Review of Sacrifice of Innocence

Sacrifice of Innocence by Allison Cosgrove—êêê stars

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Warning: There are spoilers and hints of spoilers in this review.

Stan is a hard-working detective who is trying to rebuild his status after trouble with alcohol.  His partner has a reputation as well, but they work well as a team—and their relationship was truly one of the most enjoyable parts of the story.  It felt like a real partnership and there wasn’t a romantic undertone like many authors would have taken.

The plot of the story centers on a series of child abductions and murders that have finally been linked together.  At the start of the story, the police believe they have the right man in custody but another kidnapping casts that into doubt.  The trial is not going well, and despite the hope that the child was abducted by a copycat, Stan begins to believe that something more is happening.  The mother of the child gets involved, and slowly the protagonists realize that this is not a standard kidnapping.

The good parts of this story are very good: Stan is an interesting protagonist and a fun character to follow around the story.  The mother of the kidnapped girl is a very strong female character, not something you see in stories now—at least not really.  She feels very real—perhaps even more than Stan.  The backstory with the child’s father also plays out very well, and I like that the situation between mother and father isn’t completely settled.  There’s a sense that things will have to be worked on between them, but there is hope.

The weakest part of the story is the villains.  They make foolish mistakes which helps the protagonists, particularly Stan.  The personal attacks on his nature only serve to make him sure that something is wrong.  At one point, the leader of the villains seems to have magical powers which she wields over a minion, only those never show up in the final fight, when they would help her group the most.  I recognize that these could have been a fabrication of the minion’s mind, but I would have liked to know that for certain.  But the biggest issue I had was that there was no revelation regarding why the villains were the way they were.  If you don’t want HUGE spoilers, don’t read any further in this paragraph… gone?  Okay, good: the villains follow a deity of a Mesoamerican faith but they are not Mesoamerican in heritage.  How you end up with modern Caucasians following a Native American god would make a fascinating story, particularly given the heights of power some of the villains reach.  It is clearly a secret society, but it’d be really interesting to learn how it came to be and how it gained the power it has.

Overall, I still enjoyed Sacrifice of Innocence.  The characters, the heroes especially, are particularly well-written and very engaging.  The plot and strong characters carried the story, earning it three stars.