(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Private Investigator Clay Maynard locates missing children for clients, but has nearly given up hope of finding his own daughter, cruelly stolen from him by his ex-wife twenty-three years ago.
Equine therapist Taylor Dawson has chosen to intern at Daphne Montgomery-Carter's stables so that she can observe the program's security director - her father, Clay Maynard. Trying to reconcile the wonderful man she's getting to know with the monster her mother always described, Taylor never expects to become the target of a real monster, the man who murdered the mother of the little girls she works with at the stable. Neither does she expect to fall for Ford Elkhart, Daphne's handsome son, who is dealing with his own demons. As family and friends gather for a wedding, Taylor starts to imagine a permanent life in Baltimore.
But not if the real monster gets to her first...

I have been reading Karen Rose novels for a while and I have to say that they can be a little hit and miss. This one was more on the "hit" side, although it wasn't without a few little problems...

The highlights? The characters. Some feel like old friends that I am visiting after a long time. Some new characters are taken into my "fiction family", as it were, and made me really connect with the story as a whole.
The story itself was quite good. I am not usually a fan of knowing the antagonist from the get-go, but I didn't mind it this time. It actually helped build the suspense well (which I don't think would have happened without it), and I found the pages burning past as the story built.
The final highlight was the way the author brought the story to a close. It all panned out in such a way that gave the story closure, even though it is book 5 of the Baltimore series...leaving me to assume that there will probably be more.

The two things that stopped this from being a 5-star story: the amount of characters in this story. there was probably two dozen major and minor characters in this story, a lot of them had back stories that needed to be sorted out and kept track of. That muddied the flow of the story a little bit.
The other detractor to the story was the romance aspect. I really, really dislike insta-love but that was what we got - pretty much from the time they met, Taylor and Ford were all over each other and couldn't be apart...ugghhhh! So believable...

Anyway, enough negatives. This is really a good thriller/suspense novel. I would recommend, however, at least reading one or two of the previous Baltimore books and get some background which may help with all the characters...


Paul
ARH

Taylor Dawson is doing an internship as an equine therapist, trying to find out the character of Clay Maynard, the security specialist at the centre. All of her 23 years she has been told that he is a monster by her mother, who then on her death bed confessed that she has lied. Taylor did not expect to be targeted by another monster, one who had beaten the mother of two little girls, Jazzy and Jane, to death or to fall in love with Ford Elkhart, the handsome son of Daphne the director.
This can be read as a stand alone novel for those who have not read any others in the Baltimore series, but for those who have, it brings to a satisfying and emotional conclusion the hunt for his daughter that Clay has been making for 23 years. It highlights the difficult decisions that Taylor has to make between Frederick the only father that she has known and Clay her biological father, all the while trying to keep the children safe from the real monster in the closet.
This was a suspenseful read that kept me glued to the end of the book, alternating between the emotional stress of Taylor's meeting with Clay and the dangers of the killer on the loose.

Karen Rose does write a great story... this book reminded me of an episode of Dallas - murder, family, love and horses! This is the 5th book in the Baltimore Series and I really enjoyed it. Its a fast story with all the characters weaving a web that keeps you wanting more.

Thank you Net Galley, Karen Rose and Hachette Australia for a copy of this book for review.

Book blurb...
A mother is dead, and now her killer hunts the child that witnessed the brutal crime...
Private Investigator Clay Maynard locates missing children for clients, but has nearly given up hope of finding his own daughter, cruelly stolen from him by his ex-wife twenty-three years ago.
Equine therapist Taylor Dawson has chosen to intern at Daphne Montgomery-Carter's stables so that she can observe the program's security director - her father, Clay Maynard. Trying to reconcile the wonderful man she's getting to know with the monster her mother always described, Taylor never expects to become the target of a real monster, the man who murdered the mother of the little girls she works with at the stable. Neither does she expect to fall for Ford Elkhart, Daphne's handsome son, who is dealing with his own demons. As family and friends gather for a wedding, Taylor starts to imagine a permanent life in Baltimore.

My thoughts…
The writing, in particular the special bond that builds and the reconnection had me a blubbering mess, and not a third of the way into the book! I loved all the characters in this story with one exception! You will have to read the story to know who this is! And Taylor is a character that any reader will love, simply because she is strong, capable, but also vulnerable.
The father/daughter relationships tugged at my heartstrings more than once as I read, bumping this novel up into 'page-turner' category.
This story is well worth your precious reading time.

Wow this book was good, I really enjoyed it. I was instantly sucked into this book right from the first page and it didn't let me go until the end. It was really well written and I liked the characters. A solid 5 out of 5!

It's been a while since I've read any novels by Karen Rose, though I love her books. At one point I'd read so many I had to map them (and their interrelated characters) out - which you can do by accessing her author site!

I would have easily read this latest release in a sitting if my iPad's battery hadn't died on me. I very much enjoyed this book and her series are akin to a comfort read for me. Rose (like Nora Roberts) is adept at offering up likeable characters, interesting plot and a good balance between romance and suspense.

(I insert the blurb here)

Interestingly however, the thing I like about Rose's books is also probably one of their biggest weaknesses - which is the interrelatedness and inclusion of an array of unnecessary characters. But more on that later.

This book actually opens with 11yr old Jazzie witnessing her mother's murder (well the aftermath anyway). We next meet Jazzie and her (5yr old) sister Janie a month later. Both girls are traumatised and Jazzie, in particular, hasn't said a word since her mother's death. The girls are in the care of their aunt who's keeping Jazzie's presence at her mother's murder a secret.

The girls meet Taylor at the equine therapy (horse) farm and I settled in happily, keen to see how Taylor's relationship with the girls played out. However... I was thwarted in achieving this contentedness as the goalposts our focal characters moved.

Had I read the blurb above (which I must not have) I would have realised this book is as much about Taylor and her long lost father as it is about Jazzie and Janie, but I didn't realise that at the time. Taylor's backstory really felt like just that... a backstory; but it kinda took over the plot - though there were no mysteries to be solved and readers aren't perched on the edges of their seats at all.

Which brings me back to the more interesting tale of Jazzie and Janie. The mystery around their mother's murder and what Jazzie might (or might not) have seen continues but there's a point in the story (a shootout at a restaurant) that Rose kinda moves the plot away from the girls and embroils Taylor, Ford and Clay more in their story, preventing the girls (who I'd found interesting) from playing a bigger role.

And then the introduction of a gazillion new characters after that point also threw me a little. I had decided that having only read one or two in this particular series wasn't problematic, as Rose caught us up quickly on backstory, but then suddenly all of these new people arrive and I had no idea where they fitted in. And I don't think they all needed to be there. I'm not sure if Rose feels obliged to allow previous characters revisit in some sense of closure or if there was initially some role they needed to play, but - for example - now we're done with Taylor and Ford I'd be very happy for them to be mere references in future books.

And while I'm moaning.... I know Taylor is only 23 and has led a very protected life, but she came across - in the romantic scenes as kinda annoying and immature. And if I had to read one more time how 'aroused' Ford got from Taylor's comments or actions I might have puked. Particularly when Taylor then harped on like a 15yr old....

Hopefully the partygoers at the reception wouldn't dance all night, because Ford would be too tired to do any cuddling and that would be a real shame. p 377 #vomit

Rant over.

Other than some overly-obviousness (if that makes sense!), I really enjoyed the characters Rose delivers and, on the whole, the plot was interesting... if a little buried under another - less interesting - one. And - again - I have to say, I really enjoyed this book.

It's not meant to be anything other than entertainment, to take us away from the mundane-ness of our lives for a few hours and Rose most certainly does that. I look forward to opening that first page and disappearing for a while. And returning sated and happy.

As someone who always reads the new Karen Rose novel this one did not disappoint, and was another fabulous addition to the series. I found it thrilling, fantastic plot and I could not put it down.