Month: August 2023

Duluth PD Lieutenant Maggie Bei is called out in the middle of the night by a local defense attorney, Gavin Wester, who has a strange story to tell. His wife, Chelsey, has been kidnapped.  He attempted to pay the ransom money as the kidnappers requested, but Chelsey was not returned. Now, fearing the worst, he has turned to the police for help. Maggie, calling on her best, summons Serena and Guppo to the scene.  Just as Serena is heading out the door, the phone rings…it’s an officer from Maricopa, AZ calling to let Serena know her estranged mother has been found dead. 

Detective Jonathan Stride has physically recovered from the shooting that nearly took his life a year or so ago and he is at a crossroads, wondering if it is time to return to policing, yet strangely in no hurry to do so.  He and Serena are struggling a bit – there is distance between them, compounded by Cat’s leaving home for college – and now with the death of her mother, he worries about her even more so. But a call from Maggie asking for some help in the case, brings him back to the office, where he quickly realizes is right where he belongs. 

As Serena investigates the Webster’s home, she finds evidence of a break-in and kidnapping. Also intrigued by the timing of the ransom call made, she finds a hidden camera in the home. A canvas of the neighborhood also reveals some interesting information about the state of the couples’ marriage, along with a neglected dog that Serena promptly steals and puts in her car. That, along with some other unusual behavior gets her booted off the kidnapping and into an unsolved cold case.  As she struggles with her emotions, she quickly tosses out 18 years of sobriety as she works through the death of her mother. 

As two seemingly unrelated cases suddenly start to blend together, Serena inadvertently uncovers a cold-blooded, calculated plan for murder, and millions…but is she too late? 

This book was absolutely incredible, as all the Stride novels are!  Suspenseful, gripping and at times painful – it was hard to see Serena struggle with her past – along with some super crafty plot lines – made for an un-put-downable read!! The unexpected ending was the icing on the cake! Just perfect!!  Now the anxious wait for the next Stride novel begins! 

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

Former Navy SEAL Finn returns again, continuing his desperate search for the truth – who sabotaged his last mission and set him up to take the fall? And why can’t he remember? After escaping capture in Iceland, Finn has settled down to hide on a tiny island village off the coast of Puerto Rico.  Bunking down in a small room behind a village eatery, he carefully researches his situation, while befriending his blind landlord and the man’s two young grandchildren, who have affectionately given Finn the nickname Mimo. Then, one afternoon, they don’t return home from their daily wandering.  

As Finn sets out in search of the children, he quickly reviews and discards possible scenarios while he wanders the island looking for clues. He quickly comes to realize that the kids likely saw something they weren’t supposed to – cartels and the drug trade being rampant in the area – and were taken because of it.  Despite his pressing need to stay hidden, he does his best to stir up the local cartel in hopes of gaining some information as to who may have them.

Meanwhile, Pedro & Miranda awaken to find themselves locked in a small room in a shack that abuts the El Yunque National Forest. Despite being young, they are smart, agile and resourceful, as their kidnappers are soon to find out – and they have learned a lot from watching their new friend, Mimo. With some quick thinking and a trick or two gleaned from their mentor, they manage to escape their captors and head into the forest. 

 But time is of the essence, as there’s a tropical storm that is steadily strengthening as it bears down on the island. And – unbeknownst to Finn – he’s not just stirred up a proverbial hornet’s nest with the local cartel and the mysterious and highly feared El Rucco – there are some new arrivals to the island as well. Their mission – to find and eliminate Finn… 

This is the third in the series to date, and they just get better and better! Action-packed, nail-biting suspense, a great story line and some interesting Puerto Rican history make for a great read!!  I am completely hooked on this series and now very anxiously await the next installment

(I must include a special thank you to Random House for offering this novel to me, and an apology that it published before my review did!  Some life changes have me scrambling to catch up on my reading!)

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

This is the second novel in a series revolving around Detective Ben Packard, acting Sheriff of Sandy Lake, a small town in rural Minnesota. A fairly new officer to Sandy Lake, he finds himself designated as acting chief when the Police Chief has to step aside for cancer treatment, much to the chagrin of other members of the department.  Ben is also gay, having moved back to the town of his childhood after his partner, another cop, was gunned down. As their relationship had been secret, he had to mourn privately, and felt the best thing to do was start anew elsewhere. His other reasons for returning to Sandy Lake become clear in the latter part of the novel. 

Ben is called to the scene of an apparent robbery gone wrong, leaving the homeowner, Bill Sanderson, dead of a gunshot wound in his bedroom, his distraught wife, crying on the couch. As Ben gently questions the wife, he learns that the couple sleeps separately, and that after hearing a loud ‘bang’, she went to her husband’s side of the house, finding him dead in a pool of blood. As Ben continues to gather information, he learns from a deputy that the victim used to be married to his wife’s sister – and that there is no love lost between the two women. 

As the investigation ramps up, Ben uncovers more questions than answers – and plenty of suspects.  Meanwhile, he receives a call that his mentor, Sheriff Shaw, has lost his battle with cancer, bringing the probability of an election to fill the now vacant Sheriff position. Initially Ben is not interested – knowing he will be subjected to public scrutiny – but with some soul searching, along with heavy pressure from friends and colleagues – he relents and throws his hat into the ring.  But can he solve this murder and prove that he’s worthy of the position? 

While the ending was a bit surprising to me at first, I then realized that it was the perfect set up into the next adventure for Ben. Sheriff Shaw has left Ben a little something that rocks Ben to his core…  While the backstory is revealed at the novels end, the contents of the package will fuel this series for books to come, I suspect! I adore Ben’s character and all of the small town drama, and the intricacy of these plots is fabulous! I cannot wait for the next installment! An absolute must read series!! 

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