When a homeless veteran is found dead in a squalid Sacramento alley, FBI special agent Megan Elliott vows to find the murdered hero’s killer. Her investigation gets complicated fast, for the victim, a former Delta Force soldier, is just one link in a nationwide spree of torture and murder.
Straight off a job rescuing medical missionaries, soldier-for-hire Jack Kincaid returns to his home base in the Texas border town of Hidalgo only to receive the news that one of his closest colleagues–also ex-military–has been brutally murdered. Faced with an inept local police force, Jack takes matters into his own hands.
Now, as part of a national task force to stop the sadistic killings, by-the-book Megan and burn-the-book Jack form a tense alliance, sparked with conflict and temptation. But they struggle against more than passion, for a vicious pair of killers has only just begun a rampage of evil . . . and the primary target is much closer than Megan suspects.
Wanting a break from my regular reading and needing a new audio book to consume, I decided to take a shot at Allison Brennan. Sudden Death is the first book in a trilogy that is set in the world of some of her other books.
This book centers on Supervisory Special Agent Megan Elliott. She is a strong woman, intelligent, and doesn’t let limitations hold her down. Though she is by the book, she does search information through other sources to get a better grasp at what she’s handling. Most of the book is Megan Elliott trying to solve a series of killings that span through various states.
I have seen people call this book a poor suspense romance, but I didn’t see romance at all. Yes, there is a love interest and though he has his own chapters, I wouldn’t say there is romance. This is a book about the mystery. This is a book where you get to go into the killers’ minds and see their motives. The reader wants to know what is going on as much as the good guys.
At least, that was the feeling for me. I was invested in finding out what was going to happen next. I was invested in characters and hoping they didn’t die. I was invested in the crazed (but highly intelligent) mind of the killer. I love those things. I do like procedure, but I do love the inner workings of the mind.
That said, I found the suspense perfect. Sure, I could have gotten more, but the twists I didn’t see and the killer was an interesting character. I found that I like Brennan’s writing style too. It is easy to get into, but has that raw feeling in the dialogue. The bad guys were messed up. I love it.
Soooo, yeah, I’m obviously going to continue with Brennan. I am currently listening to the second book. We’ll see how that one fares to this.
Casia's Corner 