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A review by booksafety
Closer Than You Think by Karen Rose
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