26. A Fatal Obsession by James Hayman

#6 McCabe and Savage
read on my iPhone/Kindle
2018 Witness Impulse
368 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 2/8/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.11 - 369 ratings
My rating:  4+
Setting: Contemporary NYC, mostly lower east side

First line/s:  "The worst thing about the rage was its randomness.  Tyler Branshaw never knew what might trigger one."

My comments: This was an excellent story, I love the way it switched back and forth between the abducted Zoe and the police proceedings trying to find her.  I was actually quite intrigues with this "bad guy," and formed a bond with him, as Zoe did in a weird, quirky way.  What a wonderful character she was!  And boy, are there some evil people in this world.  I'd still rather be going through life with blinders on....
     I'm not sure how quickly and happily the NYPD would allow two detectives from Portland, Maine, be the lead investigators in a recent abduction in NYC, particularly when one of the detectives is the uncle of the abducted!  And Maggie certainly took a back seat in this one.  Not that I remember the first five really, really well, but I think there was more of a partnership involved than in this one.
      Overall, I really liked the storytelling.  I wasn't a nervous wreck whenever we were in Zoe's world, I actually found the happenings quite intriguing.  I originally thought of this as a five, but because of a few weak points (above), I think I'll rate this a solid 4.
     As much as I love NYC, I sure hope they plan to return to Portland!

Goodreads synopsis:  "James Hayman’s edgy, ingenious novels rival the best of Lisa Gardner, Jeffery Deaver, and Kathy Reichs. A Fatal Obsession is his finest to date: a ferocious live-wire thriller starring two of the most appealing cops in contemporary fiction." —A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window   
          Someone’s watching...      
          Zoe McCabe is a beautiful young actress on the verge of stardom who has been basking in the standing ovations and rave reviews she’s been getting from critics and fans alike for her portrayal of Desdemona in an off-Broadway production of Othello. As she takes her final bows, Zoe has no idea that, seated in the audience, a man has been studying her night after night, performance after performance. A man whose carefully crafted plans are for the young actress to take a starring role in a far deadlier production he has created just for her.         
          Portland, Maine detectives Mike McCabe and Maggie Savage are settling into the new rhythm of their relationship when McCabe gets a late night call from his brother Bobby that Zoe, McCabe's favorite niece and Bobby’s daughter, has suddenly disappeared. The NYPD is certain Zoe's abduction is the work of the man the tabloids have dubbed “The Star Struck Strangler,” a killer who has been kidnapping, abusing and finally strangling one beautiful young performer after another. Bobby begs McCabe to return to the New York City crime beat he’d left behind so many years ago, to work his old connections, and to help find Zoe before her time runs out. The stakes for McCabe and Savage have never been higher. Or more personal. And suddenly the race is on to stop a vicious attacker, before the McCabe family is torn apart beyond repair.

6. Truth and Lies by Caroline Mitchell

listened to eAudio on Audible
narrated  by Elizabeth Knowelden
Unabridged audio (10:22)
2018 Thomas & Mercer
344 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Serial Killer
Finished 1/11/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.27 - 7121 ratings
My rating: 3.5/4
Setting: contemporary Great Britain

First line/s:  "1986:  It was the scratching noise that brought Poppy down to the place where she wasn't allowed to go."

My comments:  Throughout the reading of this entire book I had a jittery, nervous, uncomfortable feeling.  I guess I was just incredibly pput off the the loathsomeness of Lillian Grimes.  And it looks like her presence will be front and center in future books in the series, so I'm reluctant to continue.  Creep, disconcerting feeling.  I can't say that the protagonist is one of my favorites, either.  The story twists and turns as it twines a current day kidnapping with the scandalous serial murders of the Grimes family years previously.  The kicker is that the smart, dedicated copy, Amy Winters, is the youngest daughter of these killers, a fact that she doesn't remember and hasn't been told...until the beginning of this book, when she receives a letter from her birth mother from prison.  A wild ride.

Goodreads synopsis:  Meet Amy Winter: Detective Inspector, daughter of a serial killer.
          DI Amy Winter is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her highly respected police officer father. But when a letter arrives from the prison cell of Lillian Grimes, one half of a notorious husband-and-wife serial-killer team, it contains a revelation that will tear her life apart.
          Responsible for a string of heinous killings decades ago, Lillian is pure evil. A psychopathic murderer. And Amy’s biological mother. Now, she is ready to reveal the location of three of her victims—but only if Amy plays along with her twisted game.
           While her fellow detectives frantically search for a young girl taken from her mother’s doorstep, Amy must confront her own dark past. Haunted by blurred memories of a sister who sacrificed herself to save her, Amy faces a race against time to uncover the missing bodies.
          But what if, from behind bars, Grimes has been pulling the strings even tighter than Amy thought? And can she overcome her demons to prevent another murder?

2. Once Gone by by Blake Pierce

#1 Riley Paige, FBI
listened on Audible (Chirp)
narrated  by Elaine Wise (lovely BRITISH accent....)
Unabridged audio (7:34)
2015
304 pgs.
Adult murder mystery/police procedural
Finished 1/6/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.93 - 18,599 ratings
My rating: 2
Setting: contemporary Virginia and surrounding states

First line/s:  from Prologue:  "A new spasm of pain jolted Reba's head upright."
from Chapter 1:  "At least the stench hadn't kicked in, Special Agent Bill Jeffries thought."

My comments:  This book is about Riley Paige, a female FBI agent working out of Langley in Virginia and read by a woman with a beautifully lilting British accent.  Talk about disconcerting!  I cannot imagine what the audio company was thinking.  I had to keep adjusting to the setting, every so often thinking that it was all based in Great Britain.  And then there was Riley herself.  A mom.  A brilliant problem solver.  An extremely smart agent.  She is suffering from PTSD, which is perfectly and totally understandable.  The depression, the drinking, the debilitating thoughts she had.  What I didn't understand was her recklessness and carelessness, and the made me dislike her, and eye-rolling dislike.  Her partner, Bill, seems pretty much like a dolt, a yes-man to her decisions and a constant "don't go alone" to her unheeding ear seem to be pretty much the sum of his abilities.  Will I read more?  There are a lot more in the series.  Perhaps.....
     Plus, what a crappy cover!

Goodreads synopsis:  Women are turning up dead in the rural outskirts of Virginia, killed in grotesque ways, and when the FBI is called in, they are stumped. A serial killer is out there, his frequency increasing, and they know there is only one agent good enough to crack this case: Special Agent Riley Paige.
          Riley is on paid leave herself, recovering from her encounter with her last serial killer, and, fragile as she is, the FBI is reluctant to tap her brilliant mind. Yet Riley, needing to battle her own demons, comes on board, and her hunt leads her through the disturbing subculture of doll collectors, into the homes of broken families, and into the darkest canals of the killer’s mind. As Riley peels back the layers, she realizes she is up against a killer more twisted than she could have imagined. In a frantic race against time, she finds herself pushed to her limit, her job on the line, her own family in danger, and her fragile psyche collapsing.
          Yet once Riley Paige takes on a case, she will not quit. It obsesses her, leading her to the darkest corners of her own mind, blurring the lines between hunter and hunted. After a series of unexpected twists, her instincts lead her to a shocking climax that even Riley could not have imagined.
          A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, ONCE GONE marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

16. One Kick - Chelsea Cain

# 1 in a new series about Kit Lannigan

Audio read by Heather Lind

8 unabridged discs

2014 Simon & Schuster

309 pgs.

Adult murder mystery

Finished 2/20/2015

Goodreads rating:  3.77

My rating:    3.5 I liked it

TPPL

Setting: mostly Oregon/Washington and a bit of SanDiego - contemporary

1st sentence/s:

My comments:  Whew!  So what do I think about this book?  Setting, plot, characters, let's see.  Plot, though horribly grizzly, was well conceived and written in an interesting way; jumping back and forth on itself as memories from Kit's kidnapped years keep appearing. There are really three mysteries being examined - current abductions, Kit's abduction, and the mysterious identity and intentions of John Bishop. The setting flips between the American northwest and the San Diego area. The only character I couldn't totally get into was that of the protagonist!  She was so cockily sure of herself, but many of her actions were immature and poorly thought-out.  I felt no sexual pull at all between Kit and Bishop, so when it began straying in that direction, I was disconcerted.  I want to know more information about her "brother", James, and look forward to another book that might answer many of the questions that Kit ... and I ... have about Bishop.

Goodreads book summary:  Kick Lannigan, 21, is a survivor. Abducted at age six in broad daylight, the police, the public, perhaps even her family assumed the worst had occurred. And then Kathleen Lannigan was found, alive, six years later. In the early months following her freedom, as Kick struggled with PTSD, her parents put her through a litany of therapies, but nothing helped until the detective who rescued her suggested Kick learn to fight. Before she was thirteen, Kick learned marksmanship, martial arts, boxing, archery, and knife throwing. She excelled at every one, vowing she would never be victimized again. But when two children in the Portland area go missing in the same month, Kick goes into a tailspin. Then an enigmatic man Bishop approaches her with a proposition: he is convinced Kick's experiences and expertise can be used to help rescue the abductees. Little does Kick know the case will lead directly into her terrifying past…

34. Say Goodbye - Lisa Gardner

Audio Read by Ann Marie Lee & Lincoln Hoppe
Published Jul, 2008
11 Unabridged CD's
13 hrs. 12 min.
368 pgs.
Rating: 5

This was a VERY disturbing story, so I hesitated before giving it a five...but it was quite brilliantly written, though grizzly....gory....and unbelievably sad. Spiders. Pregnancy. Relationships. Child pornography and abduction. FBI agents and informants. Throw that all into the mountains of Georgia and you have the basis for this suspenseful thriller. Told in a number of voices, with an epilogue that makes you cheer out loud -- 20 minutes after shedding tears of sadness....well, you get my drift. What a drive I had while listening, down I-5 from San Francisco to Bakersfield, across 40 to Needles, down again to Blythe, then I-10 to Tucson, it literally flew by. FBI Agent Kimberly Quincy is pregnant and on a case with a GBI agent who becomes a good friend, trying to find prostitutes that have been disappearing over a series of months in the Atlanta area. We keep hearing other voices, receiveing tidbits of information here and there that finally all fit together. It's a fantastic puzzle, quite cleverly written. But it's about young boys who are abducted, abused, held hostile physically and emotionally, and it's about how one of those boys behaves after he's grown up. Abducted by the Burger Man (SPOILER HERE) he later becomes the Burger Man. We also learn a great deal about spiders, their habits, their markings, their personalities per se.

Wow.

22. What Happened to Cass McBride - Gail Giles

Finished while traveling, somewhere over Massachusetts, April 16th, 2009
Rating: 4
2006
For: YA

Edgy and interesting - a good Gail Giles creation. Told from three points-of-view, the story eventually fully unfolds. Kyle Kirby has abducted and buried Cass McBridge alive because of her part in his younger brother's suicide. A cop, Ben Gray, puts the clues together to discover who kidnapped her and why.

I really like the way that Giles slowly puts you into the heads of the protagonists. And, as is usually the case, there are deeply rooted feelings and reasons for the way people act and think. No one really knows what happens in some families, do they? Some parents really do a number on their kids.

The story flew by, incredibly well written, and totally thought-provoking.