I like that the protagonist is transgender (more of that please!), but the story just didn't hold my interest and the prose was too functional for my taste. I'd try another in the series though.

This was a really good book. It was a good insight into the world of transgender women. The violence was very disturbing, yet a stark reality, especially in our current intolerant time. The cruelty and hate are horrible. However, that being said, the main character made me smile often. Ms. James is a very good writer. I enjoyed her wit and humor. The descriptions of the people closest to her seemed spot on. I especially enjoyed Roberta, as Ms. James nailed that age perfectly. I loved the scenes in the hair salon and wished there was more about the salon, the customers, and the stylists. I recommend reading this book. This is the first book I've read from this author, but it definitely won't be my last.

I was interested in this book from the beginning after reading the description & seeing the cover. The storyline seemed intriguing; however; as I began to read it, I quickly realized it wasn't for me. I continued to have a hard time focusing on the main character & storyline due to the constant paranoia she had. I'm not sure why it was so difficult for me.

I'm sure there are some readers who would really enjoy this book; it just wasn't for me.

Thank to the author & Netgalley for giving me a chance to read it.

Seven Suspects is something of a whodunit - with a difference. The main character Bobbi does a DIY job on finding her stalker before he does kill her - which of course, he very nearly does, complete with all the forensic trimmings of sadistic pleasure in the deed ( the real bad guy was not that difficult to spot either, but then this is as much a tale of self-discovery as it is a dark thriller).

Bobbi by virtue of who she is, makes a good target amy way. As a transessual she is alays a potential target for a certain type of hater anyway. She is also not necessarily blessed with tact or an awareness of the difficulties others may be experiencing in their lives: the bad tenant may be ill, the sullen employee clinically depressed rather than her not having her heart in it. These are post-Depression tIme, people are up against it.

The book explores the issues a transexual may have with the larger world in general - with ex-wives, lovers who need to catch up with their changes, children whose class mates may not understand. But for those who like their dark thrillers dark, Seven Suspects also delivers the good as BobbI does battle with the monster she finds in her basement. Bobbi grows up a lot in the process too.

A NetGalley e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a good idea but just didn’t do it for me.

There are triggers, so avoid if you are sensitive to rape, stalking and bullying.

This is the story of a transgender woman who has pissed off one too many people in the past decade. She is being left nasty messages at work and at home and being followed through the streets of Chicago.

The story got repetitive. I felt like we were explained each part of the book several times and the dialogue started to repeat itself in the end as well.

It was a decent mystery until towards the end and then the plot twist was not as twisty as I would have hoped.

This book was fast paced and I really enjoyed it, I would recommend this book

Great read. Gets you hooked from the start. Would highly recommend!!

This book tackled a number of important issues sensitively, but was a bit stereotypical. The book would have benefited from would have more character development in supporting roles. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! It's very different, has a sense of menace lurking about it and tells an incredible tale of Bobbi, a transexual hairdresser who is being stalked. She works through a list of suspects to find the person responsible for making her feel vulnerable & scared whilst dealing with some quite scary incidents.

I loved Bobbi. She's coping well with her transition, runs her own business, has a great relationship with an ex-wife and loves her niece. She just needs to find a partner of her own who'll love her for her and not because of what she was/is.

Highly recommended.

I received this book free from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Although like many other readers, I was not aware "Seven Suspects" was 3rd in a series, I was turning pages. Thank you to Renee James for having the courage to write from the first person of Bobbi, a transwoman with character, intelligence and attitude. It makes one wonder what motivates the haters, the discrimination and abuse. Bobbi is a great example of the humanity in all of us. The story is suspenseful with a very interesting and unique cast of characters. I look forward to more from this author.

A very interesting book exploring transsexuals, the publics reactions and how all our choices and interactions can cause our futures. There is someone stalking Bobbi but seven possible suspects, through researching and following the suspects... Bobbi finds out who has it in for her.

It’s not often that you get to say you learnt something from a work of fiction that will leave an indelible mark on who you are as a person. But this book is capable of making such a change on a reader.

The world of transgendered people is not, I'm willing to bet, something that many people have experience with. Sure, we might have seen a documentary or two on it, but the day to day life, the reality of what a transgendered person goes through in this world of cisgendered people is something to behold, and we get a small glimpse of it in Renee James’ book, Seven Suspects.

Clearly this book is part of an ongoing serious (it is number three in the Bobbi Logan Crime series) that follows the trials and tribulations of one Ms Bobbi Logan. She is six feet tall, forty-seven years of age, and was born a white male, transitioning to her female self in her thirties living in Chicago. She is a business owner and she has all the same dreams and hopes that most anyone has. She wants to have a successful career, a nice home and a fulfilling relationship. She has a sister relationship with Betsy, her former wife, is an honorary aunt to Betsy’s child Roberta and had a wonderful relationship with a cop named Phil, although that is on the skids in this chapter of her story.

In this book Bobbi begins to feel as if something is not quite right, and she slowly comes to the realisation that she is being stalked. Her dearest friend Cecilia makes note that Bobbi has not been winning hearts and making friends of all she meets lately, and that she might indeed have a few enemies. Bobbi makes a list of all the people who might possibly be stalking her and comes out with a list of six people. But Bobbi believes that numbers are part of the celestial working of the world, and believes that there should be seven suspects on her list, as seven is an important number. She then sets off to confront each and every one of the suspects to try and ferret out who is stalking her, trying to get them to stop, but she is convinced after her initial ‘investigations’ that none of the men on the list are the actual criminal. So it comes down to who she isn’t seeing who must be the seventh suspect out to get her, and it is indeed the way the universe works, making the seventh suspect ‘the one’.

This book gave a wonderful insight into the world of transgendered women, and the daily struggles they face to be seen and accepted as the women they are. Little things that never generally come to mind, such as the whole height factor for a transwoman and the possible male facial features that no amount of hormones can overcome. Or the desire to be treated as a woman and being mistaken for a man despite her best attempts to ‘pass’ as a woman. Little things that cisgendered people take for granted.

Although this was the third book in the series, it was easy to form an attachment with Bobbi as a character and not feel like there were many details written previously that we were not privy to now. It was easy enough to pick up the thread and understand who she was as a person and what her motivations were. There is a small cast of characters to keep track of, but all play an important part of the overall story and all are people that you care about.

This book is not written for faint of heart to read. If you are of a delicate constitution, then maybe this book isn’t the one for you. If you can’t cope with obscenities, then its best if you don’t read this book, as there are cuss words used and there is a line that, when you get to it, you’ll know it, and it resulted in a rip-snorting laugh for this reader with it poetic vibe, which is not the sole source of poetry in this novel. There are some chapters that leave one reeling with the brutality of what is occurring and James has not given an inch towards gentility, so if you are easily frightened or are triggered by rape scenes and talk, then this is not the book for you. This volume is cold and rough and violent in part and it leaves the reader feeling quite disturbed. When it goes dark, its goes black. That’s not to say that this book should be avoided, rather, forewarned is forearmed.

Themes of family and what that looks like in a modern world, the assumptions we make of other people and the façade that people can put up are also explored. Themes of transgendered people’s difficulties are explored several times in this book.

**My mind shifts gear. Every slight, every bigoted sneer, every nasty laugh, all the things I thought didn’t touch me come racing through my vision now, summoned by the certainty that there will always be people who see people like me as targets, not people. **

**If Nightmare Man jumps me here, he can beat me to death and leave without being seen. He might even be able to get in a quick rape, though that would be much riskier.**

It’s hard to imagine life under those constant thoughts, but that’s what this book makes come alive.

This is a suspenseful novel that is entertaining as well as insightful. Well worth the time to read.

Seven Suspects was just bland. I don't know. Nothing kept me full of suspense. Too repetitive that Bobbi wanted to be sexy...

This is a really interesting, almost brave whodunnit stepping out of the usual framework both in style and content.
The main character is a sassy, strong and intelligent transexual woman with a secret past which is touched on but not quite fully explored. Despite some extremely violent scenes, its almost a gentle tale, which sounds bizarre to say.
I liked it. It kept me busy into the early hours and left me with a satisfaction similar to a decent hot chocolate.

The writing is really good, it has a flow to it that makes a comfortable, fast read. The characters were good, fleshed out and true personas. But...
The constant repetition of the same facts was incredibly unnerving. Summarising previous books of a series for new readers is one thing but shoving facts down their throats every third page is another. Hadn't I read beforehand that this was part of an entire series, it would have been clear after the first third. John Strand here, John Strand there but never as much as a further detail. I have a name and two or three facts about the person and that was it. Either you give me the entire thing as an overview (brief and not every ten pages again) or you leave it at that and stop making all those countless references.
I also understand that transgender and trans-persons is a big topic and although I like and appreciate the way the author presented it in this book I think it's a pity that their protagonist is reduced time and again to just that. The struggles with all of it would have worked with their descriptions alone. I don't need to be told again and again where the struggles came from. Grant the reader some brain and ability of thinking and understanding.
I don't mean to make the book sound bad. I really liked it but the aforementioned points got annoying.

Living the life of a transsexual woman isn't easy in no way shape or form. Life is an uphill battle. When you decide to live life with this choice expecting anything less is crazy. You know everything will be harder because of the decisions you have made. As a strong woman, you are ready for the state's and rude remarks. However you are not ready to be stalked and terrorized. You are not ready to have your home broken into and vandalized. You place of business is also vandalized and hate words spray painted all over.
This is the terror that Bobbi has been going through. She has come to the belief that there has to be seven possible suspects. It's a countdown and she still hasn't figured it out.
5 Stars

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Seven Suspects features Bobbi Logan, a professional hairdresser who is also a transsexual female. Bobbi's been through seriously hard times in her life and is now being followed and left on edge. Throughout the novel, Bobbi comes up with a list of seven possible suspects.

For a while there I wasn't entirely sure that Bobbi wasn't imagining things, then I decided to look the book up and realized that this book was in fact part of a series. I wish I had known that before starting this novel as I feel like I've missed part of the story and perhaps could have understood Bobbi's character a bit better.

The first person narration was a bit clunky, however Seven Suspects had an interesting tale to be told. Reasoning for low rating was purely because it was not sold as part of a series.

I'm not sure why I chose this book. After all, a deep South, straight, male, baby boomer, retired Army officer is hardly the intended audience. Add to that the fact that I am not accustomed to, and usually not appreciative of first person present tense writing, particularly from the POV of a transsexual woman, and I expected to hate it. Funny thing is, I liked it. A lot. Quirky? Yes. Overly (to me) concerned about being assaulted? Yes. Unrealistic? Yes, again, to me. But I liked the flow, the story, the book, and would most certainly recommend it. I'm still not sure why. But I may re-read it, and will certainly look for Renee James' next work.

This is a book that cuts beyond gender or any class in society.
Bobbi is a character deep down we can all relate to. Yes, she is transgender but the experiences that she has to go through at the end of the day can happen to anyone. The author brings out clearly how a woman is vulnerable and how society can play apart in making sure you stay in that position. She struggles with her weaknesses of wanting to be accepted as a woman, her physical appearances that push her to trust to quickly and not really see what kind of people are around her. She wants to love so much and this exposes her to be too easy with the men who show some interest in her.
At any one minute we can be victims or survivors depending on what end of the scale you are tipping on. How we manage to move on with life fully depends on our own attitude in life. She is fearless as she tackles the law of sevens and does not give up. The tenacity she up holds in solving the puzzle is almost insane.
Bobbi decides to take it in stride and move on with life even after being sexually and physically abused two times in her life. This is a mantra that we should all embrace in life. Bobbi says: “One of the things I’ve learned in life is that you never know when your life is going to end. So I try to keep my debts paid. Not just the money ones. I try to be as good to the people around me as I can, and to make sure they know I appreciate them” All I can say she is a heroine to be able to overcome all that trauma.
I experienced every emotion that the characters were going through and they became a part of me. At the end I wanted to make every character’s life that had gone wrong right and where there were tears a smile. The author keeps you wanting more of the book.
Bobbi at the end of the day is just a human being who wants love and to be loved. She wants a family and someone to call her own.
We should all give this book a try.

I received Seven Suspects as an ARC from NetGalley.

I had no idea that this was book 3 in a series, had there been something stating that I may not have requested it. Some books you can jump into the middle of a series but this did make me feel more than a little lost! There has obviously been a lot happen to Bobbie in the previous books that I really feel I need to know in order to better understand the dynamics of this one.

That being said it is clear that Bobbie is a strong, fighting female character who has endured so much to get to where she is today - transition from male to female is hard enough for her but add a rape into the mix, I just cant imagine how she copes with the day to day prejudices that are thrown her way - the constant name calling, side-way looks etc
This is quite a dark read in some parts and once I got going I could not put it down. Bobbie had the feeling that she is being watched/followed which brings back the events of her rape back to the forefront of her mind. Is it someone connected to that who is following her? With the help of her ex-boyfriend & detective Phil she gets to the bottom of it all.

The ending was a little gritty but also very fitting for the story,

Trigger warnings: violence, rape