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A review by paulabrandon
Closer Than You Think by Karen Rose
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!