Complicit – Amy Rivers

A must-read!!

Kate Medina is a forensic psychologist, who’s returned home to small town Alamogordo, New Mexico after a jailhouse assault shook her to her core. Now, sharing her childhood home with her father, she is a counselor to teens at the local high school, where her biggest worry is how to get them to open up – and how to re-connect w/ Roman Aguilar, her best friend whom she left behind over 15 years ago. Now a detective with the local police department, Roman has maintained his distance, both physical and emotional, from Kate.

Kate’s latest concern is a student named Mandy, who has undergone a dramatic transformation in the few sessions she’s had with her, from a dramatic, angry teen to a mere shell of herself, slumped in a chair and not speaking.  With the recent disappearance of local teen Gabby Greene affecting all of the high school students in different ways, Kate suspects some type of trauma may have been responsible for the drastic change she has seen. 

When Kate returns to work the next day, she finds Roman in her office waiting for her, to tell her that Gabby’s body had been found that morning, with evidence of a brutal rape and torture; the scene similar to one that Roman & Kate had come across themselves many years ago. While Kate has nothing to add to the investigation, she had Roman form an uneasy alliance as they try to learn more about Gabby’s murder.  

Mandy finally shares a horrific story with Kate, which leaves Kate & Roman questioning everything they’ve ever known about the town and its people. As they work together to unravel the evil that has permeated the town for decades, those responsible will do anything to see them fail…

Wow! This book was fantastic!! It’s also the first book of a new series, which makes it that much better for me, because I was hooked right from the start! There is so much to this story, and so many things I left out so that I wouldn’t give the book away, but this book kept me in suspense right from the get-go, and I could not put it down! The characters were flawed, but likeable – even more so as you began to understand their motivations – and I cannot wait for the next installment to this sordid but thrilling story!! 

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from #Netgalley & Compathy Press in exchange for an objective review.  Do you love to read?? Visit Netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!