Mimi's Bookcase

Synopsis: "They're members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, an elite team of FBI profilers tasked with examining the nation's most twisted criminal minds -and anticipating their next moves before they strike again...
The BAU team is dispatched to Lawrence, Kansas, to investigate a series of fatal stabbings among the town's homeless population. The victims have all been found freshly bathed, neatly groomed, and wearing new clothes. To profiler Jason Gideon, these look like carefully staged murders in isolated settings, fulfilling the sick fantasies of one or more Unknown Subjects. [...]"


My Opinion: An okay read for the fans of the TV series.
I love Criminal Minds and I have watched all the episodes several times. Yes, it's dark and it shows very ugly sides of human beings but that's what I find interesting: we are all different and some of us are so "broken" that they are capable of the worst things imaginable and I like discovering what could make them that way, in what kind of psychological state they are.
As a fan, you can imagine that when I discovered there were books based on the show, I had to give them a try.

Jump Cut is the first novel of the series. It is an easy, quick and nice enough read though it's not one of the best crime books I've ever read.
As far as the writing is concerned, it is average, neither good nor bad, it is easy to read and frankly that's all I cared about. My only criticism concerns the many descriptions of the characters' clothes that I found useless, awkward and forced. I don't really understand the point of having them: the profilers always wear the same kind of clothes so one description at the beginning would have been quite enough especially since the author himself wrote that they are always dressed the same. I was quite "blasée" by them and ended up skipping them. Even in the show, I don't pay attention to what they wear except for Garcia because her fashion is always bright and fun... which is a must for the one who brings the "light" to the darkness that is their job.

As for the plot, I found the story quite interesting though it took me some time to really get into it but once I was, I couldn't stop reading. I only regret that the author didn't take time to really explore the psyche of the unsubs and what made them the way they are.

To conclude, I don't recommend this book to those who haven't watched the show. Indeed, the characters and their relationships are already established and you could easily get lost if you don't already know them. The story takes place not long after the arrival of Emily Prentiss in the team and so after Reid's "misadventure" and Elle Greenaway's departure that are both mentioned in the novel without any real explanation which would probably make the reader feel lost and annoyed at not understanding if they haven't watched the episodes.


To summarize: a nice read for all the fans of the TV show. It may be quite useful during the hiatus or simply when one episode a week isn't enough for you :p