Another great crime drama in this series! Kovac and Liska are great characters. This story is complex and there are a number of possible suspects. Finding the truth is difficult as there are several paths to investigate. Kovac has trouble keeping his temper in check. The interplay between the two detectives is sometimes humorous. This story could be read as a stand alone, even though it's good to know the background it is not necessary to follow the plot. If you like crime dramas you will enjoy

Five years ago I read this book for the first time, and since I was in a Kovac & Liska mood, a team of detectives I really like, I decided to re-read Prior Bad Acts. Well, it didn’t impress as much this time around, which in itself is a normal phenomenon re-reading an action-packed thriller. I’ve come to the conclusion that what I mostly dislike in murder mysteries these days is the abundance of violent acts, and the long pages of being inside a killer’s mind. I’m so NOT interested in being insi...

This series just keeps getting better and better!!! Loved it.

Last time I read a Tami Hoag novel, I remember feeling a bit flat; the book in question, Kill the Messenger, hadn't done much for me. Now, though, I've finally gotten around to reading her paperback from last year--Prior Bad Acts--and I'm pleased to report that Ms. Hoag definitely still has it in her.This book goes back to revisit a couple of characters she's written about before: Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska, the cops previously appearing in Dust to Dust. I've seen the formula of a pair of mixed-g...

Stayed up way too late to finish, because I never found a spot where I could’ve stopped and gone to sleep without actually knowing immediately what happened next. Really well done cop/crime thriller. The two main characters are interesting, believable, and likable; the bad guys are really horrible guys, just awful; and the writing gets better with each successive book. There were lots of twists and turns, and a satisfying ending, with enough unresolved storylines to keep you coming back for more...

So far out of the Kovak and Liska series, this has been my favorite. Tami Hoag is fast becoming one of my favorite authors for this year. Her skills with writing mystery are phenomenal along with her characters. She makes them so realistic and believable. There were so many great elements included in this book. Those that I always look for in a good suspense/mystery. I found it hard to put it down. It was such a fluid read and easy to follow even with multiple mysteries running simultaneously. A...

This story was pretty good and quite intense in moments. There was several times in the story when murders or violent situations were described in graphic detail. I found it disturbing, but I also found the story telling to be realistic. Part of me appreciated that the story wasn’t sugar coated. I think it added to the suspense and fear when reading the book. This wasn’t one of my favorite books, but I think it’s worth reading if you’re looking for a suspenseful book to read.

4.5 stars of I Love it! After feeling quite disappointed with Ashes to Ashes I reluctantly pick Prior Bad Acts because the review.....purely. And I’m not disappointed!!!I always like Kovac and Liska and their team and in this book they are very entertaining. The investigation was average but the whole story and plot were hard to put down.

do you know how long it takes to listen to audio books?? this one is eleven hours and thirty-nine minutes! and i am not one of you cyborg kids who have all manner of machines strapped to you and dangling off of your tool belts like a williamsburg batman. i can only listen to this in my house, doing the dishes or cooking etc. but - jesus - eleven hours!! of this guy's voice!! as he raises the pitch to make lady-voices or baby-talks through a five-year-old character or slaps this comical minnesota...

Rating: 4.5This book was not perfect, but I think this was Hoag's best book that I've read so far. I enjoyed it enough to keep it. I even liked the endgame romance at the end. (view spoiler)[Kovac and the judge getting together, was really cute, and I ship it. (hide spoiler)]I spent most of the book wondering who was the Big Baddie™, and it was a lot more complicated than just one. I was actually surprised one of them was not as involved as I thought. (view spoiler)[I thought the judge's husband...

PRIOR BAD ACTS, the 3rd book in the Sam Kovak & Nikki Liska series and opens with the horrific murder of a mother and her two foster children.Detective Sam Kovac, and his partner Nikki Liska are pulled into a case where nothing seems to be what you think. A cast of interesting and realistic characters that you engage with, in particular Kovak & Liska. I enjoy the connection between the two.A well written, fast paced plot that includes kidnapping, murder, torture, secrets, rogue cops, pornography...

I really enjoyed the third book in the Kovac and Liska series. We have Kovac and Liska involved in a case that involves a judge (Judge Carey Moore) that is attacked after giving out a controversial ruling related to a defendant's prior bad acts not being allowed to be introduced to a jury when he goes on trial for the murder of woman and her two foster kids.Kovac is at first not looking forward to the assignment. He doesn't care for Judge Moore now that she is a judge. When she was a prosecutor

Easily one of the best books I have ever read. Each page had me reading faster and flipping the page harder. The suspense was so intense that you could not possibly just read one chapter, I finished this book in two days and will definitely read it again. The twists and turns that Hoag brings through the chapters had so many different emotions going through me for those characters. Highly recommend!!!!

Tami Hoag is one of those authors who, every time I read one of her books, I wonder why I don't read her more often. And I'm still wondering that. Prior Bad Acts is probably, by a hair, my least favorite of the Hoag novels I've read, yet it's still pretty damn' fine. In particular, I liked the way that she turned the tables on my false preconceptions as to the point she was trying to make.All the evidence points toward Karl Dahl as the perpetrator of the horrific torture-murder of a mother and h...

Making my way through the Kovac and Liska series. I like the series and I like the characters of Kovac and Liska and their immediate team. I really enjoyed this suspense murder - maybe one of my favorites in the series.When a judge makes an unpopular decision on the admission of prior bad acts, she is attacked and her life is endangered. A little digging into who may have attacked her leads to multiple options. Some people don't look as innocent as they should. I think I would have liked it more...

PRIOR BAD ACTS (Police Proc-Minneapolis, MN-Cont) – VGHoag, Tami – 3rd in seriesBantam, 2006- Amer Hardcover*** When Judge Carey Moore refuses to allow the prior bad acts of Karl Dahl, accused of committing the brutal murder of a mother and two young children, she is vilified by the police and newspapers as being soft on killers. But someone is even more angry and severely beats her and later threatens her. Detective Sam Kovac is assigned to the case along with his partner Nikki Liska. They, too...

This was a great book! The third installment of the Kovac/Liska series, this has been the best one so far. A gripping storyline, the continued friendship/work partners of Kovac and Liska, and a few new characters to add to the mix. I'm looking forward the next one in the series. A fine thriller and I definitely recommend this series.

This one hooked me on the two main characters - Detective Sam Kovac and his ‘wisecracking partner’ Nikki Liska so, of course, I had to find MORE of the Kovac/Liska pairing to read. Thankfully, there were a few. This is gritty, pretty graphic in violence, but a fascinating read as far as the criminal mind and the at times slow wheels of justice. Liska is a fantastic character who takes no prisoners when up against the ‘good ole boy’ systems in the police fraternity. Kovac is as hard boiled and cy...

I really liked this book, and it was a good ending for the Kovac/Liska series. As with the previous books, I like the multiple character narration, and it lends itself naturally to good suspense building as it cuts away from a suspenseful point in one character's storyline to the simultaneous (I assume) story of someone else in the book. There were a few loose threads that made me give this a 3-star rating: 1. Who was the very first character in the book that found the bodies? I would have liked...

I picked up this book at a library sale. Now when I added it to do my review, I find out that it is the third in a series, and I hate to read books out of order, but I think I can manage this one.I have read a few Tami Hoag books before and I have always enjoyed the way she writes and how she spins a story.This was amazing, it was a well written story with lots of twists and turns that kept you guessing the whole time. The murders were intense and might be hard to handle for some, but the detail...