Tag: crime

Burn Down the Night (Everything I Left Unsaid: Book 3) by Molly O’Keefe

Burn Down the Night (Everything I Left Unsaid Book 3) by [O'Keefe, M.]

Publisher: Loveswept

Publication Date: August 9, 2016

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Erotica, Romantic Suspense, Erotic Romance, Suspense, Adult, Dark, Mystery, Crime

Series: Everything I Left Unsaid

Everything I Left Unsaid—Book 1

The Truth About Him—Book 2

Burn Down the Night—Book 3

Wait for It—Book 4 (review here)

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | IndieBound | Indigo | Kobo

Goodreads Synopsis:

A battle for control turns explosive as a beautiful con woman takes a bad-boy biker hostage in this edgy, seductive novel set in the world of Everything I Left Unsaid and The Truth About Him.

The only thing that matters to me is rescuing my sister from the drug-cooking cult that once enslaved us both. I’ve run cons my whole life, and I’ll use my body to get whatever I need. Max Daniels is the last connection I have to that world, the one person reckless enough to get involved. Besides, now that his brothers have turned on him, he needs me too.

The deal was supposed to be simple: a place to hide in exchange for rescuing my sister. Now he’s my prisoner. Totally at my mercy. But I’m the one captivated. Enthralled. Doing everything he asks of me until I’m not sure who’s in control.

We both crave the heat. The more it hurts, the better. But what if Max wants a different life now, to leave the game . . . to love me? I thought I knew better than to get burned. Now I’m in too deep to pull away. And the crazy thing is . . . I don’t want to.

This book was a first for me. I had never read an MC book before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I am happy to say that this book turned me on to MC books. I can’t wait to pick up the next book in this series. I also liked that while this was the 3rd book in the series, you could read it as a stand-alone book. If you have been following my reviews, you know how much I hate reading 2-3 books into a series.

The sexual element of this book was over the top, but in a good way. The sexual tension was through the roof. Joan is bisexual, and she doesn’t hide it from Max. That leads to an exciting encounter when they are in Florida. When Max and Joan finally bump uglies, holy crap. Talk about igniting the pages!!!

The plot of this book was great too. Joan’s sister is involved with a drug-cooking cult, and Joan is looking to get her out. She figures that she could get the leader alone by doing something illegal. Then somehow, get to where he moved the camp too. But everything doesn’t go to plan, and she ends up with Max after he is shot and beaten by his MC brothers. After that, it takes off.

I loved the ending. It fits in perfectly with the book.

I would recommend Burn Down the Night to anyone over 21. There are erotic sex scenes, graphic violence, and language.

If you enjoyed reading Burn Down the Night, you will enjoy reading these books:

The Last Time She Saw Him (Julia Gooden Mystery: Book 1) by Jane Haseldine

The Last Time She Saw Him (A Julia Gooden Mystery Book 1) by [Haseldine, Jane]

Publisher: Kensington

Date of Publication: June 28, 2016

Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Psychological Thriller, Adult Fiction, Contemporary,

Series: Julia Gooden Mystery

The Last Time She Saw Him—Book 1

Duplicity—Book 2 (review here)

Worth Killing For—Book 3

You Fit the Pattern—Book 4

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | Indigo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

In Jane Haseldine’s gripping and brilliantly crafted debut, a reporter searching for her kidnapped son must untangle the connection to her brother’s long-ago disappearance.

Julia Gooden remembers nothing about the worst night of her life. Thirty years ago, her nine-year-old brother Ben—the person who promised he would always protect her—was abducted from the room they shared. Try as she might to recall any clue or detail, there is a black hole where Julia’s memories of that terrible event should be.

Now a crime reporter at a Detroit newspaper, Julia tries to give others the closure she’s never found. But guilt and grief over Ben’s disappearance have left her fearful that whoever took her brother is going to come back. Nowhere seems safe—not the city, not the suburbs, not even the secluded lake town where she plans to raise her children. And then, on the anniversary of Ben’s disappearance, Julia’s worst fears are realized when her two-year-old son, Will, is snatched from his bed.

Convinced that the crimes are related, Julia tries to piece together memories from her final day with Ben. Are the sudden reminders of her brother clues that will lead her to her son’s abductor, or merely coincidence? Julia knows she has hours at best to find Will alive, but the deeper she digs, the more personal and terrifying the battle becomes, and an undying promise may be her only hope of saving herself and her son.

My review:

If you are looking for a book that showcases the best and worst of people and has a dash of the supernatural in it, read this book.

Julia was not a character that was likable, and I love that the author wrote her that way. She suffers survivor’s guilt after her older brother was kidnapped out of their room when she was 7. That one event shaped her entire life. Julia tortures herself over his disappearance. This has affected all areas of her life, from her job and marriage to how she parents her children.

The story got going when her 2-year-old was kidnapped out of his room. The author did a great job writing that part of the book too. She captured Julia’s terror and her fight to get her child away from the kidnappers.

The book then became a mishmash of the present and past.  It was discovered that the same Indian head arrow was left under Will’s crib. Which was a connection to her brother’s disappearance.

But all is not what it seems. Clues were given by a pedophile pastor. A police detective was halfway in love with her. I didn’t know what direction the book was going in. And that was the best thing about it!!!

I didn’t know who the kidnappers were until the very end of the book. The author did a fantastic job of keeping that hidden. She threw out red herrings and created a couple of false leads that, when it was revealed, I  went, “Whaaaat??“

I would recommend The Last Time She Saw Him to anyone over 21. There is violence, language, and no sex. There are also graphic descriptions of sexually abused children.

If you enjoyed reading The Last Time She Saw Him; you will enjoy reading these books:

Need To Find You by Joseph Souza

Publisher: Kindle Press

Date of publication: March 15, 2016

Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Fiction, Mystery, Crime

Purchase Links: Amazon | Alibris | IndieBound | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

Yasmine ‘Yaz’ Weeks would prefer to forget her troubled past and the vile crimes committed against her, but when she discovers a hidden memoir in a kidnapped girl’s cell phone, Yaz finds herself on the run with an opportunity for retribution. She soon learns that the memoir has the potential to ruin both the reputation of its late great author, Robert Cornish, as well as the reputations of many influential people.
Whip Billings, an ex-cop, unwittingly becomes entangled in the mystery of the missing phone. Realizing that this newfound memoir could significantly hurt the sales of Cornish’s classic novel, Force of Will, he begins to search for Yaz. But why are the cops, and a mysterious drug kingpin known only as The Viking, also looking for her?
In his quest to find Yaz, Whip uncovers a vast network of political corruption, long hidden family secrets, and a series of reprehensible crimes. As the bodies in town begin to pile up, Whip knows that he must track down Yaz before she also turns up dead.

I liked this book. From the beginning,  when I met Yaz to the end, it was a rollercoaster ride of thrills. I didn’t know what I would get from one chapter to another. I liked that the author didn’t hide who the bad guys were. He did skirt the line on what characters were defined as bad or corrupt. He made me think about what I would do in certain situations and how I would have reacted. Would I have acted the same as these characters did? Would I make that choice that could send me down the wrong/right path? Very thought-provoking because of all the gray areas that were brought up in the book.

I liked Yaz’s character. She was badass (I mean, she’s a drummer in a band called The Kuntz”), but at the same time, she had a soft spot. She worked in a shelter for homeless teens. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time to get Mikiela’s cell phone. The flashbacks we get from her childhood are awful.

I liked Whip’s character, but I didn’t feel bad for him at all. I did at the beginning, I mean, he was attending a funeral for his mother, but after that, all sympathy went poof. He is an alcoholic. He had 1 year sober when he threw it all away to meet with an old contact to help locate his missing stepdaughter.

The other substories were blended beautifully into the book. Each ended towards the end of the book, and they were merged beautifully with the substory.

I loved the ending; finding out who The Viking was and what drove him to commit his crimes was great. I was very surprised to find out who he was, to be honest, but looking back, it made sense and fit perfectly into the story.

3 Things I liked about Need To Find You:

  1. Yaz
  2. Whip
  3. Storyline

3 Things I disliked about Need To Find You:

  1. Krell
  2. The Viking
  3. Haskins

I would recommend Need To Find You to anyone over 21. There is extreme violence, sexual situations, drug use, child abuse, and language.

If you enjoyed reading Need to Find You, you will enjoy reading these books:

In The Clearing (Tracy Crosswhite: Book 3) by Robert Dugoni

In the Clearing (Tracy Crosswhite Book 3) by [Dugoni, Robert]

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Date of publication: May 17th, 2016

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Suspense, Contemporary, Detective, Adult

Series: Tracy Crosswhite Series

The Academy—Book 0.25

Third Watch—Book 0.5

My Sister’s Grave—Book 1

Her Final Breath—Book 2

In the Clearing—Book 3

The Trapped Girl—Book 4

Close to Home—Book 5

A Steep Price—Book 6

A Cold Trail—Book 7

In Her Tracks—Book 8

The Last Line—Book 8.5

What She Found—Book 9

Purchase Links: Amazon |Audible

Goodreads synopsis:

Detective Tracy Crosswhite has a skill, and a soft spot, for tackling unsolved crimes. Having lost her own sister to murder at a young age, Tracy has dedicated her career to bringing justice and closure to the families and friends of victims of crime.

So when Jenny, a former police academy classmate, and protégé, asks Tracy to help solve a cold case that involves the suspicious suicide of a Native American high school girl forty years earlier, Tracy agrees. Following up on evidence Jenny’s detective father collected when he was the investigating deputy, Tracy probes one small town’s memory and finds dark, well-concealed secrets hidden within the community’s fabric. Can Tracy uphold the promise she’s made to the dead girl’s family and deliver the truth of what happened to their daughter? Or will she become the next victim?

Want a book you can devour in one sitting? Then read In the Clearing. I was completely glued to this one and couldn’t put it down.

The main storyline and the subplot were both fantastic. The author does a great job of alternating between the cold case and the one Tracy is currently working on, seamlessly moving between past and present—and even between different perspectives. That’s something I usually struggle with in books like this, but here it absolutely worked. The way both cases come together in the end is chilling. I actually got goosebumps.

I did figure out who killed Kimi about halfway through the book—but not because it was obvious in a bad way. There were plenty of red herrings and apparent dead ends, so when everything was revealed, I was still shocked. And there’s a major twist I did not see coming.

What surprised me most is that even though this is part of a series, it works perfectly as a standalone. I usually avoid reading books out of order because characters and plots tend to bleed together. Not here. What happens in previous books stays in previous books.