BOOK REVIEW
I downloaded this book to my Kindle with Kindle Unlimited on the 24th March, when I was preparing for a few weeks of holiday, flights, and places to chill and read. I didn't get through them all so this poor soul was left until recently, patiently sitting in my Kindle library. This is another book I didn't read the blurb for, the cover conjures vivid imagery, a person curled up in what appears to be a grave, covered in
flowers. Crime, thriller. Excellent!
BLURB
Something sinister happened on that abandoned stretch of highway...
Detective Cody Oliver once did battle with a pedophile, and he has the facial scars to prove it. But his rural town of Mt/ Desicate is mostly peaceful...until it isn't. When Cody stumbles on a mass grave in the desert, he comes to the realisation that he might have had a serial killer operating right under his nose. For years.
Ten years after Alexandra Thompson was pulled over outside Mt. Desicate, resulting in a truly bizzare police encounter, she sees reports of the mass grave on the news, and knows she came face to face with the killer that night.
But why did he let Alex go, when he buried all the others. And why does Cody feel so powerfully drawn to her, and so desperate to keep her safe?
If he can't identify and stop the killer, Alex may be the next victim to disappear into the desert. For good.
MY REVIEW
This was a nice, easy-to-follow, fast-paced thriller. It kept my attention well and was the cause of me staying up until 2am to finish it and to see all the loose ends get tied up. Props to my new page-turner for the Kindle Scribe, and stretchy bendy arm thing that allowed me to lay on my side, angle the book so it was still straight, and read lying down!
Alex gets pulled over by a creepy Police Officer, submits a casual report on her way through town, and goes on her merry way. Fast-forward to the present day and Cody (the guy she reported the creep to) is now a detective who inadvertently discovers a mass grave. The press has a field day and this grave is all over the news. Alex sees the news and cannot shake the creepy feeling. She heads back to Mt. Desicate determined that her lead is taken seriously this time.
There's crime investigation, gruesome finds, car chases, and a little romance! I really enjoyed the story, it's a well-trodden thriller path, but it was handled well. There are more books involving these characters, which may explain why I found some plot points to be a little moot. However, I am sure those stories are picked up in later books, and there may be simple groundwork being done for these books to come. I also felt that the story's climax was a little far-fetched in parts. No spoilers, but there's no way that much engineering happened without someone seeing something amiss.
Cody is a male character in a novel who has respectful and honest conversations with the women he encounters. That was a refreshing change, he handled his relationships without any drama or fuss, and the women did the same. I mean there WAS drama...but not relationship drama! His character was well-rounded, and there's clearly a bigger scope for him to be developed further down the line, I'd be interested to see how his relationship with his mum and dad changes in light of the personal revelations that cropped up during this book.
Some great wordplay and imagery in this book too. I laughed out loud (even though the scene wasn't comedic in any way) at a person being described as 'flipping up like a tiddlywink', a great and wholly accurate description that isn't used enough, in my opinion!
A solid three-star read for me, great pace, a solid plot, and definitely worth a read!
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