Another good book from DV Berkom. If you can totally suspend belief, and are ready to dive into the world of never-going-to-happen, then you will enjoy her books. Kate Jones, the main character and our heroine, is a total nitwit with a death wish. When it comes to getting captured and shot and beat up and killed, Kate is second to none. Whatever the worst possible deadly situation you can imagine, well, Kate can beat that in spades. And she does!

Ever hear of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? That is Kate’s full-time job!

Kate is her own worst enemy. And you would think that someone with millions of enemies would try and find some friends, which she does, sort of. It turns out that all of her friends are also her enemies; she has millions of frenemies!

Literally everyone is trying to kill Kate. With oodles of crazy going on it is hard to even remember why everyone is trying to kill Kate, we only know that someone is (or several large groups of peoples). Because everyone is trying to kill Kate, it doesn't take long for her to end up in their clutches.

So she'll be captured by 100 of the most heinous, hard, cold, remorseless murderers / gangsters / drug lords / professional assassins / gang-bangers / baby-killers on the planet, and right when 100 machine guns are about to open up on her and finally kill her good... another 100 of the equally most heinous, hard, cold, remorseless murderers / gangsters / drug lords / professional assassins / gang-bangers / baby-killers on the planet burst in claiming she is theirs to kill! A shoot-out ensues and in a minute - what felt like hours to Kate - 200 ex-murderers / ex-gangsters / ex-drug lords / ex-professional assassins / ex-gang-bangers / ex-baby-killers lay dead on the ground. Once Kate manages to free herself, she one again becomes girl on the run trying to stay one step ahead of the next batch of 100 of the most heinous, hard, cold, remorseless murderers / gangsters / drug lords / professional assassins / gang-bangers / baby-killers on the planet.

That may have not been verbatim, but the book proceeds more-or-less along those lines. Kate makes the impossible readily possible (even more so than Tom Cruise!), and she does it page after page.

While unbelievable, DV Berkom writes very readable stories so they good, quick sources of mindless reading. ( )

Having read the first of this little collection as a separate novella (see here), I was able to dive in at no. 2. The first (Bad Spirits) sees Kate running away from a ruthless ex-boyfriend. He’s particularly keen to find her because she happens to have rather a lot of his money.

In Dead of Winter, Kate sincerely hopes that the depths of a cold and unforgiving little town in Alaska will keep her well hidden, but when she witnesses a murder, she fears she’s been discovered. Hunky officer Sam is assigned to protect her…read exactly what you need into ‘hunky’! Unfortunately, to keep HIM safe, Kate has to flee Alaska to quite a different climate: Hawaii.

Death Rites sees her reunited with old friends, who she hopes will keep her safe. But Hawaiian spirits have other ideas, it seems. She shakes them off by surrounding herself with the Arizona desert in Touring for Death, where she manages to keep herself undetected for five years. But when you’ve had an entourage of drugs, money and guns, life eventually gets complicated and she’s fighting for survival yet again.

Four novellas, by the end of which you’re gasping for breath! For heaven’s sake, Kate, go and work in a library, your life isn’t good for my constitution. I’m a huge, huge fan of Berkom’s writing and especially her hard-nosed, determined, no-nonsense heroines who still have a core of passion, sensitivity and judging by the men they chose, good taste!

A roller-coaster read and I can’t wait to helter-skelter into books 5 and 6. ( )

A compilation of 4 novellas, each containing about 80 pages, this is one sure-fire thrill ride as we follow Kate through a series of misadventures and close-call escapes. I haven’t, even after 4 novellas, decided if Kate is exceptionally lucky, clever or just cursed with an impulsive nature and a really bad sense of potential danger. But, to be honest, if each of the upcoming adventures are as well conceived and written as the four contained in this volume: I don’t care.

The author has created a main character that is easy to both understand and appreciate, with humor, grace and the ability to think on her feet, with a take no prisoners attitude that is very clearly based in her struggles for independence and survival. Each adventure is fast-paced and tightly written, the situations are entirely plausible and all too possible, crafted to create a tension in the reader that mirrors the pace of the action and the increased danger levels.

This is a compilation that you will breeze through, turning page after page to reach the end – with the full impact of each story arriving after you are entangled in the next. These are delightfully sized and instantly engaging stories, perfect for a quick escape into another world, or a slightly longer one as you devour each of the four stories, unable to put the book down. I look forward to Kate’s next adventures – I only hope they are available soon!

I received an eBook copy from author for purpose of honest review for Full Moon Bites tours. I was not compensated for this review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility.
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To say that Kate Jones is a magnet for trouble is a bit of an understatement. In Bad Spirits, Kate has traveled to Mexico on vacation, quickly became involved with a local man only to later find out he's a drug lord. Three years later she compounds her mistake by stealing his money only to find out it wasn't his money but a payment to another drug lord. Bad enough she's attempting to escape from a man that refused to allow her to leave, but she's also being tracked by two drug lords and their compatriots. Fortunately Kate runs into the DEA and is able to escape from Mexico only after agreeing to testify. But Kate knows that even though Salazar and Anaya are in prison her life is still in danger so she runs to Alaska.

Kate witnesses a murder in the wilds of Alaska in Dead of Winter and also realizes she's been found by either Salazar or Anaya as the murderers were speaking using a Mexican dialect. Kate isn't quick to trust the police but she knows she has to report the crime to local authorities. Her report leads to a local deputy, Sam, as a bodyguard. Just when Kate feels she might be able to escape from Alaska, she finds herself in a situation where she must fight not only for her life but for Sam's as well.

Kate jumps from the frying pan into the fire when she lands in Hawaii in Death Rites. She quickly becomes embroiled in local thefts and murder when a friend is found badly injured after a burglary. Kate knows this doesn't have anything to do with Mexican drug lords but she quickly finds herself dealing with another set of crazies and their beliefs in ancient prophesies.

Fast forward a few years and Kate's past has come calling in Touring for Death. Kate is now living and working in Arizona as a tour guide and several of the tourists in one of her tours have been found dead and/or missing. She knows this can't be a coincidence since this happens shortly after her tour vehicle crashes and is found to have been sabotaged.

Kate Jones exemplifies how one or two mistakes in our past can haunt us for the rest of our lives. Kate's first mistake was getting involved with a man she knew nothing about and this was compounded by her belief that she could steal from him and get on with her life. Although the scenarios with the drug cartels were believable, I found some of the other scenarios a bit farfetched, especially those in Hawaii. Even though I had difficulties with some of the scenarios, I was quickly intrigued by Kate's life and wondered if she'd ever gain her freedom from the cartels. The Kate Jones Thriller Set is a quick read that provides murder, mayhem, and lots of suspense and thrills. Kate Jones doesn't start off as a likeable character but I found myself quickly rooting for her as she jumped from mishap to mishap. ( )