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A review by jonetta
Touch of Red by Laura Griffin
4.0
Brooke Porter, Delphi Center crime scene investigator, is called to work a brutal murder that on the surface seems to yield few clues. However, she’s known for her doggedness and tenacity at a crime scene and sees some critical things here, providing valuable leads for Sean Byrne, one of the detectives assigned to the case. He’s intrigued not only with her skills, though, causing some discomfort for them both.
Sean was gravely wounded in the last story and is back after months of rehab. It affected him profoundly and he’s taken stock of his life in a good way. Brooke is not long out of a troubling relationship and definitely not interested in beginning a new one so there’s that. Both are really good at what they do and they’re taxed with this case that’s a puzzler. It’s primarily a procedural, which I prefer, and following the clues had me turning the pages. There’s other drama in the background involving Brooke that felt like more of a distraction than an important element of the story. And, Brooke’s intensity had her crossing lines throughout the investigation, sometimes creating more issues and some TSTL moments.
I liked this story primarily for the forensic elements and procedurals. The romance actually worked well, too. However, a lot of Brooke’s actions were more like the unrealistic CSI television series where the techs served the roles of detectives and that didn’t work for me (FYI, I liked the show). This series has always felt authentic and it didn’t in this story. It was interesting but more cliched than I’ve come to expect. Still good storytelling, just weakened by these issues.
Sean was gravely wounded in the last story and is back after months of rehab. It affected him profoundly and he’s taken stock of his life in a good way. Brooke is not long out of a troubling relationship and definitely not interested in beginning a new one so there’s that. Both are really good at what they do and they’re taxed with this case that’s a puzzler. It’s primarily a procedural, which I prefer, and following the clues had me turning the pages. There’s other drama in the background involving Brooke that felt like more of a distraction than an important element of the story. And, Brooke’s intensity had her crossing lines throughout the investigation, sometimes creating more issues and some TSTL moments.
I liked this story primarily for the forensic elements and procedurals. The romance actually worked well, too. However, a lot of Brooke’s actions were more like the unrealistic CSI television series where the techs served the roles of detectives and that didn’t work for me (FYI, I liked the show). This series has always felt authentic and it didn’t in this story. It was interesting but more cliched than I’ve come to expect. Still good storytelling, just weakened by these issues.