Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I wanted to like "They Never Die Quietly," I really did. I love the idea that Amazon is releasing work that wasn't published by a major house, and think there are plenty of books out there worthy of getting picked up. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. Warning: minor spoilers ahead, though no more than in the publisher's description. That said, the plot basics are simple: Simon, the crazy, religious, killer that was overly-involved with his mom (who he believes is speaking to him from beyond the grave), kills and necro-rapes women in order to cleanse those nasty sinners' souls. All the killing is done in his always-init-capp'd Room of Redemption, where the women are also (surprise!) crucified. Killer Simon is being hunted by ace chick-detective Sami Rizzo, who is (of course) the only female detective on the squad and is implied to be (also of course) smarter than all the men. Sami and Simon meet coincidentally outside of the investigation (because that happens ALL the time - you know, killers meeting the lead detectives that are hunting them), and Sami begins to suspect, through hard-to-believe leaps of logic and poorly-based assumptions, that Simon may just be the killer. Suspicions she fails to share with her longtime detective partner, Al (who's in love with Sami from afar - of course), which pretty much undercuts that whole "she's smarter than the other guys" thing. Because she keeps her suspicions to herself, when she goes to Simon's house (without telling ANYONE where she's going), Sami ends up captured by Simon (of course), and stuck in the Room of Redemption. Will she outsmart Simon? Will she get away? Will Al save her? Will the clichés ever stop? This book appears to have been written by taking a fistful of standard plot points from a bag, stringing them together, then adding extra gore. The gore is overdone, voyeuristic, and for the most part pointless, feeling more like grabs at attention than necessary parts of the book (no, I'm not squeamish, and I don't have a problem with graphic passages), the characters' behaviors are hard to believe, and the plot points are (have I mentioned this yet?) incredibly clichéd. I know I'm going to get railed for writing a negative review - it's the nature of the beast - but I gotta call it like I see it, and this book is simply not worth the time.