How do you draw up a list of suspects when the deceased has made enemies every time they do their job.
And, what if the dead person is not even the intended target, but it’s a case of mistaken identity by the killer.
Imagine the type of plot line you could write with just those two principles. Well you don’t have to imagine it anymore. T.J. Brearton has taken these two strings and knitted one hell of a story.
The book starts with the killing of a Social Worker who has been working late into the evening and is the last to leave the office. She has made enemies, lots of them, people who have kids taken from their parents often do, but is this what got her killed.
Bobbi, is one of her co-workers, and although a lot younger, bears a passing resemblance to her, and she drives an almost identical car. Was she the intended victim, there are good reasons she could have been.
Detectives Mike Nelson, State Police, and Lena Overton, Lake Haven Police, take on a joint investigation. Working together brings them closer together and there is a definite chemistry between the two but will it hamper the investigation.
As they start to look into the murder they find a unsolved crime from 10 months earlier. If the two are really connected does that mean that there have been other crimes that have not been reported, is somebody attacking Case Workers from Social Services. If they are does that mean that the attacks haven’t finished, who will be the Next to Die, and can the detectives from 2 different agencies work together to stop the killer.
Nobody in this book, except Nelson and Overton, are who they first appear to be. Everybody has something lurking in their past, but does that make them a suspect or a future victim.
I have rarely read a book which kept me as engrossed. Every string of the plot is gripping, the story as a whole is addictive.
The characters are well written; the scenes are well described; the plot is captivating.
T.J. Brearton has quickly moved to the top of my list of authors whose books I look for as soon as they are available. He has gone from the “to be read” pile, to the “Must be read” list
Reading his biography it is easy to see why; he studied psychology, philosophy, and religion to gain a degree in Social Sciences. He has been a photographer and a film maker.
What does this tell me about him?
As a photographer and a film maker he will have observed people; as a student of psychology and philosophy he will understand the people he observed.
That is why his characters are so good. Those characters make excellent stories.
Its early in the year but I should imagine this will be one of the best books I read in 2018.
Pages: 356
Publisher: Bookouture
Publishing date: TODAY GO AND BUY IT
Available on Amazon
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