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paulabrandon's review against another edition
3.0
678 pages.
That's insane.
I don't read sci-fi/fantasy, but that's the only genre I can think of where 678 pages would be justified, because it involves a lot of world building.
But not a romantic suspense novel.
There is absolutely no reason why this book needed to be as long as it did. It detracts from the enjoyment. If about 300 pages had been shaved off this thing, it would have been a real ripper. But there were moments where I simply had to skim, otherwise I never would have finished the bloody thing! (Although, overlength does tend to be an issue with all Karen Rose books.)
The story involves Dr. Faith Corcoran being stalked by a serial killer. She thinks it's a former sex offender patient of hers, Peter Combs, who previously stalked her and tried to kill her. She has run to Cincinnati and changed her name to escape him, as she has just inherited her grandmother's house.
However, a serial killer has been using her grandmother's house as a site for his torture and killing of young women. This serial killer fears Faith will expose him and has been trying to kill her for a long time. Is it Peter Combs? Or could it be connected to her twisted family history? (The house is the also the place where her mother committed suicide.) The investigation brings her into contact with Special Agent Deacon Novak, and a relationship quickly develops between them.
Faith wasn't my favourite heroine, I can tell you that. 100 pages alone could have been excised from this book that involved Faith crying, "It's all my fault these people are dead," and someone, usually Deacon, assuring her that it wasn't her fault.
Similarly, a lot of the front end of the book is taken up with detectives questioning Faith, thinking she's involved. Faith is understandably wary of cops, but answers all of their questions with a question, usually along the lines of, "Why do you want to know that?" Or, "Why are you asking me that?" You'd think someone as savvy as Faith would simply answer the questions as best she could because, you know, being evasive and enigmatic would generally make cops ask more questions! And she knows this! Another area where a lot of material could be removed.
And why do so many characters have diseases? Deacon and his family have a disease that discolours their eyes and hair and pigment (Deacon's hair is white). His sister Dani also has HIV. Another character, Corinne, has some sort of muscle weakness disease. Deacon's brother Greg, on top of all that, is deaf. Talk about overkill!
There is a lot of repetition. Events happen, and they get recounted by characters to various other characters over and over again. There is speculation about why various people are doing various things. It just all gets a bit tedious. Then there are about four sex scenes. I ended up skimming the third one. I got the general idea after the first two!
Too. Many. Characters. Karen Rose drags in multiple characters from previous books (this is her 16th book,) and introduces a slew of new ones, many of which you can easily tell are going to get books of their own in the future. There are some (Detective Catalina Vega) who barely even need to be there. The focus should have been tightened.
Rose doesn't play fair with the identity of the killer.
The book also had this bizarre thing where many characters are hating on Faith because her counselling involved court-ordered rehabilitation for sex offenders. (Faith was only doing it because she actually wanted to help the victims/children.) All these people, including other doctors, are casting doubt on Faith's character because of her profession, as they don't believe sex offenders can be rehabilitated. Do I think sex offenders can be rehabilitated? No, not really, but I'm hardly going to think the person counselling them is some sort of evildoer. When minor character Dr. Meredith Fallon, after many others, was being Judgy McJudgypants on Faith because of her job, I was like, "Enough already!" The author afterword says Rose's husband used to do a similar job to Faith and was attacked by a patient. This is personal bias coming through, and further wastes words.
If this were about 300 pages shorter, it would have been a great romantic thriller. There's absolutely no need for a genre work to be this long. 678 pages! It's insane! Although I didn't like Faith at all, I quite liked Deacon for the most part. Rose showed that he was a good guy and gentleman, rather than tell. There were some genuinely suspenseful moments during all the repetition. The plot, too drawn out as it was, was nevertheless expertly put together. The killer's motive was really interesting and believable.
But 678 pages it just too long. 678 PAGES. A romantic thriller should be pacy and punchy. There was far too much repetition here, far too much sex, and there was a lot of material I was able to skim (not skip) without missing anything (Novak's family drama comes to mind.) But there was more I enjoyed than disliked, and since I've got the next three books in this particular mini-series thanks to Kindle deals and op shop finds, I'll find time to read more of Karen Rose's books!
That's insane.
I don't read sci-fi/fantasy, but that's the only genre I can think of where 678 pages would be justified, because it involves a lot of world building.
But not a romantic suspense novel.
There is absolutely no reason why this book needed to be as long as it did. It detracts from the enjoyment. If about 300 pages had been shaved off this thing, it would have been a real ripper. But there were moments where I simply had to skim, otherwise I never would have finished the bloody thing! (Although, overlength does tend to be an issue with all Karen Rose books.)
The story involves Dr. Faith Corcoran being stalked by a serial killer. She thinks it's a former sex offender patient of hers, Peter Combs, who previously stalked her and tried to kill her. She has run to Cincinnati and changed her name to escape him, as she has just inherited her grandmother's house.
However, a serial killer has been using her grandmother's house as a site for his torture and killing of young women. This serial killer fears Faith will expose him and has been trying to kill her for a long time. Is it Peter Combs? Or could it be connected to her twisted family history? (The house is the also the place where her mother committed suicide.) The investigation brings her into contact with Special Agent Deacon Novak, and a relationship quickly develops between them.
Faith wasn't my favourite heroine, I can tell you that. 100 pages alone could have been excised from this book that involved Faith crying, "It's all my fault these people are dead," and someone, usually Deacon, assuring her that it wasn't her fault.
Similarly, a lot of the front end of the book is taken up with detectives questioning Faith, thinking she's involved. Faith is understandably wary of cops, but answers all of their questions with a question, usually along the lines of, "Why do you want to know that?" Or, "Why are you asking me that?" You'd think someone as savvy as Faith would simply answer the questions as best she could because, you know, being evasive and enigmatic would generally make cops ask more questions! And she knows this! Another area where a lot of material could be removed.
And why do so many characters have diseases? Deacon and his family have a disease that discolours their eyes and hair and pigment (Deacon's hair is white). His sister Dani also has HIV. Another character, Corinne, has some sort of muscle weakness disease. Deacon's brother Greg, on top of all that, is deaf. Talk about overkill!
There is a lot of repetition. Events happen, and they get recounted by characters to various other characters over and over again. There is speculation about why various people are doing various things. It just all gets a bit tedious. Then there are about four sex scenes. I ended up skimming the third one. I got the general idea after the first two!
Too. Many. Characters. Karen Rose drags in multiple characters from previous books (this is her 16th book,) and introduces a slew of new ones, many of which you can easily tell are going to get books of their own in the future. There are some (Detective Catalina Vega) who barely even need to be there. The focus should have been tightened.
Rose doesn't play fair with the identity of the killer.
Spoiler
During the killer's point of view, he kills a young man at a cabin, and also shoots two other men who try to assist one of his victims, and we're lead to believe he doesn't recognise any of them. Except the killer is revealed to be Faith's uncle Jordan, and the dead man and two shot men were all his nephews!!!The book also had this bizarre thing where many characters are hating on Faith because her counselling involved court-ordered rehabilitation for sex offenders. (Faith was only doing it because she actually wanted to help the victims/children.) All these people, including other doctors, are casting doubt on Faith's character because of her profession, as they don't believe sex offenders can be rehabilitated. Do I think sex offenders can be rehabilitated? No, not really, but I'm hardly going to think the person counselling them is some sort of evildoer. When minor character Dr. Meredith Fallon, after many others, was being Judgy McJudgypants on Faith because of her job, I was like, "Enough already!" The author afterword says Rose's husband used to do a similar job to Faith and was attacked by a patient. This is personal bias coming through, and further wastes words.
If this were about 300 pages shorter, it would have been a great romantic thriller. There's absolutely no need for a genre work to be this long. 678 pages! It's insane! Although I didn't like Faith at all, I quite liked Deacon for the most part. Rose showed that he was a good guy and gentleman, rather than tell. There were some genuinely suspenseful moments during all the repetition. The plot, too drawn out as it was, was nevertheless expertly put together. The killer's motive was really interesting and believable.
But 678 pages it just too long. 678 PAGES. A romantic thriller should be pacy and punchy. There was far too much repetition here, far too much sex, and there was a lot of material I was able to skim (not skip) without missing anything (Novak's family drama comes to mind.) But there was more I enjoyed than disliked, and since I've got the next three books in this particular mini-series thanks to Kindle deals and op shop finds, I'll find time to read more of Karen Rose's books!
khadijareads's review against another edition
5.0
5 stars.
I am so serious when I say this, read this book right now. Skip the blurb, skip the reviews and read this. I cannot believe this is my first Karen Rose book, it definitely won't be my last.
The characters in the book will absolutely stay with me for years, they're that unique!
Amazing plot, characters and romance.
I am so serious when I say this, read this book right now. Skip the blurb, skip the reviews and read this. I cannot believe this is my first Karen Rose book, it definitely won't be my last.
The characters in the book will absolutely stay with me for years, they're that unique!
Amazing plot, characters and romance.
booknookie's review against another edition
1.5
To. Damn. Much! And the talking about the same things over and over. So tired! But I love Karen Rose and will read more by her, this one was just not a hit. The suspense about who's the killer, was what kept me going.
edem_92's review against another edition
5.0
Karen Rose is an auto-buy author for me, and this book is one of my personal favourites. I’ve been reading it regularly for the last ten years, and it still grips me every time.
I don’t know what Karen Rose puts in these books, but she’s very good at writing plot twists. I can almost never pick exactly who the bad guy is until it’s revealed.
I don’t know what Karen Rose puts in these books, but she’s very good at writing plot twists. I can almost never pick exactly who the bad guy is until it’s revealed.
smallsiam's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Kidnapping, Death, Torture, and Violence
booksafety's review against another edition
5.0
Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.
‘[…] If I burn out, I’ll do something else. But I won’t do this job by stripping the victims of their humanity. It was stolen by their killer. I won’t do the same to them, or to myself.’
Karen Rose does romantic suspense so damn well. Even when you get the bad guy’s POV, you’ll still be left questioning things until the very end when everything gets wrapped up in the most satisfying way. This author’s ability to craft an interesting story with tons of factors and connecting timelines is amazing. This book, as a lot of hers tend to do, only spans a few days. However, it’s written in a way where it feels like the story spans way longer. I really enjoy how it doesn’t really skip any of the steps. You get the entire case from start to finish, and we get to see it from all of the POVs that matter.
It’s definitely a book that’s heavier on the plot and suspense than the romance, but sometimes that’s exactly what I want. There’s still romance and spice, but it feels more like the cherry on top of an amazing crime-solving novel, and it just adds that little extra something something. I really struggle with reading something without any romance at all, but I don’t always want it to be the main focus either. Deacon and Faith have amazing chemistry that adds this other element and makes it a great book and not just an entertaining crime.
I still love Say You’re Sorry by Karen Rose the most, but this one is pretty great too.
⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️
⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Romantic suspense
Serial killer
Police procedural
FBI agent MMC
Whodunnit
Multiple POV
Fast burn
⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Graphic violence
Serial killing
Kidnapping
Captivity
Child captivity and abuse
Torture
Drugging
Gun violence
Mentions of pedophilia
Child sexual abuse (past, off page, not detailed)
Mentions of parent suicide
Death of side characters
Past and present murder attempts on MCs
Graphic murder scenes
Brief mention of alcoholic parent (past)
Child abuse: physical and verbal (on page)
Brief mentions of cheating ex husband
Car accident
Mentions of side character being raped (no details, off page)
Stalking
Severely injured MC
Mentions of homophobia
*This book deals heavily with the theme of sexual abuse of children. Never on page and not detailed.
⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: No
Breakup: No
POV: 3rd person, multi POV
Genre: Romantic suspense, MF
Main characters’ age: 32 and 33
Pages: 594
‘I keep expecting robotic arms to pop out of your coat pockets like Inspector Gadget. What else do you have hidden?’
His imagination had already conjured an entire collection of images that would make it very embarrassing were he to need to stand up any time soon.
Ms Pohl, Principal. Deacon stared at the nameplate on the door, summoning his courage. He’d faced killers without breaking a sweat. Surely he could handle one very old woman.
You can find most of my reviews on Instagram as well: https://www.instagram.com/booksafety?igsh=MWZ3azhkdDc2Y2ludg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
‘[…] If I burn out, I’ll do something else. But I won’t do this job by stripping the victims of their humanity. It was stolen by their killer. I won’t do the same to them, or to myself.’
Karen Rose does romantic suspense so damn well. Even when you get the bad guy’s POV, you’ll still be left questioning things until the very end when everything gets wrapped up in the most satisfying way. This author’s ability to craft an interesting story with tons of factors and connecting timelines is amazing. This book, as a lot of hers tend to do, only spans a few days. However, it’s written in a way where it feels like the story spans way longer. I really enjoy how it doesn’t really skip any of the steps. You get the entire case from start to finish, and we get to see it from all of the POVs that matter.
It’s definitely a book that’s heavier on the plot and suspense than the romance, but sometimes that’s exactly what I want. There’s still romance and spice, but it feels more like the cherry on top of an amazing crime-solving novel, and it just adds that little extra something something. I really struggle with reading something without any romance at all, but I don’t always want it to be the main focus either. Deacon and Faith have amazing chemistry that adds this other element and makes it a great book and not just an entertaining crime.
I still love Say You’re Sorry by Karen Rose the most, but this one is pretty great too.
⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️
⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Romantic suspense
Serial killer
Police procedural
FBI agent MMC
Whodunnit
Multiple POV
Fast burn
⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Graphic violence
Serial killing
Kidnapping
Captivity
Child captivity and abuse
Torture
Drugging
Gun violence
Mentions of pedophilia
Child sexual abuse (past, off page, not detailed)
Mentions of parent suicide
Death of side characters
Past and present murder attempts on MCs
Graphic murder scenes
Brief mention of alcoholic parent (past)
Child abuse: physical and verbal (on page)
Brief mentions of cheating ex husband
Car accident
Mentions of side character being raped (no details, off page)
Stalking
Severely injured MC
Mentions of homophobia
*This book deals heavily with the theme of sexual abuse of children. Never on page and not detailed.
⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: No
Breakup: No
POV: 3rd person, multi POV
Genre: Romantic suspense, MF
Main characters’ age: 32 and 33
Pages: 594
‘I keep expecting robotic arms to pop out of your coat pockets like Inspector Gadget. What else do you have hidden?’
His imagination had already conjured an entire collection of images that would make it very embarrassing were he to need to stand up any time soon.
Ms Pohl, Principal. Deacon stared at the nameplate on the door, summoning his courage. He’d faced killers without breaking a sweat. Surely he could handle one very old woman.
You can find most of my reviews on Instagram as well: https://www.instagram.com/booksafety?igsh=MWZ3azhkdDc2Y2ludg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
alikatson's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars - I think this was my favorite book of the series - perhaps the second best. It was a bit of a twisty story and I loved the characters. As usual it was dark and suspenseful - you never know who will bite it next and once I start listening I have a very hard time stopping.
rachelslacey's review against another edition
5.0
Karen Rose is one of my longtime favorites, and this book certainly didn't disappoint! Sexy, suspenseful, and super creepy - I loved it! Couldn't put it down.
madgee's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
Meh. Parts were great, but the romance didn’t really land for me. I liked the two MCs well enough, but they were ready to declare eternal love after two days, which is nuts. And all this bs about Deacon knowing Faith and all her triggers and looks after a couple days?! Stupid.
The suspense was better than the romance, but even then, it was occasionally repetitive, and over complicated by too many secondary characters who weren’t even suspects. This is the only book I’ve read by Karen Rose, so maybe the drama with Adam and others is setting up another book? It detracted from this one though.
Meh. Parts were great, but the romance didn’t really land for me. I liked the two MCs well enough, but they were ready to declare eternal love after two days, which is nuts. And all this bs about Deacon knowing Faith and all her triggers and looks after a couple days?! Stupid.
The suspense was better than the romance, but even then, it was occasionally repetitive, and over complicated by too many secondary characters who weren’t even suspects. This is the only book I’ve read by Karen Rose, so maybe the drama with Adam and others is setting up another book? It detracted from this one though.