What a fast and fun crime thriller, the second in a series, an excellent followup to the first installment.
Dr. Kay Sharp, formerly of the San Francisco FBI field office, now resides in her hometown of Mount Chester and is working for the Franklin County Sheriff's Department as a detective. She and her new partner, Deputy Elliot Young, are called to attend the discovery of a body behind the falls at Blackwater River. The 17-year-old has been left with her throat cut and wears an unusual locket on her neck. DNA identifies the murdered victim as Rose Harrelson -- the interesting bit being that she had been reported as kidnapped 14 years ago. Of course this sends up red flags to the detectives and soon there is more drama when the press publishes the story only to find out that they have misidentified the dead girl and everyone knows her as Alyssa Caldwell, the only daughter of a rich local family and heir to the Caldwell Farms fortune. Of course Kay is not satisfied that the scientific analysis was an error and she beings to investigate the kidnapping case that was never solved. Meanwhile, a runaway has found her way to Mount Chester by various means and is held captive in an old house by a vicious psychopath. There's a lot going on in this book and it has quite a few twists and turns that made it a very compelling read.
I must say that I liked this much more than the first book and I sat, glued to the pages, until I reached the dramatic conclusion. The revelations weren't entirely unexpected as I am a very good guesser having read so many books of this type, but I really enjoyed the writing and the way that the author dangled the red herrings and the details giving me the clues I needed. The narrative is full of action and drama and it was very hard to put down until the end. I was gratified that the story didn't contain a lot of romance though it is definitely imminent. I like both Kay and Elliot as characters and even more since I'm getting to "know" them. I look forward to the next book in this series and am only sorry that it will likely be a long wait having been spoiled by reading the first and second consecutively.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.
This is the second in a series that should be read in order.
Genre - crime thriller
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