Alexa Steele

When I started reading this book, I thought it an interesting premise. The link of a recent murder to an older one allowed the author to give some town background and to work in a red herring or two. At least it should have. As a new writer, this didn't work as planned. In fact, more symptoms of a new writer: a lack of emotional word descriptions. Characters in this book get "annoyed" or "frustrated" more than anything else. It's like there's happy, frustrated, mad. No other real emotional descriptions. ...

Something else I spotted. I saw the stereotypical characters that people assume are in these small rich towns, the treatment of the ones with less money, Even the hard as nails female SVU detective who's seen and done it all with regard to crime, is single and married to her work. The drunk over the hill cop called back to help another with this big important case. Writers are supposed to enhance the base trope, not stick to it.

There were sections that could just go away or be summarized down to one or two paragraphs as they are just research information dumps placed in the middle of the story. Slowed things down. Ugh.

Maybe I read too many mysteries, but it felt like the author hung a lantern on the final suspect. It looked too obvious. The twist of her background, not enough early clues, too much last half reveals. Just poor plotting.

The second in the series MIGHT be worth a gander, to see if the writer improves. But I'm not rushing out to buy it.… (mehr)

This is a disturbing book whose roots start at an insane asylum where sexual assault was commonplace. Two detectives who don't really want to be teamed up with each other are sent to untangle a web of murder. In the process, they come to have grudging respect for each other and find a way to work together.

I found this book hard to get into in the beginning chapters. The plot didn't really interest me much, and I wasn't crazy about the characters either. I did finally start to care about the detectives--but it was at least halfway through the book.

I was also distracted by a number of typographical errors that indicate the author did not have the book proofread.

I might read a second book in the series to see if the (nonromantic) chemistry between the two detectives continues in the way it did in the latter half of this book. If so, then I think it could become a good series. If future books start out the way this one did, I would not read on.… (mehr)