This book is definitely an edge-of-your seat read. The suspense is palpable. There's lots of action. The evil of the monsters from the Eden cult drips off the pages. Once again author Karen Rose has given her readers a well-written suspense story in Say No More, the second book in this author's Sacramento series.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2020/08/04/say-no-more-by-karen-rose/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

4.5 hearts

I really enjoy the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/194054-romantic-suspense" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Romantic Suspense</strong></em></a> series. I've read them all. I started the series with the first Cincinnati book, with Faith and Deacon.  It was actually #16 overall. Then I went back and read the previous 15 books. <b> Say No More </b>continues the story in Sacramento.  <strong>Say You're Sorry</strong> was the first Sacramento book and #22 in the series.  It featured Gideon, who escaped from a cult, paired him with Daisy, his sister Mercy,  and his best friend Rafe, who is from a large family.

Now we get Rafe's story, along with Gideon's sister, Mercy, who also escaped the cult.  I was so happy to see Gideon and Daisy, and Rafe along with his big family.  Mercy also brought along her best friend, Farrah from New Orleans.  In <strong>Say No More</strong>,  Mercy and Daisy are kidnapped by a serial killer. Gideon is an FBI agent. Rafe is a homicide detective.  Mercy comes back to Sacramento to deal with unresolved feelings about her brother.

Unfortunately, the publicity from the serial killer brought Mercy into the spotlight and now the cult people are after her. More than one of the cult "brothers" is more than willing to kill anyone in his way.  Mercy and Gideon face a search for them, as they also try to keep all their loved ones safe. We learn much more about the cult and their family history.

This author does an excellent job of developing her world and building characters with realistic emotions and growth.  Rafe and Mercy are both facing emotional issues and change in their lives. They are such good people but it is so hard to let yourself be vulnerable and honest.

I would not jump into this in the middle of the series. One could start at the beginning of a city since those stories connect well, and they seem to be labelled on Goodreads. For example, <strong>Say No More</strong> is only the second book in the Sacramento series.  There are cool connections though. Tom Hunter who is a newer FBI agent came from Chicago and we know his family there. I bet Tom is the focus of the next Sacramento book. Some of the cult is still out there.

I really enjoy the action and strategy used by both the good guys and the criminals.  I was naturally horrified by these cult types. They mask their money greed and sexual depravity in religion and give religion a bad name.  There is plenty of action and a tender romance. As dark as they stories are, it is comforting to see criminals captured and a happily ever after.


<strong>Excerpt (from Chapter 2):</strong>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Amos Terrill rubbed his thumb over the lines of the script he’d just carved into the lid of the hope chest. He was almost finished with it, this special project on which he’d been laboring for the past five months, mostly in secret. He’d made countless hope chests, coffee tables, kitchen cabinets, armoires, and jewelry boxes over the thirty years he’d lived in Eden. All of them had been gifts for the membership or items to be sold to bring money into the community coffers.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This was the first time he’d ever made something for himself. Something he didn’t intend to share with anyone.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">No one except his Abigail. His heart.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A splinter caught at his thumb and he pulled it out, sucking at the small wound before returning to his task. He could sand the hope chest later. He didn’t have much more time to himself. Everyone knew he stopped working at suppertime, and then people would start dropping by.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Amos, can you fix this? Amos, a minute of your time? Amos, need a pair of strong hands to help with… </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">It didn’t matter what. It was all the same after thirty years.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He picked up the detail blade, his favorite of all of his carving tools. He’d brought it with him to Eden, when he was young and full of hope, ready to change the world.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Now he knew the truth and every day had become a struggle, each harder than the day before.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He had to stay positive. Had to keep smiling. Had to stay patient. Had to nod and pleasantly reply that all was well when he was greeted in passing.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In other words, he had to lie.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He finished carving the last word and took a look at his work. It had become something of a trademark, a personal signature he’d added to all the larger pieces of cabinetry he created.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The words were carved in a scrolling, old</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">‑</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">fashioned script: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Surely Goodness And Mercy Shall Follow Me All The Days Of My Life. Psalms 23:6. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anyone in the community would think it simply a beautiful Bible verse, one that matched the song that used to be in his heart.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But it wasn’t. It was a tribute. Penance, even. His way of trying to make it up to a beautiful little girl whom he’d failed. So utterly.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mercy. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">He thought of her often, especially after the birth of his Abigail, whose name meant </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">father’s joy</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. As with most things in his life, Abigail’s birth had been bittersweet, losing her mother just minutes after they’d held their baby for the first time.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He’d thought he’d lose them both. Like he’d lost his first family. Mercy. Gideon. Rhoda. </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dammit, Rhoda, I’m so sorry. You tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen.</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He hadn’t wanted to listen.</span>

I'm on the fence with Say No More. There wasn't anything wrong with the book, per se. I loved Rafe and Mercy, Ro & Andre, Rafe's family, Daisy and Gideon, Amos and Abi-girl. These characters are what kept me turning the pages. They were life. Other than them, I was bored. The story line just seemed to drag, for me anyway. Yes, there was action and killing, and romance. But none of that really kept me captivated. It took me close to three weeks to finish the book. I'd step away a lot and wasn't in any big rush to get back to it. That's not a norm for me when it comes to this author. I thought about DBF'ing but I love Karen Rose and seeing as her books all interconnect, one way or another, I didn't want to miss anything that might be important in future books. I'm glad I hung in there.

I wish I could explain a bit better why I didn't jive with this one. I think the biggest reason was the cult aspect. It isn't really my cup of tea. I have a feeling the next book in the series will also follow the cult, as it wasn't wrapped up in this one. While this subject isn't my favorite read, I will definitely read it. I am a Karen Rose junkie.

I hope if you decide to read Say No More it is a better experience for you.

I didn't think it was possible for this author to make me love her writing more than I already do but that's what happened while reading Say No more. This book was so captivating and it quickly became one of my favorites from Ms. Rose. The story followed Mercy and Rafe, who we met in the first book Say You're Sorry, and it also continued the storyline of the Eden cult that we learned of in the previous book. Even though this was a continuation of what we already learned it felt like a brand new story and we really got to dig deeper into Mercy's past and what growing up in Eden was like for her.

Mercy as a character was amazing for me and I loved her from start. When I was first introduced to her in the last book she was a little standoffish but I could tell she had a very interesting story to tell and I was right. She broke my heart at times but her determination and strength that had her pushing through all the hard moments made me admire her and I loved that she learned to lean on others for support to get through everything.

There seems to be a new trend with Ms. Rose and doing some heavier romance storylines, which I'm certainly not mad at. Mercy and Rafe were great together and their story together blended perfectly with the craziness and suspense that was going on around them.

Overall, this is definitely a recommended read. Even though most of the previous story is recapped and I don't think anyone starting with this book would be too confused I do think Say You're Sorry should be read before starting this one. Also there's a little bonus for any OG Karen Rose fans and we get to see an old character make an appearance which had me more than a little giddy.

I think I said it several times as I was writing my notes during the review process – this book is massive. It’s almost like it is three stories in one when you look at the page count.

Not that I’m complaining. But fair warning, it’s also a huge time investment.

The author has an intricate, complex story to tell. One that is intriguing and a bit violent. The story surrounds members and ex members of a cult. There’s a lot that happens.

The author does an excellent job keeping the interest high throughout the story. There is a lot going on because there’s also a lot of conversation and many, many characters to keep track of and follow their involvement too.

But there’s also a lot of action in the story and plot itself. Constant movement. A lot of thrills including violent action and crime. Intense moments that can heighten the pulse. Flip those pages faster, especially from the last half on.

But surrounding that we have a romance building. Delicate and tentative, but we get to watch it grow throughout the book. Until it becomes strong and solid to stand many tests.

Rose wraps it all up with a surprising twist at the end that doesn’t really leave us hanging but keeps the door open for more to come.

Overall, the story has a lot of action, drama, romance, but also it tends to be filled with a bit more chatter making it a little tough sometimes.

Definitely intriguing, intense, and captivating with that romantic suspense element for a nice blend to the senses. This series is creepy and twisted in many ways, but Rose balances it nicely with awesome character development and tenderness too.

Another GREAT book by one of my favorite authors!!!

Karen's books are always action-packed, deadly, suck you in right from the start, awesome characters even the evil ones, with numerous twists and turns.

Please note that there are graphic details dealing with difficult topics such as rape, murder, underage sex, and kidnapping.

If your a newbie there are a lot of books to keep you reading. If you love action-packed, non-stop thrills, than you will love this book!

#SayNoMore #KarenRose #LovedIt #FamiliesStickTogether

Say No More by Karen Rose is the 24th book in her Romance Suspense series, as well as the 2nd book in her Sacramento series arc. I have become a big fan of Karen Rose, as her suspense thrillers are amazing, and unputdownable. Be warned that this book is 640 pages, which is not the norm for romance suspense. Rose always creates fantastic heroes and secondary characters, as well as evil villains; and this does not change in this book, as she writes a masterpiece. I did have to take a few breaks, especially since the villain, and his cult were very evil; the tense situations with our heroine or with the villains made me take a short break. Not too long though. 😊

Say No More was a tense, exciting, action filled story that kept me on the edge of to my seat from start to finish. The nice thing about the Sacramento arc is that many of the characters from the first book play major parts in this one, with Mercy and Rafe being in the forefront.

Mercy Callahan, our heroine, escaped a cult 17 years ago, with everyone thinking she was dead. Mercy built a new life in New Orleans, with family she discovered. She returns to Sacramento with her best friend, Farrah, to talk to her brother, Gideon (last book hero) and apologize for thinking he abandoned her and her mother years before. She also wants to spend more time with Rafe, as both of them are very much attracted to each other. When Mercy arrives at the airport, she goes into shock, as the man, Ephraim (our evil villain), who tortured her as a young girl (abusive, and forced to marry at 12 years old) finds her and tries to kidnap her; luckily Rafe (who is still trying to recover from a serious leg injury in the last book), manages to use his cane and bring police attention to save Mercy.

Rafe, Gideon, Daisy, Tom, Erin, Farrah and the Sokolov family, and other police friends will work together to find Ephraim before he kidnaps or kills Mercy. I loved the entire big family vibe, as they were all great. The investigation escalates, as Ephraim continues to follow Mercy and the group, killing many people along the way; he was most certainly the epitome of evil. Eden is the cult, with Ephraim and DJ being the villians in this story, and the leader of the cult, Pastor being partially in the background, as I suspect he will be featured more in future books.

What follows is an intriguing, tense, exciting, and edge of your seat suspense storyline that had me holding my breath so many times. Important to note, that with the religious cult background as part of the story, we learn how Mercy, Gideon and others suffered sexual abuse, assault, murder, inability to leave, as well as give away all their money. As tense as this was through most of the book, it was sweet to watch the slow burn romance between Mercy and Rafe; as well as seeing Gideon with Daisy, Farrah and her boyfriend, and entire Sacramento family and friends. Awesome.

Rafe was a great hero, determined to protect Mercy, despite his injuries. They are determined to all work together to find Eden and bring them to justice, and freeing those unable to leave. But the danger for all of them is intense, as Emprhaim is as evil as they come, killing anyone who stands in his way, putting all of them at risk. Mercy was a fantastic heroine, who learned to take care of herself from her abusive time at Eden, and her fears of her friends getting hurt because of her.

Say No More is an intense thriller from start to finish, with non- stop action all the way. As I have said before, Karen Rose never fails to give a fantastic well written thriller that is intense, always on the edge, with fantastic characters, evil villains and a wonderful couple you care for. If you love suspense, with a touch of romance and a thriller all the way, then look no further then Karen Rose.

When I read You're Sorry by Karen Rose last year, I absolutely loved it. I was more than a bit excited to see Say No More on NetGalley and to finally get to read Rafe and Mercy's story.

Say No More tells the story of Mercy Callahan, who escaped a cult as a child and features Rafe Sokolov, her super hot and charming homicide detective, love interest. Mercy is attempting to rebuild her relationship with her brother when the monster from her childhood returns to tormentor her. However, this time, Mercy is not alone, With Rafe and her family and friends by her side, Mercy is ready to reclaim her life.

I have to say the suspense was even more intense in Say No More; I had to pause several times because it became a bit too much. The villains were super creepy and honestly more than a bit scary. I simply wanted them all dead and for Mercy to finally be at peace. Rafe was again his perfect self, patience and understanding. I loved reading about these two falling in love, even in the middle of such stressful circumstances.

I was on edge throughout this story but I loved every minute of it. There are a few open-ended questions remaining and I am hopeful that means we will revisits these characters in the near future.

Say No More was another excellent read and I cannot wait to see what's next.

This is yet another series that I am glad I was able to jump on when the first book released so I am not a ton of books behind. I am now obsessed with all the things that surround this series.

The first book was good. It had its moments where it lost my attention, but good overall. This book had ALL of my attention from the start. I don't know if I've ever read such a long book with so much rapt attention.

I won't lie. There are some parts in this book that made my throat close. It's not fluff, that's for sure. It delves deep into some serious stuff when it comes to the cult that this series follows. I was so engrossed and invested in this story and the characters, the rest of everything just seemed to fade away. I was lost in this book world, not caring if I was pulled out.

If you're looking for a series that will give you all kinds of feels, good and bad, and keep you wanting more and more, I suggest giving this one a shot. Just remember, this isn't a fluff series, and it does need to be read in order.

Whew, this follow up to the first book in this Sacramento series really delivered! Off the bat, please be aware of strong content warnings for sexual assault, child abuse, and abusive religious figures. This book does not pull its punches, so you will want to be in the right headspace if any of those content items are hard for you. That said, I appreciate how frankly these books tackle those topics & how that is integrated into the plot and into the characterization. The pacing in these books is pretty unique: there is a LOT of hanging around and talking, punctuated by intense action scenes. This works for me, but I could see that not being for everyone, and I do think you need to have read at least the prior book in the series, or else these "hang out" scenes with unfamiliar characters will not be enjoyable.
Still, all in all, I really enjoyed this as a cult related thriller & I'm excited to see what happens next in the investigation!!

I love Karen Rose books and most of the things I love about her books was in Say No More. Great characters, believable love story, Methodical detective work and communication, great family/friends/pets, some humor, a true bad guy that needs to be taken down. *Spoiler Alert* - if you don't want spoilers, stop reading now. That being said, this time I think Karen took the suspension of disbelief too far. All of her books have a high body count, it's sometimes ridiculous but doesn't ruin the story for me. This time, she had one guy with questionable sniper skills take out almost an entire SWAT team, in FULL GEAR! She doesn't often make the good guys looks incompetent but I found that it happened a couple of times here and then this made me want to throw the book at the wall. Sorry, just too unbelievable. Plus, if that had truly happened, there is NO WAY that it would be months later and the culprit/Eden hadn't been found. I'm sorry, this one was just a step too far.

But, I will continue reading Karen Rose because of all of the great things about her books!

Super dark and twisty! So glad I took a chance on this one, thriller is not a genre I generally read but the synopsis grabbed my attention and it didn't disappoint. This is my first book by Karen and I really loved her pacing and execution of the story! A heart pumping and insidious read, you won't want to put it down!

What to write? If you like suspense, romance, evil villains, and a story that will make you smile, (sometimes) this book is for you. Be prepared to be kept on the edge of your seat. There were times when I stopped reading because I was afraid of what was going to happen next. I will say this though, I have never read a book where the men wasn’t afraid to show their feelings. They cried a lot. There are several points of view. Now about the book.
Mercedes escaped from a cult many years ago. Mercy and her best friend go to California for her to see her brother. She has some things to confess and wants to do it face to face. While leaving the airport, she is almost kidnapped by the man ( Ephraim ) whom she was married off to when she was a young girl. Rafe was a cop but was shot saving Mercy a couple of months ago from a serial killer. He is also Mercy’s brothers best friend and saves her again at the airport. Ephraim wants Mercy back to prove that she’s still alive. Everyone is hunting him, he has left bodies everywhere he goes. Rafe will do everything in his power to protect Mercy but Ephraim is determined to get her, no matter who gets in his way.
If it doesn’t make sense, I’m sorry but I didn’t want to give too much away.

* Voluntarily read and reviewed this for NetGalley *

I found a few errors while reading this....
Location 2658 on Kindle. There was a sentence that started with "If there's any left," GIDEON bantered. "I might not leave any for anyone else"
At this point in the story, Gideon had already left the scene.

Location 9713 on Kindle.
Chapter 28. Dunsmuir, California. Ephraim is describing how tired he is and he says that his EYES felt a little less like they were scrubbed with fibreglass.....
Ephraim only has a singular eye. He would have no feeling in the glass eye.

I was excited for this book as I generally enjoy Ms Rose's novels. By 30% of the way into the book, I was actually hoping that Ephraim would just bloody well catch Mercy so her whining and everyone catering to her would stop. (I call that "rage reading".)
I found the pacing was.... off. I don't know how to better explain it. Most books have a pattern like a roller coaster track - some ups and downs and some flat bits. This book went to a 9.5/10 right off the hop and tried to stay there for the entire novel. I just was fatigued, to be honest.

A woman who escaped a cult as a young teen finds it surfacing again after her. Mercy's mother did what she had to in order to smuggle 12-year-old Mercy out of the cult they were in and away from Mercy's much older husband. It cost her her life. Now, years later, Mercy is reconnecting with her older brother Gideon, who was also smuggled out by their mother. She feels an attraction to his friend, Rafe, that only intensifies when a ghost of her past reemerges and tries to steal her back - Mercy's ex-husband. Ephraim. Rafe offers to help her track down Ephraim and make him pay for what he's done, but he is more dangerous than the two can ever begin to imagine... An interesting thriller that will chill readers as Mercy's fate is at stake.

Karen Rose is one of my favorite authors. I have read all of her books and each one kept me on the edge of my seat. This is the second book in this series. It is full of twist and turns and has a cliffhanger ending I can’t wait for the next book in this series

When people ask me for a thriller, I always recommend Karen Rose. Her latest offering, Say No More, was the perfect example of why she is my go-to thriller recommendation. The plot is current and twisty and dark and gritty and so good that! For new fans, they will be thrilled that there are so many others in this series. Tried and true fans will rejoice that this one is so good!

DNF. Oof. I feel bad for not finishing this, but it was TOO scary for me. Props for the author because that is an accomplishment. I'm also a wimp (so much cult stuff), but I did think the writing so far was good. I also read this on the heels of another enjoyable romantic suspense novel, so I think my brain was not ready for more fear. If the blurb sounds good to you, I'd rec this.