When a body is found dismembered by the river, two detectives try to unravel the mystery of who the victim is, and how her legs and torso ended up packed tightly in a suitcase. Diaz is a rookie, untried on big cases (no pun intended), but Hall believes in him. She thinks he's got what it takes to be her partner and to get to the bottom of this awful, grizzly murder.

As the detectives begin to unravel the victims past, Hall quickly learns that this is not a straightforward murder. The killer has completely cleaned and disinfected the murder scene and has skilfully cut the victim in places that almost defy belief. The victim had a fractured relationship with her family, after suffering under a strict father; she's had troubled relationships and friendships. There's many people on the suspect list. But that's not Hall's only problem. She simply doesn't know who she can trust.

Although that brief summary of No More Bad Days sounds somewhat clichéd, the actual book itself isn't. Whitaker has, just as skilfully as the murderer's nauseating incisions, woven the story of Diaz and Hall with the history of the victim. She's pulled everything together in a tension filled thriller that anyone who enjoys murder and detective shows will love.

I also especially loved that Diaz's fiancé, Emily, is deaf. A strange thing to love in a thriller novel, but there you go. It's that Diaz and Emily converse using American Sign Language, and that Whitaker hasn't shied away from having a character with a disability in the book. She doesn't make a fuss of the use of sign language, she simply states that they're signing to each other. She also makes nice small points such as Diaz turning on lights to let her know he's home. That when he met her in school, he made an effort to learn ASL so that he could have a proper conversation with her. It was a nice touch.

Overall, this is a great book.

S. A