Dead end girl 是一部悬疑小说，讲得是关于FBI 心理师 （Profiler) Violet Darger破案系列六本里的第一本， 我看了其中三本，每本都很精彩，我最喜欢的还是这本。
Dead End 英文里有两层意思，一个是死胡同，另一个是堕落的意思，书里面的死者Sierra是一个站街女加瘾君子，她的无头尸体被发现在一个死胡同，题目可谓一语双关。这本书最让我印象深刻的是对杀人细节的描写，让我一度怀疑作者是不是杀过人，
这是对凶手杀人的描述, 看了后让人后背发凉:
... The knife slashing a line in her throat. The flaps of skin hesitating a moment before they pulled apart. Sheets of flesh like a layer of paper shrouding the meat which shrouds the bones. She leaks out everywhere. Red. Blood spurting out with every heartbeat. A wild spray like a garden hose with a thumb held over the opening. She swoons right away from the blood loss. Eyelids drooping. Muscles gone slack. So scared and small. Her skin icy cold to the touch within seconds. It is fast. Less than a minute from the incision to unconsciousness. Death arrives for minutes after that. It settels over the body as her self vacates the shell. For now and for always....
凶手是个恋尸癖（necrophilia), 喜欢把受害者的头砍下来，放在自己枕边直到变臭，他还会给砍下的头做化妆，变态到极致，看了让人作呕， 很佩服作者还能详细的把过程写下来：
... The head rests on a wooden rocking chair in the living room area of his studio apartment. It stands upright but tilted to balance its weight on the stumped neck bone and the rounded back of the cranium. The mouth hangs open all the way. Like she reclines on a dentist's chair....
... He kneels next to her and opens the make up kit. He loads the makup sponge with the stuff and spreads the first swipe over the flesh. He is painnting her. .. That's all. Like putting a fresh coat on the shed. Covering the wrinkles and flaking places....
...He tries his best with the mascara, knowing it will get a little messy. The lipstick and eye shadow go on easier. Faster. You look so beatufiful tonight. Like a proper lady....
书中还有很多凶手和人头如何相处的细节，就不一一举例了。
还有死者Sierra 的妈妈Mrs. Peters也是一个极品，她故意假装可怜，找到Darger, 借口要看女儿尸体的照片，然后从电脑里把她女儿惨死的照片翻拍后，偷偷卖给小报记者。
这个坏女人演技太好了：
Sierra 的妈妈： “I heard about it this morning. I had to go to the Website. Had to see it for myself."...
Darger： ...“Mrs. Peters, I am so sorry, I wish you didn't have to see that. Especially not that way.”...
She covered her face with her bony hands. A long moan escaped through her fingers. “ Oh, my little girl. What did he do to my little girl.
支开Drager， 她好偷拍照片
..."Do you have any ice I am feeling little warm. " "Oh" Darger said, peeking at the rippling liquid in the cup. "Sure I just have to run down to ice machine." When Drager returned, Sierra's mother seemed to have set herself back to rights. Her eyes were clear again, her purse hung squarely from her shoulder....
金句：
There are so many objects all aroud us, he thinks, and yet this world is utterly, utterly empty.
Grief makes you feel vulnerable. And there are a lot of people that would rather appear apathetic than weak.
