I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

2.5* rounded up.

I have read many of these over the years, and in lots of ways this was very familiar: Tempe acts with utter disregard for her personal safety; chapters end with dramatic hooks (e.g. "Life was about to go from bad to pure hell."); there are several sections where a character recites what is obviously the fruits of the author's research to another in a big info dump.

This one was a little different though: Tempe does no work in Quebec, and, having been frozen out by her boss in Charlotte, does no work at all there either for the whole of the period of the book, despite fretting about money, so we never get to see her excel at her job. Instead she is entirely free to go around putting her life in danger as previously discussed, investigating a case that she thinks her boss should have asked her to consult on.

After a slightly mystifying opening chapter, which didn't really grab me and make me want to keep reading, things picked up and the plot did carry me along until the final third, where Tempe has some sort of out of body experience, which is never fully explained. After that the bad guys are identified, but then the book drags on for a few chapters, in what is probably a very realistic depiction of what police work is like, but which destroyed all the momentum of the story and made me impatient for it to end.

Not enough Montreal and not enough Ryan. Disappointing.