I enjoyed Prime Suspect up until the last little bit. I felt the ending was a little rushed and juvenile. This was my first read by Cole Baxter and I will try him again.

Cole Baxter's Prime Suspect is an enjoyable read with a compelling premise.

Laurie is given a second chance at life as she is pronounced dead after sustaining life-threatening injuries at the hands of her abusive husband. With the assistance of compassionate doctors, she is given a chance to rehabilitate. When her husband is killed in a fire, Laurie is able to re-emerge as an advocate for domestic violence survivors. However, when his death is ruled suspicious, she becomes the prime suspect in the investigations by the police and private investigator, Blake.

I would caution readers of many graphic depictions of domestic violence and sexual assault. The book also contains the themes of grief, alcoholism, and depression.

I found the premise of this novel gripping and Laurie's growth as a domestic abuse survivor inspiring to witness. It was an enjoyable read and kept me interested. I also enjoyed having the narration from both the perspectives of Laurie and Blake. However, I did find that some of the plot twists were predictable in nature. I also found that Wayne Mitchell's narration of Laurie's voice was not very pleasant to listen to. Overall, it was an entertaining read that might not be for all thriller enthusiasts.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my copy of this book.

who is the killer - arson? Did she do it or did she hire someone to start the fire? This book is good at making you think one thing and just when you think you know where it is going.... bam, there is another path.

Prime Suspect
By Cole Baxter

Laurie has been married to Devon since she was 19. He was a great guy in the beginning then he turned into a monster. Sex got rougher and he started locking her in the house when he was gone. Until one day when the strangling sex went to far and he killed her.

Laurie came back to life on the morgue table and she uses this to stay safe and stay dead. She is nursed back to health by two doctors who become the family that she never had.

Devon apparently died in a house fire but being a fireman himself it seems very suspicious. Laurie is of course the prime suspect.

Blake is a former detective who lost his partner/love in a shooting one night while on the job he is broken and an alcoholic. He is a PI between binges and works closely with his former police station where they put him on Laurie and Devon’s case.

How does a fireman die in a fire in his own house? Devon is going to get to the bottom of it and keep Laurie safe.

I enjoyed the plot of the story but as I have felt with other Cole Baxter stories, I felt like some of the writing was basic. Didn’t leave much to the imagination.

I enjoyed listening to the characters for the most part. When narrator Wayne, used his female voiceover it made me cringe though. He’s got an amazing voice but not a woman’s voice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced copy in turn for my honest review.

I didn’t love this title. Had I listened to previous books in the series, I may have been able to get into the story- but between not knowing any backstory, and having a male narrator (which usually can’t grab my attention), this wasn’t a title I could truly appreciate.

I got this book from NetGalley for an honest review and that's what I'm going to do. I did not like this book at all. I hated the characters, especially the male cop who was so annoying I can't even bother to remember his name. His attitude was so over the top and I felt it was unrealistic. I got halfway through before I couldn't take it anymore. I would not recommend this book.

i dont know what to say. The story began with a lot of promise. Very twisted, but somehow dissolved into a schmaltzy romance novel. Nothing in this book surprised me. The dialog was choppy and I found myself skimming more than reading. I never found myself attached to any of the characters.

A story about life and the blinding ability that love often has on those wrapped up in its most painful tentacles. While readers may find the main characters frustrating at times the suspense and need to know just what’s going on will keep them pushing forward. The dark shadow of marital abuse makes Prime Suspect a heavy read but ends on a positive note and leaves a lot of food for thought.

<Spoiler> This book was fantastic with all its twists! My favorite part is when she wakes up in the morgue and the corner screams! This book was well written and well-paced. I love that Laurie and Blake are going to get a happy ending after all they have been through. I also love that she didn't just hop into a relationship with him straightaway - that she was deliberate and thought about what she wanted and that he gave her the space she needed to do that. I also love that she went from being a broken & battered woman to a kick-ass healed woman. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author. <spoiler>

#PrimeSuspect
#NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read Prime Suspect By Cole Baxter in exchange for my honest feedback.
I love being able to read psychological thrillers in between my regular romance novels. Laurie had been abused by her husband for years until one day she ended up in the emergency room dead. Later on her husband pronounced dead secrets are kept, and lies are formed. Great read with many twists and turns.

I tried several times to listen to this audiobook, and couldn't connect with the male narrator. I also struggled with the story in the beginning. Thank you for the opportunity to listen.

Second book I've listened to by this author, I think I've learned my lesson and will not willingly be listening or reading anymore. I will give the author credit for trying. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to give my honest review.

I was immediately turned off by the narration. If you've ever watched the Mr Magoo cartoon, I swear it sounds a lot like Sam. As for the plot and how the story unfolds, it is very predictable.

Great premise. And great description - of a different story altogether.

There is nothing positive to say about this book. I finished it, but it was painful. It felt like it was written by a child. The expressions, the decisions, the actions – adults do not behave this way, not the functional ones. And certainly not the survivors. If the main character, Laurie, is a motivator and inspiration for those in or who have survived abusive situations, then it is not surprising that such abuse goes on.

Further, it is a good thing that Blake isn’t a cop any longer and his buddy should stop throwing work his way. It is endangering the public.

Personal rant over. Baxter does not know the first thing about the requirements or responsibilities of a private investigator. No sooner would a legitimate PI work for someone without knowing who they are than a doctor would operate without knowing what the medical condition was.

The whole thing is, well, I hate to be this negative, but it is just stupid. Ugh! Torturous to read. Avoid this schlock at all costs.

The start of this was fast paced and excited. The further it went in, I lost enthusiasm in the book. Lori died from sexual abuse from her husband but then she didn’t die. Any woman who went through what she did would not want to be with another man. Did not like this at all.

Enjoyed it, really liked the premise, liked the narrator, it's well written... it just didn't have anything that was so original or intriguing that I could say it really stands out from a very broad genre. I would still try this author again I'd just read the jackets and see if something struck me harder.

An interesting story, but I felt it had some plot holes. Overall enjoyable, but not one I would read again.

This is my first time with this author and what originally drew me in was the title and the book cover. The premise to the story is good and at first it was pretty enjoyable. There is a lot about this book that was hard to read given it's background in domestic abuse and violence. There was also alcoholism, panic attacks, and just general poor mental health. I did love the message of empowering women to get themselves free and live their lives outside of their abuse.

However, there were several things about this that didn't work for me. The first thing that I noticed was that I didn't care for either of the audiobook's narrators when they were attempting to voice the opposite sex. Especially the male narrator's attempts at female voices. They all came out sounding nasally, whiny and just off-putting. It was starting to grate on my nerves by the end.

Secondly, it was pretty easy to guess the twists in this from about a quarter of the way into the book. And while a decent amount of action occurred, it all felt kind of flat. That was potentially because I wasn't connecting with any of the characters beyond the normal disgust over Laurie's situation. There was also the fact that somehow this thriller dissolved into a lackluster and fairly cringeworthy romance.

Overall, this was a decent thriller, but not too memorable. The story just went on and on after everything was solved and the murderer was arrested. It just felt unnecessary.

Thanks to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media LLC and Cole Baxter for the advanced audiobook.

Prime Suspect by Cole Baxter is an intriguing psychological thriller about abused wife Laurie, presumed dead, until her firefighter husband is killed in a suspicious fire and she becomes a suspect.

Former cop, now a Private Investigator, Blake, drowning in grief, is hired to prove her guilty but as he falls for her he sees her innocence. So who is guilty?

Narrators Wayne Mitchell and Gail Shalan have off the chart chemistry as they bring the tension between all the characters in this solid thriller.

I received a free copy of this ALC audiobook from Dreamscape Media via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Overall, this was too Lifetime movie/soap opera for me; too many people coming back from the dead! It is an addictive read since the plot remains very superficial. I remained interested primarily because I was rooting for Laurie. I wanted her to be okay. I will also say the premise is unusual. I felt the relationship between Laurie and Blake lacked foundation--was it just love at first sight? It needed more backbone.

As for the narrators, I felt both did fine, except neither (and especially the male narrator) could not do a female voice.

Prime Suspect
Cole Baxter
Firefighter and fire safety advisor, Devon Whitman was an abusive husband, more than once he put Laurie in the hospital. At her last trip to the Emergency Room, she was pronounced dead. She came to in the morgue and grabs the opportunity to escape Devon by faking her own death. Dr. Mario Grace was on duty in the morgue and offered to help Laurie; he takes her home with him where he and his wife, Belinda, care for her and nurse her back to health. They assist her is staying “dead.” A fire erupts in Devon’s home and it is believed he perishes; Laurie believes it is safe to come out of hiding.
Blake was a police detective but when his partner/lover, Lola died in the line of duty. He tries to drown his pain in a bottle. Sam, a Seattle police officer and friend of Blake’s offers him a job doing a private investigation of the fire. Laurie is the prime suspect, the only suspect. Blake has no idea who is paying for the investigation.
This thriller is told from the viewpoint of Blake and Laurie. The two of them have a strong spark between them. Sam’s new partner is Anna, at first I felt she had something to do with framing Laurie; I never did trust Sam. Both Laurie and Blake have some serious problems; he is obviously an alcoholic, and she lacks self-esteem. Laurie appears very weak at the beginning of this book, but her strength grows. Devon’s family was a bit of a twist. I realize this book has received a lot of less than positive reviews and I’m not sure why. I listened to it and found it rather interesting. I liked Laurie and Blake despite their brokenness. I also liked that Laurie became a writer and used her books/talent to assist in her healing and helping others.