Alan Brenham

This crime thriller started out well and then it shifted into a frustrating and disappointing conclusion.

Detective Madison Chase is on the hunt for a serial killer who is targeting sex offenders. The unknown suspect sends poems to the police giving hints about the next murder and signs them P.G. A witness can only say that the killer is a woman. It also seems that this villain is focused on Madison and her daughter, Emily.

The chapters are short and there are a lot of different characters with various points of view in the narrative. Madison and her ex-husband are engaged in a custody issue with their daughter and that takes up way too much of the book and the voice of Emily in the story was far too ridiculous for her age and I really got annoyed with that. The twist was out of nowhere and completely unbelievable considering that the reader has been in that person's mind.

Anyway, the book was good until the last half when it veered off and never recovered for me. This was an ARC.… (meer)

I first read a book by this author nine years ago (Price of Justice), and my review of it reminded me how much I enjoyed it, so I had no hesitation at all picking up another by him. It's another fast-paced thriller.

There are murders on opposite sides of the world, there's a missing USB stick, cartel thugs, the Eiffel Tower, three random French words and triplets, one of whom is deaf. So…how are they all connected? A seemingly difficult-to-solve puzzle for the reader, but it all unfurls strategically with a lot of suspense and action to move it along at a cracking pace.

There's rather a lot more 'telling' than 'showing', and I did feel some difficult, tragic even, events needed more emotional display by the characters. Nonetheless, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining novel that keeps you on your toes, wondering how the main protagonists are going to keep a life-saving distance from the ruthless baddies…there are a lot of train rides involved, that's for sure!… (meer)

noir, contemporary, abduction, hearing-issues, Italy, mental-health-issues, coercion, thriller, suspense, escape, prisoners, investigation, invisible-disability, predators, sisters, murder, nuns, wealthy, entitled-attitude****

Interesting thriller centering around a hearing impaired victim of a man who is both deluded and capable of harming his victim via coercion and those who work hard to free her. Well done and scary.
I requested and received an EARC from BooksGoSocial via NetGalley.… (meer)

local-law-enforcement, procedural, unpleasant-co-worker, friction, murder-investigation, undercover, vice, crime-fiction, crime-thriller***
In the beginning I was less than thrilled with the manic excessive violence. Immediately it was followed by a loser cop spouting ethnic name calling and baiting of the new detective (it was like getting slapped in the face with a day-old codfish). Interesting that it was confined to newbie status and ethnicity while essentially skipping the customary bias against females in the detective division. Otherwise, the investigation and other aspects of police work was OK and the storyline interesting. I am well aware that these things happen, but I read fiction to get away from the realities I know and loathe. I think that a little less graphic brutality would go a long way to making this a desirable series. Love the character of Homicide Detective Kit Hanover.
I requested and received an EARC from BooksGoSocial via NetGalley. Thanks.… (meer)