I’ve got a whole slew of mysteries and thrillers to catch up on, so I thought this novel would be a good place to start. It’s gotten quite a lot of positive reviews, and it has a female protagonist so I thought it would be right up my alley. Here is my review:
Detective Gemma Monroe knows that secrets and lies don’t stay buried forever. One of her first cases involved finding the bones of two teenage boys who had gone missing years ago. To this day, she doesn’t know what happened to them, and this is something that has always haunted her. In a place like Cedar Valley, most cases are easy to close. Like the case 3 years ago where the mayor’s son died in a tragic accident, slipping off of a cliff while hiking with friends. But when a recent murder victim is identified as the mayor’s son, Gemma must question everything she knew. Her investigation takes her from the seedy grounds of a traveling circus to the powerful homes of the Cedar Valley elite. Pregnant, and with no one she can trust, Gemma must track a killer who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets hidden forever.
This was quite an interesting story that attempted to connect 2 different crimes. I really liked the main character, who had a lot of spunk and had a really good backstory. There were a bunch of other characters that were also introduced, but I wish the author had spent more time in developing relationships between them and Gemma; most of them were pretty well explained but some (like the one with her boyfriend) were really not developed at all, which was a shame. The story itself had a good pacing and I found myself intrigued as to how everything would come together. I also love everything to do with circuses, so having that be a part of the story was a little treat for me! The story itself was going really well but the ending was a bit rushed, and clichéd. As usual, the perp spills the beans on everything, but the explanation wasn’t as well formed as I liked. Overall, this was an interesting story that had good pacing and a strong main character so I give this a 3.5/5 stars.
Happy reading ~