Whisper in the Night (Kane and Alton #6) by DK Hood

Black Rock Falls may be a small mountain town but it has seen quite a bit of notoriety since Sheriff Jenna Alton moved there after leaving the DEA. This time, someone seems to be targeting young high school girls. First, 14-year-old Lindy Rosen goes missing from her bedroom in the middle of the night. Police attend the scene but there are no signs of a break-in and the house has a top of the line security system that wasn't triggered. Then it becomes obvious to Jenna Alton and her team (which includes Deputy Kane) that a devious killer has no plans to stop. But who is the real target?

This is police procedural mixed with low key romance and a sort of locked door mystery. Although it does feature a sadistic killer, it's more tell rather than show. I guessed the identity of the Shadow Man early and I finished just to get confirmation that I was right. The investigation requires that the detectives wade through a lot of interviews and do a lot of running around and generally being in mortal danger -- which brings me to my main gripe. Why the heck does Alton need so much protecting and coddling while she pretends to be a tough girl and doesn't eat, sleep or generally take care of herself. Kane has to do it. I don't buy it. She seems weak every time she won't go get her injuries attended to at the hospital or acts all moody -- and does she ever eat anything besides bagels? I don't know why she's the Sheriff when it seems like all these other deputies around know more about serial killers and tracking and police work than she does. She is fake tough and always ends up in a sort of victim role as a target. I'm tired of Kane with the goo goo eyes as he so admires Jenna and wants to be her main squeeze but nobody is doing much about that. Let it go already, it seems a forced token romance anyway.

I've read all the books to date in this series and I don't know that the small town can realistically have another crazy murderer on the loose. I really enjoyed the first couple of books featuring Kane and Alton as they adjusted to life in Black Falls and worked those cases together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-book ARC to read and review.

This is the 6th book in a series that should be read from beginning in order.
Genre - police procedural trying to be a thriller