Mystery / Thriller
Fans of cozy mysteries who want a heavy dose of romance in their whodunits are most likely to enjoy this novel -- although readers will need to be willing to suspend disbelief from the outset. The book opens with PI Chelsey Alton finding that a love-interest, cop Bryce Kelly, has broken into her home after becoming the prime suspect in the murder of a police chief. Of course, Chelsey doesn’t turn him in, but works to exonerate him. While the approach is clearly tongue-in-cheek -- and at times very entertaining -- the characters are underdeveloped and the story less than original.
-
Despite the introduction of a mystical element, there’s nothing really new in this thriller about a small-town cop trying to prove herself. Kelsie Lee Ray chose to work in the small town of Ridge Haven because of its lack of scary crimes, but is out of luck when a serial murderer dubbed the Fable Killer begins to strike. Few cliches are left unused, including sections from the killer’s perspective as he targets the attractive officer. Additionally, labored prose and underdeveloped characters work to take readers out of the story.
Sect-Intel operative John Powers, ex-CIA with a heart murmur, is on an assignment spanning the globe in Parr's lackluster thriller. Info dumps that introduce characters and overly detailed backstories slow down action scenes and make it hard for readers to differentiate plot from unnecessary information. The book's characters are poorly developed and the plot mixes arms-dealing cartels with kidnapping and Wall Street hacking and short sells into a muddle that will confuse readers.
