Member Reviews
This was a sound, interesting mystery read. However, I felt that the author tried to include too many stories within the book with none of the storylines being as fully developed as it could have been. In addition, I found the ending to be rather flat with the only purpose being to get the reader to buy the next book to see what happens. I do not enjoy books that provide no closure unless I know ahead of time that it is going to be part of a series.
You know, I have read the majority of the Lizzy Gardner series, and I am really not a fan. It's like... they are okay to read, but nothing special at all. When this series launched, I thought it would be worth giving it a shot, and I was actually impressed with Her Last Day. I didn't expect to be, but I was. I am pleased to say that the second instalment in the Jessie Cole series is also a pretty good read.
There really are so many parallels between the Gardner books and the Cole books, but I honestly feel that the execution and characters are far better in the Cole books. Again, the pacing is a lot better in this. The book speeds by and is interesting throughout, not suffering from a lot of unnecessary bloat, and the multiple cases being dealt with are handled really well here, neither being forgotten or wasted away.
Zee returns in this book, and I am glad about that, as she is a character who is odd but I like her. Deadly Recall also gives us a bit more time to chew on Ben Morrison and who/what he is, as this book spends some more time digging into that. I really like this aspect, and I think Ragan is handling it really well.
Overall, Deadly Recall is a solid follow up to Her Last Day, and I am really interested to see where Ragan takes it from here. The book reads quickly, is interesting, and has characters that are more memorable than her other series. All in all, it works better, and is well worth the read if you are looking for a little something new to look into.
The second book in the Jessie Cole series finds Jessie taking on the case of a well-known health insurance executive whose daughter is kidnapped. The kidnapper blames Dr. Owen Shepard for his own daughter's death and wants him to suffer the same loss. Jessie also hires Zee, the woman who she helped rescue in book 1, to help out at the office. Reporter Ben Morrison, meanwhile, is still trying to figure what his life was like before his accident. He asks Jessie to contact his sister for him while he tries to remember more about what led to the accident. The information he and Jessie discover could change their lives forever. Solid book, although I thought Jessie could have been in it more. I look forward to book three.
Deadly Recall is the 2nd book in the Jessie Cole series. It can be read as a stand-alone but I highly recommend reading the first book before reading this one. Jessie Cole is one busy private investigator. She is working on multiple cases: a baby abduction, a man seeking vengeance on an insurance company and helping a friend with amnesia regain his memories. This is a quick read but it sure packs a lot in. Fast-paced story with great writing and an amazing cast of characters. Each of them flawed but likable. Can't wait to read the next book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of T.R. Ragan's "Deadly Recall" in exchange for an honest review.
Another good mystery with a reporter, PI and police detective working together to solve the kidnapping of an executives child after two employees have been killed. Lots of suspense.
3.5-3.75 Stars - We met Jessie, Ben, and Zee in the first installment. Jessie is a private investigator and works on cold cases. Seven years ago, Ashley’s newborn daughter was abducted. At the time police couldn’t help much but after these years Ashley can’t forget about her and needs to know what happened to her daughter, so she went to Jessie for help. These part of the story was so predictable!
10 years ago Ben had an accident that stole his memories. He suffers from amnesia. He’s married and has two children. He is a crime reporter. He received a letter. The writer wanted Ben to tell his story to others that how he lost his girl, how his daughter needlessly suffered and died too young because of greed. And asked Ben to contact authorities to do something and if they didn’t pay attention, an innocent life will be taken! I Think finding the perp was so accidental!!
Let’s not forget about Zee! The girl who was kidnapped in the first book and suffers from Schizophrenia, remember? Well, she thinks being a PI is a good job for her so she has her own cases to solve too!
What I like about this series is that it’s not just one story or case to solve! It’s like they work with each other but on different cases that sometimes are entwined with each other! in the first book I was liking Ben! He was a mystery to me but at the end I liked him but in this one, we know him more, some of the mystery from his past was solved but not completely and it made me think about him as a shady person! I don’t want to dislike him but with things that I found about him, about his past? I just don’t know! But I liked that he trusted Jessie that much that he could talk about the images he’s seeing even though they are bloody memories!
Told in multiple POV, 3rd person. It’s the second installment in the "Jessie Cole" series and it’s better if you read it in order. It’s well-written and despite it wasn't as exciting as the first book I enjoyed it, hope you like it as well!
Thanks to T.R. Ragan, Netgalley, and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced digital copy in exchange an honest review.
T.R. Ragan continues her Jessie Cole series, which started with Her Last Day, in Deadly Recall. A few short months after the events of book one, Jessie has hired the girl she was hired to find in Her Last Day and now has been hired to find a baby who disappeared several years ago. Meanwhile, her crime reporter buddy Ben has hired her to find out more about his past; he has no memories of his life before his accident ten years ago. Ben also recruits her to assist with tracking down a disgruntled customer of an insurance company, who is threatening to kill innocent people if the company doesn't apologize for denying his daughter life-saving medicines.
Ragan puts this salad of investigations together with panache. Some of the stories and cases end up overlapping, but mostly we see Jessie juggling her case load, dealing with her young, impulsive assistant, raising her niece. A romance may be budding with the policeman who came to her aid in Her Last Day and who is a resource for her in the local police department. And the more she learns about Ben and his broken memory, the less she thinks he wants to know.
Deadly Recall has no drop off from the first book in the series. Ragan continues to write some demented bad guys, but none as demented as the killer in book one. She has some light in the darkness. I don't feel like I have to take a shower or get exorcised. Ragan's books are definitely a good place to find crime thrillers with strong female characters and believable plots. I enjoyed Deadly Recall.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!
From my blog: Always With a Book:
This is the second installment in T.R. Ragan's Jessie Cole series and I have to say I am really enjoying this series so far. As I noted in my review of the first book of this series, Her Last Day, I haven't read anything by T.R. Ragan before starting this series, but I do have to say, I am slowly becoming a fan!
I will start off by saying that while this book would probably do well as a stand-alone as T.R. Ragan does give enough of a summary to catch you up on the characters and what has happened to lead them to where they are, it does give spoilers for that first book. So if you have any plans on reading Her Last Day - read that first! Plus, you just get a better sense of the character development by reading the books in order...I'm a big fan of doing that whenever possible, and I realize that it's not always feasible, but since this is only the second book in the series, it should be easy to do.
I love that once again we see Jessie and Ben working together. I liked the dynamics of their teamwork in the first book - a private investigator and a crime reporter who have a little bit of a past that is uncovered in that first book. As they start to come to terms with all that they have uncovered just recently, Jessie is eager to move forward while Ben wants to learn all he can about who he was before his accident.
Once again there are multiple plot lines going on, much like the first book, so the story moves at quite a quick pace. There's the father vowing to avenge his daughter's death, a kidnapped baby, Ben looking into his past, and the job Jessie has assigned to Zee, the girl Jessie rescued from in the previous book. Each of these is fascinating and intriguing in their own right and really keeps you engaged, especially as you watch Jessie trying to juggle how she decides which of the four she is going to focus her energies on at any given moment. And on top of that, she has her niece she is still responsible for that is giving her a run for her money at times.
I like the way this series is set up. We get the cold cases - the kidnapping case Jessie worked on - but we also get so much more. There's such great character development happening, which as a reader of a lot of series, I find I enjoy the most. And with this series in particular, there is a lot of baggage for our characters. And not everything is let out of the bag all at once. We get a little each time we meet up with them so that we can't wait until the next book. This is especially true in Ben's case this time.
I can't wait to see where this book goes in the next installment. We got some answers about Ben and I'm curious to see where that leads us. But I'm also interested to see what's next for Jessie and her team. Does she keep Zee on or was this just a temporary thing? I guess only time will tell!
This is the second in the Jessie Cole series.
There is quite an interesting cast of characters and three storylines interwoven into this fast-paced, absorbing story. Two of the storylines are resolved at the end but the last one ends as a cliff hanger and I cannot wait for the next book in the series.
I enjoy books that have a few plots to keep readers on their toes and this book definitely succeeded. The characters were engaging and you can see where the father was so destroyed by his daughters death seeks revenge and in his mind is getting justice. I enjoyed the cases being investigated by the private investigators and the new characters that were introduced with the different personalities made for entertaining reading while the suspense was kept high.
3.5 stars
Straightforward novel about a PI who’s investigating three cases: a child abduction case, a case of revenge and retribution, and the history of a reporter suffering from amnesia.
Book two opens with PI Jessie Cole and Ben Morrison coming to terms with the events that occur in book one. While Jessie feels like she has closure, journalist Ben Morrison to wonder more about his past. Jessie decides she is going to help Ben piece together his life before the accident that caused Ben to lose his memory.
At the same time, Jessie is approached by a woman whose daughter was stolen shortly after she gave birth. Seven years have passed, and the mother is still holding out hope that her daughter is alive.
Jessie also takes on the case of finding out who is kidnapping and killing employees from a drug company.
In addition to working non-stop, Jessie is struggling to raise her 15-year-old niece, Olivia, as well as to have a relationship with Colin, a police officer.
Making things more interesting is that Jessie hires Zee, a woman who was kidnapped in book one. Zee is schizophrenic and employs less than conventional methods to the work that she does for Jessie.
Needless to say, there is a lot going on in Her Last Day! At times, there is almost too much and I think that’s why I didn’t love this book as much as the first one. The only case that really interested me was Ben’s past. The cases dominate, so there is not much development in Jessie’s personal life--I felt like Ben got a lot more attention than her. I was surprised Zee to see again, but it was a good surprise as I love her character! Nonetheless, I look forward to the next installment--I just hope there is more of Jessie and more compelling cases.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Thomas in exchange for an honest review.
Jessie Cole returns!! I have been a big fan of TR Ragan since I discovered the Lizzie Gardener series and this series does have similarities to that one.
This book can be read as a stand alone as there is a lot of recapping throughout the story. But I would suggest reading book 1 first to learn more about the characters.
This time Jessie is investigating the disappearance of a baby from the hospital 7 years ago. She also takes on a junior who gets herself into all sorts of trouble. At a the same time Jessie is asked to help stop a grieving father who is killing employees of the insurance company that he believes allowed his daughter to die. There is so.much happening that you will fly though this book.
A great second book and looking forward to the 3rd. Thanks to Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and enjoy in exchange for my honest opinions
This is the second book in the Jessie Cole series. I haven’t read book 1 but didn’t find that to be much of an issue with ‘Deadly Recall’.
Jessie Cole is a private investigator who specialises in finding the missing. The other main character in this book is journalist Ben Morrison, who Jessie meet in book 1 while he was writing a story about her missing sister.
While the mystery surrounding Jessie’s sister was apparently solved in book 1, Ben Morrison is still trying to learn more about his past that he doesn’t remember.
‘Deadly Recall’ centres on Jessie and Ben helping to find the missing daughter of a health insurance CEO, while Ben also looks more into his forgotten past.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were well developed, the writing was superb and the mystery/thriller storyline believable.
I will definitely read any future books in the series.
The second installment of the Jessie Cole series was just as page turning as the first! Jessie has a new case and Ben has asked Jessie to look into his past. Lots of twists and turns with a shocking discovery! Great characters that I look forward to learning more about. As usual, T.R. Ragan puts out a quality read!
*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Deadly Recall by T.R. Ragan that I read and reviewed.
The second book in the Jessie Cole series was totally awesome. I loved how Jessie managed to solve two cases and also helped her friend Ben delve deeper into his past.
This book picked right up where the first one left off with Ben and Jessie teaming up to solve a case and Ben having flashbacks that are upsetting him that involve images what make him believe that he might be a murderer. I am not going to get into everything that happens but I will say that this book has set up the next book which I hope goes deeper into Ben's life and if is or isn't a killer. I love how Ben and Jessie have such a great relationship when they work together and have so much trust in each other and even though Ben can't remember his past he knows something is wrong and he trusts Jessie to help him to find out the truth even if it is bad. The Jessie Cole series is excellent and leaves the reader begging more.
I am giving Deadly Recall five out of five stars!
Another eventful installment in the Jessie Cole series. I can't say I enjoyed it as much as the first, but it was definitely enjoyable. T.R. Ragan has a way of intermixing the storylines in a fashion that at first you would almost find it overwhelming, but at the same time, you have to pause and realize, isn't that just the way life is? Something is always coming at us from every different direction, we as individuals always seem to be juggling multiple aspects of our lives until some point it all intersects and you have to make a decision of what becomes the priority. That's how I see T.R Ragan's writing... there are different parts of the story that while you might find them to be the more important, they end up having to take a back seat as something else swoops in and becomes the front runner.
Jessie and Ben are moving on with there lives since the discovery of Jessie's sister Sophie. Jessie has been committing herself to her work, and has a new case, one that involves an infant abducted at the hospital 7 years ago. A young mother, has been desperate for answers, but the father, he's ready to leave things in the past. During the investigation Jessie finds some unsettling circumstances surrounding the abduction of young baby Dakota. She also finds herself in danger as someone has been following her.
Ben has also been trying to stay focused on work, only it's proving much more difficult for him these days. Since the flash backs began after seeing the television program on Jessie's sister Sophie, they haven't stopped... in fact, they are progressing, and they are becoming increasingly more sinister. He's been continuing therapy trying to come to terms with these flashbacks, and the realization that he has murdered someone... The Heartless Killer. Only, the realization is that he feels no remorse for taking a life, in fact, it felt good.
"His pulse would race as he recalled an evil darkness settling over him like a good friend. His muscles would tense, his jaw would harden, and then, like the blossoming of a flower, he would slowly come alive."
In an attempt to face this evil head on, Ben hires Jessie to look into his past, he needs to know who he really is, and the things he has done, once and for all.
Meanwhile, Ben receives a letter in the mail from a man who has lost his daughter and blames a major pharmaceutical company, DHI, for not covering the experimental medication necessary to keep his daughter alive. He states that if he does not receive an apology on the front page of the Sacramento Tribune from the head of the company, Owen Shepard, that he will begin killing people. When his demands go unanswered, and people start dying with still no action being taken, this disgruntled father, who calls himself, MAH, takes desperate measures and kidnaps Owen Shepard's daughter, Emily. Ben and Jessie once again team up to help locate Emily before it's too late.
Most surprisingly in this novel is the return of Zee Gatley, one of the victims of The Heartless Killer in the first novel. Zee and Jessie have remained friends since their encounter with The Heartless Killer, and now, Zee has come to ask for a job... she is interested in becoming a private investigator. Jessie is of course reluctant given Zee's medical history of having schizophrenia, but is assured by Zee that the medication is helping and that the "voices" no longer speak to her. Little does she know that this is not entirely true. Jessie agrees to give Zee a job and assigns her the task of looking into Mrs. Norton, a woman who is suspected of a fraudulent Worker's Compensation Claim. Zee is to watch this woman and take video or pictures of her doing any heavy lifting or anything that would disprove her claim as being "injured" and unfit for work. Seems easy enough, what could go wrong? Only Zee has her eye set on a mysterious man that lives next door to Mrs. Norton... he seems to be up to some suspicious activity, and despite Jessie's pleading not to intervene, Zee just can't seem to leave it alone, and once again finds herself in a sticky situation.
I'm looking forward to the next installment where we will hopefully learn more about Ben and his past as he continues to deteriorate, and I'm hoping that we see more of Colin... and that he and Jessie can finally begin the relationship that both have been longing for. I'm also looking forward to seeing Zee and Olivia continue to grow as characters.
I want to thank NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and T.R. Ragan for allowing me the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my review.
While I enjoyed this story, I found it didn't capture my interest quite as much as others in the series. Still a good story though and I look forward to more.
Good reading the next episode in these troubled characters lives. Can Jessie find happiness,is Ben good or bad?
Another good book from T.R. Ragen! Deadly Recall is the 2nd book in this series and I've got to say I'm looking forward to reading the next one already! Well written characters that make you care what they are up to especially when they're not following directions and are out getting into trouble. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book and thanks to T.R. Ragen for "doing it" once again!
would like to thank netgalley and the author for letting me read another brilliant book by this amazing author...
there are quite a few characters in this book to get your head around but then again this is about a private investigator and her clients
jessie cole is that p.i and along with her niece and dog and a girl named zee this is the main team...and what they get up is just normal run of the mill stuff...apart from zee who has a condition with multiple personalities, that can get her into all sorts of trouble...and boy can she find trouble.....
jessie is hired to find a baby that went missing 7 years ago...and then finds out that she is being followed, she is also then hired to find a missing girl whose father is head of a company that has changed its policies about who can and cant have their drugs, this story is also about health insurance in america...
so can jessie and her motley crew find the missing baby/young girl...before the person who is following her tries to do more than just follow them around and then can she then find the young woman who has been kidnapped before another video is then sent of her death to the papers..
all adds to an amazing conclusion that leaves you wanting the next book in this series