ten, as the promise of what is to come has me insanely excited for the next release.

I’m always excited for the next Chris Carter release, but it is safe to say the shock ending of Gallery of the Dead has me more excited for the next release than usual.

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