Deus ex Machina

SPOILER ALERT!!!  If you have any intention of reading The Rosary Girls, you shouldn't read this post! 

I finished the novel and was forced to shake my head in disgust.  All along, this was a very "realistic" novel- this could have been a real series of crimes, investigated by real people.  Suddenly, near the end of the story, the male detective has a vision of his partner in trouble, the serial killer parked outside her house.  So, he sweeps in and saves her at what would have been the moment of her death.  Right. 

In the process of saving her, he takes a bullet to the head.  And survives.  Perhaps this was intended to convince me that he was a good guy after all.  I still don't particularly like him.

Even though I feel no real attachment to these characters and a fair amount of disgust for the implausible ending, I feel obliged to read The Skin Gods.  This is another novel about the same detectives after another serial killer.  I wonder if Montanari will try to justify his deus ex machina by using it in another novel.