Hi girls. Welcome to this review of this suspense novel. XD It was an accident, I read the synopsis and ordered it before checking who the author was. My mistake. I don’t have a lot else to say. Let’s jump right in.
FBI Special Agent Grace Billingsley tracks serial killers, using her skills as a psychiatrist and behavioral analyst to get dangerous people off the street and safely behind bars. But prison psychiatrist Sam Monroe knows that just because a killer is incarcerated doesn’t mean they’re not a threat. His own father, Peter, is a serial killer–in prison but certainly not out of Sam’s life, as much as he wishes he was.
When bodies start showing up with Peter’s MO, Sam and Grace are both called in to consult. They’ve met before–and though Grace thought they’d made a real connection, Sam ghosted her. They’ll have to get past the awkwardness and mistrust to solve this case–especially because it’s about to get personal.
Ok so first thing… I want to clarify and make sure everybody knows that this story is actually very well written. The author has talent, and the story was very interesting. But I’ve never been a fan of Mrs. Eason’s work, and I will get into that further later in the review.
Characters
I really loved the characters in this book. Grace was full and beautiful and complicated. And ninety percent stupid. Three percent was her allowing someone to be with her after she was actively targeted. Ninety seven percent of her refused a safe house and that just drove me out of my mind. What is it with stubbornly stupid female agents refusing proper protection when they’re literally a target.
Other than that, I really did like Grace. She had a good character. I appreciated how she owned her mistakes, how she felt guilt for them, and how she grew. I loved how she addressed the situation with her family, which I did not like at all.
Sam was… Sam. I liked him only slightly less than Grace. His family was very good. It’s so hard to find a good family thats been through a divorce where the kids aren’t arrogant little buttheads to everybody. Sam’s kids were actually good. Xander and Eleni both had personalities that I appreciated. And I loved the addition of mother in law, Venessa, actually encouraging her son in law and helping him raise his family.
Sam’s personality was complicated. I didn’t fully connect with him, and I feel like the resolution to his arc was not fully finished the way that Grace’s was.
I also know when the author put the two MCs together, we got a very good, very golden very natural friendship. But *no* chemistry. Most of the romance aspect of their relationship was very much told and not shown. They were amazing friends and their friendship grew over the course of the book, but they never needed to become a couple… It didn’t take from the book. But there were moments when I was reading and all of a sudden they had kissed and I sat there blinking because it was totally out of the blue and didn’t fit the moment. They were very good friends but they did not need to be romantically involved with each other to make the story have good value and plot. This could have been a very good Suspence book without the Romantic Genre tacked on.
The Plot
The plot of this story was well done. It was written thoroughly through and in a way that wasn’t that hard to follow. There were two side plots, one with Sam and one with Grace, beside the main plot line. Neither of them had to be there, but they were written well enough that it didn’t take away from the story.
The suspense part… It was very good. I had anxiety 75% of the time I was reading it. Which is not a good thing. I like a good suspense book but there is a difference between suspense and anxiety.
I suppose this is the part of the review where I would discuss why I did NOT like this story…
Mrs. Eason writes very, very good antagonists. I hate her antagonists. I’ve only read a few of her books, and I always start off impressed with her writing, with the complexity of the plot, and then about half way through I find myself battling with myself not to DNF the story. Her villains are very smart. Clean cut. Hard to catch, sociopathic killers, usually involving kids in some way. In the books I’ve read. This really bothers me. I don’t mind a violent antagonist. I don’t even mind that much when the protagonist or side characters get injured or attacked, as tends to happen in suspense novels. But when there’s a sociopathic killer, sociopath meaning they have no emotions but are incredible at hiding it and using it to manipulate people, it makes me sick. Especially because they have no remorse for their actions, and as a result, they will target whatever and whoever they need to to accomplish their goals.
This is not the kind of books I like to read.
Because I’ve experienced this uncomfortable nature with both of the novels I’ve pushed through with Mrs. Eason, I will not be purchasing or reviewing any more of her work. It’s just not something I enjoy and not worth my nerves.
The Content
There was… a lot of potentially disturbing moments in this story. The language was clean, and there was no sexual content other than a few kisses and one of the characters spouses not being faithful. But the violence in this one was brutal. The murders were described bluntly and they were very ugly. I would not recommend this for anyone who isn’t used to the suspense/action genre. Especially not young readers.
In Summary
The story was well written, but I would not read this book again. I don’t think it was anything particularly wrong with the story itself, and plenty of people would not mind it in the least, but this one was not for me. Because this is my review and my personal experience with this book, I had to put it at two stars. Thank you to Revell and Mrs. Eason for a free copy of this book. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own.
