IMPULSE (FACES OF EVIL)

by Debra Webb
Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group)
Published: March 26, 2013
Format: Paperback (268 pages)
Series: Faces of Evil Series
Origin: Publisher through NetGalley, (eGalley)

My Look:

FBI Profile Agent Jess Harris is returning to Birmingham, although she's coming back with her tail between her legs.

In her last case, she was disgraced, played a fool, and more doubts about the motive behind her mistakes are about to surface. Unfortunately, the good rapport she had with supervisor, Gant seems strained beyond repair in the FBI, and a new relationship with an old flame, soon to be new boss, might mix business with pleasure only to create more career decreasing issues.

However, Jess Harris and her problems are really just only beginning.

One of the main suspects of her last case, Eric Spears, has been cleared and is considering filing charges against her. His claims are coming up startling true when nothing is the truth. And no matter how many times the FBI insists Eric Spears is not the sadistic murderer known as the Player, Jess knows that he is exactly that, until the murders begin here in Birmingham and Spears whereabouts is confirmed to be miles and miles away.

Now, everything Jess knew she is calling into to question, and she chooses to not get fired by the FBI. Instead, she resigns, accepts her former lover's proffered position in the Birmingham Police Department—despite the eye stares the rest of the BPD is throwing her way. This department needs her profiling skills, and a new friend from the force needs her help. The Player has taken Detective Lori Wells, and the investigation has grown to include a joint task force of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, complicating the already complicated relationships further.

Once another woman is discovered tortured and barely alive, Jess knows exactly what will happen to her friend, Detective Wells.

However, the next victim could have been Jess's sister or her niece, and she can't get them to leave town even after another woman's dead body is discovered. Jess is becoming increasingly fearful the Player will kill all the people in her life.

Should she leave to keep them safe? Or should she stay to help bring down this sicko?

My Take:

IMPULSE (Faces of Evil series) by Debra Webb is a thrilling read!

Debra Webb has created characters you'd love to get to know, combined them into a story that don't quit, but adds more twists than the reader will ever think of. I did enjoy getting to know Jess Harris and her old flame, Police Chief Dan Burnett. These two go through periods of pulling away and betraying their logic by getting closer, but it's the ending where they maybe figure out a logical way together. Maybe.

However, I must give a warning. This read contains much graphic, gratuitous violence perpetrated by the most perverse, sadomasochistic killer.

Debra Webb's IMPULSE (FACES of Evil series) is a standalone novel that will keep you up late nights and have you wonder about the person standing beside you on the bus the very next day. Meanwhile, you will hurry to get the other books in the Faces of Evil Series including OBSESSION (Forever 2013), POWER (Forever 2013) until the new series books are published later this year titled RAGE (Forever 2013), REVENGE (Forever 2013), and RUTHLESS (Forever 2013).

THERE ONCE LIVED A GIRL WHO SEDUCED HER SISTER'S HUSBAND . . .

by: Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: January 29, 2013
Format: Paperback (192 pages)
ISBN: 9780143121527
Origin: Publisher

My Look:

In this book of romance stories, told from a macabre perspective, you find some less than happy representations of love, love gone awry, and unrequited love.

In A MURKY FATE, a woman is lonely and tired of not being able to brag about a man in her life. She takes a man from her office home—who is already married—and is overjoyed at telling people she is in a relationship. Though, it was hardly ever one.

THE TWO DEITIES introduces Evginia, an unmarried woman, who at thirty-five has an office tryst with a twenty-year-old male. Their one night resulted in a son. With the death of her grandmother, Evginia keeps the baby. Though she never marries the father, he visits his child. His family history is one of poverty and alcoholism, but he finishes his schooling. Eventually, they live as a family and the father abuses his alcohol.

In the story of CLARISSA, this woman thinks people are talking about her, although most are not. She marries but grows tired of her distant husband. Soon, she marries again and had a child. However, her husband drinks, cheats, and is abusive. But when her husband leaves her taking the child, she roamed and ranted before disappearing. She returned—divorced with a child, but her problems continue.

She finds another husband, a pilot, and she had another child. Nevertheless, despite her now peaceful life, Clarissa calls the airport dispatcher demanding her husband's flight information, repeatedly, when he was on duty. This behavior leads to the reprimand of her husband.

YOUNG BERRIES is about a child in a sanatorium for sickly children. She is attacked in the park, but, due to her scream she is not harmed. However, she is harassed and targeted by one of the boys. A boy she grew to love. After she left the sanatorium, this boy tormented her at home, over the phone—using her love for his amusement.

My Take:

THERE ONCE LIVED A GIRL WHO SEDUCED HER SISTER'S HUSBAND, AND HE HANGED HIMSELF by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya translated by Anna Summers is a collection of dark "love" stories that will leave you understanding these things that on the surface can not be understood.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya writes about her home country of Russia, and she immerses the reader in the life of her characters. Although you maybe know where one story is going, you will still read on. It's simply something you must see to the end.

THE MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE

by: Cathy Scott
Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime
Published: March 27, 2012
Format: Paperback (256 pages)
ISBN: 9780312594350
Origin: Author

My Look:

Walking back to his Upper East Side apartment in New York City, George Kogan didn't know what hit him. Quickly, he became sure it was indeed fatal.

George Kogan led a life that many could dream about, but he also led a life that was dubious with business and business connections. With two children, a faithful wife, and many successful businesses, how did his life turn bad enough that murder was the opted choice?

Who did it and why?

Although there could have been many suspects and many reasons, the one reason that sticks out for police is the one odds-on favorite. The jilted wife.

Man and wife were in the middle of a bitter divorce battle because George Kogan chose a younger woman who worked for his wife. Thus, this also is the inside story of how Barbara Kogan became heartbroken, bitter, and mentally unstable. Her children were young adults, both boys, and she leaned emotionally heavy on one child to get her through it. William tried to bridge the gap between two parents. Could he?

Unfortunately, he never did get to find out.

George Kogan was gunned down in broad daylight on just the morning he was to speak with William to hammer out a divorce agreement that would bring his mother an amicable divorce close and begin to heal the divide between the father and son's relationship. This settlement didn't happen. William's mother grows more unstable and the police grow more suspicious.

How long does it take to solve this crime?

Solving a case like this can take many twists, ending up in many places, taking even more turns than a mystery novel, and monopolizing many more days than anyone would dream, but when the end comes, there may be many questions left unanswered and many suspects never fully known. However, there also could be many more questions just beginning with the ending.

My Take:

THE MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE: The True Story of a Real Estate Tycoon, his Beautiful Young Mistress, and a Marriage that Ended in Murder by Cathy Scott will keep you in suspense!

Inside the investigation, you'll find nuggets of information, jewels of facts, and thorns of guilt. You'll even find many unsavory characters and questions on the deceased character traits and behaviors during life. However, the real questions you'll discover will be about motive, opportunity, and the odds of the police being right. As the reader is a latecomer to this investigation, the author will bring you up-to-speed in how this all played out and if the case makes sense. You won't put the book down, when other people come into the equation and deny activity, but the reader will wonder about plea deals and testimony, and whether justice is really justice.

Apparently, no one but the lawyers could see the end and some didn't seem to fully understand why this ending arrived.

Cathy Scott's true crime writing is thorough and will bring you right into the investigation, family, lawyers, trial, and questions. While you await her newest project, I'm sure you'll want to read this author's other true crime works—A KILLER IN OUR MIDST (True Crime Short 2011), TUPAC: THE LEGEND LIVES ON (Crime Short 2011), THE KILLING OF TUPAC SHAKUR (Plexus 2008), THE MURDER OF A MAFIA DAUGHTER: THE LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF SUSAN BERMAN (Barricade Books 2002), DEATH IN THE DESERT: THE TED BINION HOMICIDE CASE (AuthorHouse 2001), THE MURDER OF BIGGIE SMALLS (St. Martin's Press 2000)!

LUCKY STIFF

by: Annelise Ryan
Publisher: Kensington
Published: March 05, 2013
Format: 384 pages
ISBN: 9780758272751
Series: Mattie Winston Mysteries
Origin: Publisher

My Look:

Death Investigator, Mattie Winston, arrives on scene to find she knew this victim from her former career.

More than once, she helped heal this paraplegic man only to find herself bent over his burnt body, collecting evidence in an arson and murder investigation of her former patient, Jack Allen.

She hadn't left her last career to help the living due to burnout or the need for a change, she left her career as an operating room nurse because of her former husband. He is a surgeon in the same hospital, the same OR, who liked to play with their female coworkers while she and he were married.

Taking in the scene with detective Hurley—a man who she wants and who seems to want her but each has a job that must keep them apart—Mattie learns that Jack Allen had recently struck it big in the local casino, and his jackpot wasn't kept in a bank. In fact, it was kept in this burnt out home. Making matters worse, many people knew of his winnings and the large sums of house money leads to an assumption of motive.

Jack Allen's open wallet policy only serves to multiply suspects to include neighbors, friends, and a girlfriend—just to start. However, their suspect list grows to include casino workers, drinking buddies, caregivers, family, and everyone who had been in contact with Jack Allen, since he won the money. As if this one case isn't enough to keep the police and medical examiner's office busy, a floater turns up and something that should have been an easy case turns into something more sinister.

Meanwhile, Mattie meets up with her ex—who is involved with their real estate agent when Hurley gives her an electrifying kiss, and she's about to gamble with her future, when her boss becomes suspicious about Mattie and Hurley.

My Take:

In LUCKY STIFF, Annelise Ryan successfully blends mystery, autopsies, and romantic notions into a cozy that you can't put down!

Mattie Winston delves deep into death and investigates crime, but she still finds time for the romance she can't have and the ex she can't seem to rid herself of. Mattie's humor is a way to deal with her increasingly complicated life and competing desires, but she is finding her way through life one disaster at a time.

A standalone novel, LUCKY STIFF by Annelise Ryan will have you learn crime scene investigation, medical examination, and investigation principles, while keeping you wrapped in her characters personal lives. I'm sure you'll want to catch this author's other Mattie Winston titles including, FROZEN STIFF (Kensington 2012), SCARED STIFF (Kensington 2011), and WORKING STIFF (Kensington 2010).

IMAGES OF BETRAYAL

by: Claire Collins
Publisher: Second Wind Press LLC
Published: August 22, 2008
Format: Paperback (256 pages)
Origin: Author Recommendation

My Look:

The teen year pressures for Tysan Reynolds should be about what boy she's dating, what she's wearing to the prom, and who is taking her to their prom, but Tysan's reality is far from what other teens are living.

In the middle of her parent's divorce, Tysan is used as a pawn to a mother who wants her husband to pay and a father who can't handle the pressure. Forced to leave her school and work full-time, just to keep a roof over her head, Tysan is employed at a diner. While pursuing another relationship, her dad leaves his daughter and calls to say he's not coming back. However, Tysan has made some friends during her employment, and she even has a woman whom often tries to be a stand-in mom.

Soon, she meets a man who has the ability to change her life.

Walker is a young, fairly handsome man who seems to show up at the right time. He talks to Tysan and leaves her wondering about him. She goes about her life, in the meantime, but he seems to still pop-up. She's ready for a Walker in her life, maybe. However, she isn't ready for everything he shows her.

Realization dawns and she knows that he is telling the truth about taking pictures of her at school. In fact, she does remember seeing him. However, can she believe her missing portrait?

Does he really know what is in store for her? Can an object tell the future? Are his pictures really worth a thousand foretold words?

Who is this mystery man walking around flashing photos of destruction?

My Take:

IMAGES OF BETRAYAL by Claire Collins is a mystery that will keep you reading with a touch of paranormal that will keep you believing!

I admired Tysan's strength and her maturity that scoped beyond her years. An understanding of her bad circumstances mixing with the thought of her finding love, led me think everything would seem to be okay in the end, until the man in her life goes beyond a mystery. This mystery grabs hold of Tysan and the reader, but the end is something neither would see coming.

Claire Collins penned a standalone novel in IMAGES OF BETRAYAL that will leave you wanting to read her other title: FATE AND DESTINY (Second Wind Press 2009)!

THE GOOD LIFE
originally posted: April 14, 2013

by Susan Kietzman
Publisher: Kensington
Published: February 26, 2013
Format: Paperback (352 pages)
ISBN: 9780758281326
Origin: Publisher through NetGalley (eGalley)

My Look:

The Barons have a plush life, and this mode of living has many perks and complications.

Mike is a CEO, both handsome and powerful; he lives to work and enjoys the chase of making money. Ann enjoys the drink, basks in the limelight of their status, gloats over others' lack of status, and gives their children everything money can buy.

Meanwhile, Nate resents his mother, since Ann thinks she can buy love and denies him what he wants most—time. Mike does try to make time for him, but when Mike can't do it, Nate doesn't let his father off easy either. On the other hand, Lauren understands her father is a busy man, and for the most part she's okay with that. Lauren, oftentimes, feels like she's little more than a duty to be dropped off and picked up, and she doesn't miss that her mother no longer spends time with her. Ann doesn't even attend her games. In fact, Lauren finds herself envying those of her peers whom are putting up with meddling mothers, overprotective fathers, and siblings who constantly tag along. Her peers tell her she's the lucky one. But is she?

Soon, this dysfunctional family dynamic gets an injection of family values and a lesson in what being a family really means, when Ann's parents ask to live with them.

Due to Ann's aging father's illness, her mother claims she cannot care for him, but she must wait for an opening in the assisted living facility. At first, Ann thinks her mother, Eileen, is being dramatic—as is her nature, but she quickly realizes that his mental abilities are diminished. After attempting to solve the problem by throwing some money at it, Ann is faced with having them move in.

However, Ann has a plan to minimize the interruption to their lives and Mike agrees, since Ann will be handling most of the problems and facing most of the interruptions. After redecorating the guesthouse, Ann places her parents there with a nurse.

Will this living arrangement take a problematic turn?

My Take:

In THE GOOD LIFE by Susan Kietzman, you'll find a family in turmoil before the living arrangement ever comes into play. Hiding behind wealth and status can lie insecurities, failures, alcoholism, eating disorders, dysfunction, and distorted egos.

I found characters with a sense of dislike at the life that some love and a dislike for themselves while living it. At first, I understood Ann, having to come to terms with sick parents and problems that money can't fix, but soon I found myself relating to Mike. Although, he likes to work and make money, he recognized Ann's parents' issues and tried his best to help. However, I fell in love with Nate and Lauren, as they fell in love with their grandparents.

A standalone novel, THE GOOD LIFE by Susan Kietzman will leave you hoping for another read from this author.

FINAL RESORT
originally posted: April 7, 2013

by Dana Mentink
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Published: February 5, 2013
Format: Paperback (224 pages)
ISBN: 9780373445264
Series: Treasure Seekers
Origin: Publisher through NetGalley (egalley)

My Look:

Ava Stanton has suffered too much loss in her life, from losing her mother to suicide—while she was still in her young teen years, and at the same time, losing her healthy father to an accident—leaving him a paraplegic with a host of health issues. Now, as an adult, Ava faces the soon-to-be loss of her impoverished, winter resort home, Whisper Mountain.

Through all of this turmoil, Ava has known only one constant in her life, her mother's brother, Uncle Paul.

She can remember her parent's arguing over Uncle Paul, and Ava's dad still carries a firm dislike for this man. It wasn't that Ava was ignorant to Uncle Paul's wayward nature of get rich quick schemes, owing and borrowing money from everyone and anyone, and the not-so-honest way he will manipulate things toward his favor; she knew his exploits quite well. However, his optimism and infectious smile was something Ava could always count on and that meant the world to her.

So, why was she on a deserted mountain road of the winter wonderland that she once called home, despite the winter storm warnings? Ava was here at Uncle Paul's request, of course. His message about his "purl", although he used that term about everything he ever chased.

Finally, Uncle Paul arrived, but he wasn't himself.

Ava's selling the resort really saddened him, but she tried to get him to understand. She can't afford to keep it. However, yet again, he's coming into money. It's big this time. Not wanting to hurt him, she simple restated that she had to sell. Maybe since it was worth more in painful memories than cash, she figured he'd understand.

Suddenly, a snowmobile arrives on scene. His face was hidden, but his intention was clear. Someone was about to run them down! Uncle Paul pushed Ava out of its path, but Uncle Paul didn't get away.

Meanwhile, Luca Gage left his sister and was skiing toward old memories of a high school crush, when he saw a snowmobile driving at increasing speed toward a couple. The woman landed with a thud and the man was abducted. There was only one he could save, and his gut knew exactly who it was.

Once skiing these slopes with pure abandon, she became different and weighted with loss and pain. It doesn't seem her pain ever stopped. Luca knew her former home was on the market, and he was charged with checking into a possible purchase for his father. Since the Gage property, Gold Summit, was next to Whisper Mountain to acquire it would make sense. However, from what he knew, it would take a whole lot of money just for modernization.

He was not going to let her die up here on this mountain.

Both of them were on thin ice, now, and as it breaks, his emotions reheat, cracking his heart's protective barrier.

My Take:

FINAL RESORT is a thrilling ride of suspense and romance!

Luca Gage is a hero whose heart hunts for the treasure that he's never found, as he finds worldly treasures he doesn't need. His strong faith brings him through, and he believes enough for two.

Ava Stanton is a strong woman, but to her, prayers aren't answered and bad things still happen. Faith doesn't mean much to her, and to find someone who actually still believes is disorienting.

In fact, she sometimes sees the world in have and have not, and the Stantons were always on the have not list.

Dana Mentink's hero and heroine are opposites in life, faith and socioeconomic factors, but their personalities complement. His family brought him stability while her unstable family brought challenges to bear. Abandonment left her brokenhearted, and she's not prepared for love. However, she must learn to ask for and accept help, but he must accept her need to do things herself. Can they make it work?

FINAL RESORT by Dana Mentink is a standalone title. However, you'll want to read more of this author's titles including DANGEROUS MELODY (Love Inspired Suspense 2012), LOST LEGACY (Love Inspired Suspense 2012), ESCAPE FROM THE BADLANDS (Love Inspired Suspense (2012), BURIED TRUTH (Love Inspired Suspense 2011), TURBULENCE (Steeple Hill 2011), and BETRAYAL IN THE BADLANDS (Steeple Hill 2010). Or check out other books by this author!

A book reviewer, Sisters in Crime member, writer, mum, dog mom, cat mom, wife, and lover of good food who is always on a diet! http://about.me/EleanorAnders

Reviewing great reads direct from publishers including: Kensington Books, Forever Romance (imprint of Grand Central Publishing), B&H Publishers, Barbour Publishing, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group (through Blogging for Books), Bell Bridge Books, Tyndale (through Tyndale Blog Network), and others.

Come visit me on Google+, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, and Wordpress at www.http://eleanoranders.wordpress.com