Anything for You was much better in the abstract than it was in reality. It had the potential to be a gritty thriller, but the writing is too detached to become invested in the story. It didn't help that I didn't like a single character in this story. Not one. For the most part, I found the story to be obnoxious, vulgar, and explicit. Now, let me say that I am not easily offended, but I didn't find any of those things to be necessary for this to be a good story. Honestly, I felt like the shock value they add ended up being detrimental. The thing with being explicit in a story like this is that most people don't need it. With the right words, an author can give just enough for the reader to imagine the gory details. And I'm here to tell you that I can always imagine it much worse than most can write it. Maybe it's just me, maybe not, but the only thing I got from reading this one was a few hours that I can't get back. It's predictable, unengaging, and well, just not good in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Saul Black for the opportunity to read and review this book. This is #3 in a series about homicide detective, Valerie Hart, but it worked as a stand alone since I hadn't read the first two.

A neighbor alerts the police to a possible intruder; next door, the husband is found brutally murdered and the wife clinging to life. As Detective Hart investigates, she realizes she has a history with the victim, Adam Grant, a successful lawyer. Evidence is soon found that points them towards someone that Grant helped prosecute.

This is a great police procedural - I loved figuring out "who done it." I also liked the peek into Valerie's personal life and the influence of her job on her life decisions. However, this book was very graphic in both sex and violence so be warned. It was enough to lower my rating but the rest was enough to make me want to read his past and future books in this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Detective Valerie Hart is back in the third title of this series and her investigation into a recent home invasion that turns deadly. The victim, prosecutor Adam Grant and Valerie Hart almost had a one night stand a few years back. Valerie probably should tell her boss about this conflict, but decides to forge ahead with the case. When the crime soon becomes connected to a parolee and a prostitute named Sophia, the case becomes interesting.

I recall falling hard for Saul Black and his character, Valerie Hart, in " The Killing Lessons' which is the first book in the series. This book was a little more difficult to feel invested in and while I agree with my fellow reviewers that the two perspectives worked in the novel, I found it took awhile before the case gained heat. Valerie, herself is the perfect fictional detective because she has a whack of problems at home and at work. But I really didn't feel that it gave her any type of connection to any particular character, including her husband.

Overall, it was just an okay read.



Goodreads review published 08/11/19
Publication Date 12/11/19

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

Sigh. I wanted to like this but it's burdened with an early heavy dose of graphic violence and then there's the sex thing. Valerie Hart is the classic detective with issues; in this particular case she's hiding that she had an affair (well, an interlude? one night stand?) with Adam, the victim of an ugly homicide. Adam, a prosecutor, had an upstanding image that falls apart as Val investigates his murder. What does Sophia, a sex worker in Philadelphia have to do with this? This shifts in perspective, which helps, I think. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Others might enjoy this more than I did.

After tearing through the first two books in the Valerie Hart series, this one took me a bit longer to get into - I'm not sure if I was hooked until around pg. 150. That might be partially because I mostly listened to Killing Lessons and LoveMurder. Saul Black's mysteries tend to be a bit wordy; I think I'd have rather listened to this one too.

That having been said, Anything for You was so totally worth the read. It was more suspenseful than the first two in the series, and I also think less predictable. It was the kind of mystery that made me go "whoa."

Valerie continues to be a fantastic, flawed, realistic main character.

Lots of content warnings for this one: anal sex, prostitution, cutting, pregnancy, rape of a child, illegal drug use, overdose, poverty, blackmail, physical abuse. There are also mentions of miscarriage and alcohol abuse.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a free e-arc for review, and to St. Martin's Press for a physical arc as well.

Detective Valerie Hart investigates the murder of Adam Grant. She pursues every line of investigation she believes will lead to the resolution of this case and the conviction of Adam Grant’s murderer.

Overall:
Detective Valerie Hart has a bruised ego regarding Adam, a guy she almost had sex with. She can’t help thinking what was wrong with her for him to turn her away. All of this came about after he was found dead. Otherwise she never gave it another thought. While that fact sat freshly in her mind she continued to investigate the case like she did all her other cases with professionalism.

This had the typical detective work of collecting evidence and interviewing people. It’s par for the course in any murder investigation.

Saul’s writing style leaves something to be desired. There’s a lot of busy work taking place. I just want him to cut to the chase and tell me who the murderer is. I didn’t have much patience for his writing style.

This is book 3 in the Valerie Hart series. Having not read the prior two books I struggled to get a good read on the type of character Valerie was before. It seemed like she was having a hard time being in a stable honest relationship. I felt at a disadvantage having not read the other books. Her methods for gaining intel were more of a hunch which led me to believe she too had some past issues.

I struggled with the first part of this book. I really tried hard to be entertained, but I couldn’t sit for more than an hour at a time. I had to step back several times. It was the way Saul told the story and delivered the information. I wasn’t aware the story would be separated into three parts. I’m actually pleased with that layout.

Motherhood seemed to be a primary topic of concern with these female characters. Saul kept referring to the way women raise children and the way motherhood affected them. This was an interesting cross examination into a woman’s psyche. I loved the overall concept of this story, yet the delivery could’ve been better especially in the beginning. Not until part two was I fully on board with the direction of this story. By part three I was completely immersed.

I really enjoyed this book! The twist in the second half of the book really surprised me! This was my first book by Saul Black. I will definitely read more by this author!

I really enjoyed this third installment in the Valerie Hart series - even more than the sequel, Lovemurder. The plot is intricate - some of the twists are easier to see coming, but there are also some genuine shocks here, too. It's also a surprisingly thought-provoking read for the genre, and again, you can see glimmers of the themes also explored in Black/Duncan's other books, They are nicely woven in.

With shifts in timelines and perspectives, this is an engaging page turner of a read (though I think that some readers will be happier with a physical copy to more easily flip back to doublecheck some of the dates and orders). The first part of the book builds a bit more slowly, but the pacing of the second section on really intensifies. From just under halfway through on, I absolutely couldn't put this one down for anything!

My only real complaint is that the ending felt a bit abrupt. But, as this is part of a series, I am just all the more excited to see what the fourth book will bring (I just hope the wait isn't too long!!). The sheer artistry of the plot here is impressive and while Valerie's character flaws can be a bit grating at times, I think that this serves well to make her really leap off the page and feel so real. I really enjoyed reading this one and just can't wait to see what comes next!!

ANYTHING FOR YOU by Saul Black is a thriller that I just didn’t end up loving.

I thought this book would be gripping from the opening section of part one and it was interesting to alternate between storylines but maybe there were too many different storylines that kept switching between characters and timelines. They didn’t hold my attention well enough. I found myself not exactly hooked to keep reading.

The main character, Valerie, is a hard cop but I found that made it difficult to connect with her. The cliffhangers were good though. The end of part two had me thinking “what is going on?!”. I kept reading until the end to find out how the storylines intersect.

Finally part three is where it all comes together but I could have done without all of Valerie’s personal life worries. Probably that was included to make her more relatable but it seemed to detract from the story for me.

Only after I finished reading did I find out that this is actually book number three in the Valerie Hart series. Maybe if I read the first two books in the series then I would have been more attached to Valerie.

Also *warning* I think a lot of people might be turned off by the explicit sexual language.

Anything For You is a page turning police procedural/mystery set in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Valerie is a hard core detective that isn’t always likable, but she certainly knows how to work a case, it’s her personal life that she isn’t quite sure how to handle. When Rachel Grant is stabbed in a home invasion that leaves her husband Adam (a San Francisco Prosecutor) dead, it looks like an open and shut case...but who is Sophia and where is she hiding? Can she shed more light on the case before it’s closed? A very nice twist shows us that things aren’t always what they seem. I was a little disappointed in the outcome of the case., although I did understand Blacks reasonings completely.

One night, 74 year old insomniac Vincent Lyle is sitting in the conservatory attempting to read a book when the security light goes on outside, and he sees a masked intruder fleeing. Police are summoned and it is discovered that their next door neighbor is dead and his wife stabbed and gravely injured. As the story unfolds you find out the killer's backstory and their motive for the murders.
This book was very good. I got a little tangled up in the twists and turns and multiple names, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it was an excellent mystery/thriller. I definitely recommend it.

Not much to say here, I could not get into this book. Other reviewers mentioned how crude it is, and honestly it is. I just couldn't root for the main character, Valerie Hart. I don't know if I would have felt differently if I had read book #1 (The Killing Lessons) and book #2 (LoveMurder). Valerie is obsessed with sex it seems and her ties to this case (a man she almost had sex with is killed during a home invasion) didn't do much for me. I am definitely going to pass on reading any moer about Valerie.

"Anything For You" follows homicide detective Valerie Hart. Valerie is called in when former prosecutor Adam Grant is found murdered and his wife injured. It looks like a home invasion gone wrong, but as readers follow along, something else seems to be going on. Valerie is worried about working the case and anyone finding out that she and Adam Grant had a passing something (honestly the scenes about them almost having sex were just...blah) and wants to stay on the case.

I can't say much about Valerie besides she seems or is written as oversexed. She has recently got back together with her ex-husband Nick and they just seem to be two bodies that meet and never really click. Or at least I didn't think they did. I don't want to poo poo women liking and enjoying sex. Valerie is just written as a male fantasy I think. She meets a dude and starts thinking about how he is in bed and practically starts humping men's legs. She really is a female version of the Lucas Davenport character in the first couple of Prey books. I stopped reading that series for a year since the first few books were so bad and I was tired of reading about how Lucas saw a woman and how he jumped right into wanting "to nail her."

I can't say much else about the secondary characters since I didn't get a good sense of anyone. Once again I am going to blame myself for getting a ARC and not realizing until after the fact it was the third book in a series. We do flip between Valerie and a woman in this one (no spoilers) but once again I didn't think the other woman was written well at all.

The writing was not good. I think other reviewers nailed it on the head is that you definitely get that a man wrote this book especially with how Black graphically describes sex. I started to skip over any sex related scenes. The flow wasn't working for me either since you go back and forth between Valerie investigating and then some mysterious woman who is up to something. It takes way too long for the dots to connect.

The setting of the book is mostly San Francisco, but it just felt like any old beige city in America. I wish that Black had incorporated more of the city into this. I just recently watched "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" and thought that movie was brilliant in showcasing the many facets of those that live in that city.

The ending was okay. I was just glad to be done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Saul Black and St. Martin’s Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first time reading this author and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the synopsis sounds so good and luckily the writing in the novel is just as good! I read most of this novel in one sitting wayyy to late into the night. I just felt like it was the perfect whodunit mystery for October and it kept me guessing almost until the very end! I loved the crime and all the loose ends that seemed impossible to solve for the longest time! Valerie was an amazing detective and an overall flawed person that you couldn’t help but root for, even when she makes big mistakes! The ending to this novel shocked me, but was overall so satisfying! I would definitely recommend reading this one!

Out November 12th!

DNF AT 46%

I tried really hard to finish this book, but I just couldn't do it. The mystery was fine; most of the characters were fine - except one. And that one, unfortunately, was the main character, Valerie. I could not stand the way that everything with her went back to sex. Literally everything! Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude. I've done some dirty things too. But it's like she's obsessed. Everyone wants to nail her and/or she wants to nail them. It was exhausting and offputting and I tried. I really did. But unfortunately this one just isn't for me.

I cannot recommend this book. I couldn't even get through the first few chapters. It's way to vulgar and vile for my taste. Not enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in the Valerie Hart series. I almost stopped reading it early on due to some elements of the plot, and not connecting with the characters. Luckily. I persevered. I started remembering the characters I last read about a couple years ago, and embraced the story.

This book, and the language, can be pretty graphic and shocking at times, but it is a good, suspenseful tale that finally had me hooked. While I suspected the ending at one point, I forgot, and was surprised when it happened.

Thank you author Saul Black, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for an ARC.

This is one of those books where I'd like to give a rating for the first half (1 star) and then a different for the last half (maybe 3.5 stars). Warnings for rape/incest/child abuse.

I felt the beginning was just for shock factor, the language and story was extremely crude. I literally felt jarred. I persevered and the story itself got better and more interesting. I was genuinely surprised by the conclusion, which had some unique features. The last 20% of the story held my attention and I sped through to the end. The final chapter was very inconclusive...not really a cliffhanger, but it could lead into a next book.

Overall I did not relate to these characters and I wouldn't read more of this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

Nope. Other reviewers are absolutely right — this is crude, written as if just for the sake of shock value. I’m not into pornographic stories hidden under the guise of a mystery. DNF. Do not recommend.

Omg I love this book!! I love Saul Black and the character Valerie Hart!! She's no nonsense, badass, female detective!! If you haven't read these books, get them today!! So many twists and turns! And the suspense will just kill you!!