I’m gonna start off this review by saying that I haaaaate cliffhangers with a burning passion. And if that’s you too, then you should absolutely not read this book until the series is complete, because otherwise you’ll be very annoyed and frustrated. There’s an obvious overriding series arc with a ‘big bad’ who doesn’t even make an appearance in this book, but is constantly on the mind of (and manipulating from afar) the characters we’re following. There’s a character who is very obviously a ‘bad guy’ who appears right at the end of this one and is clearly going to play a part in the next book, but right here he looks like a deus ex machina, his existence not even signaled earlier in the story.
Despite all those things which mean I should probably loathe this, it’s such a riveting, action-packed storyline that I really couldn’t. I haven’t read the first one in the series and I definitely want to, because there’s obviously lots of fascinating stuff that’s already happened to our main character, Doctor Rowan Dupont. With a prolific serial killer intimately connected with her family, Rowan has retreated from her high-powered job consulting with the Nashville PD to run her family’s funeral home, but murder has followed her home to the small town of Winchester. With the body count rising, Rowan’s closest friend Billy, the chief of police, needs her expert psychiatric help to crack the cases, but getting involved draws her into danger she doesn’t see coming.
Debra Webb absolutely knows how to build the suspense in a story, and I’m keen to read the rest of the series, but my dislike for books that don’t complete their own story arcs keep me from giving this a maximum five stars. I’m knocking off one for that frustrating cliffhanger ending.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.