"Taking lives has taken its toll. Her moral justifications have faltered. Do any of the people she has killed—some of them heinous, but all of them human—deserve to die? Her next target is Cameron Walker, a rancher in Arizona. When she arrives at his remote desert estate to carry out her orders, she discovers that he is a kind and beautiful man. After a lengthy tour of the ranch, not only has she not killed him—she’s wondering who might want him dead. She procrastinates, instead growing closer to Cameron. She learns that he’s passionate about wild horses and has been fighting a losing political battle to save mustangs that live on protected land near his ranch—he’s even received death threats from his opponents. Suddenly, she’s faced with protecting the man she was sent to kill, encountering kidnappers, murderers, horse thieves, and even human traffickers along the way. Can she figure out who has hired her before they take matters into their own hands?"
This is the 3rd book in the series, I recommend reading the 1st two in the series to understand the characters of this book, I will probably go back and read the others. This storyline was great, characters are great. I give this book 4 stars.
Thanks to netgalley, oceanview publishing for an opportunity to leave an honest review..
Published Sept 25th, 2023

Dead West by Linda L. Richards
The Endings Series #3

I had trouble relating to the main character and it took a while to get into the story. I am not sure if coming into the series on the third book was the reason why I felt the disconnect or if the female assassin was so lacking in depth that it felt plodding, then again, perhaps she was plodding through life and that feeling is what was what the author was trying to achieve.

Katherine Eveline Ragsdill seems to have taken up killing for money after a traumatic event occurred in her life. The event was no doubt covered in previous books along with her decision to step into her new job description. I believe, from reading reviews and book synopses, that the previous two books might give more insight into Katherine and would have helped me know her better.

Anyway, this book has her sent out with a designated kill contracted for. Meeting the mark, finding out that he is a good person with high ideals, and feeling drawn to him are the first mistake she makes in being able to fulfill the contract. Then Walker is kidnapped, she feels the need to “save him”, and the plot thickens. Katherine has to contend with as the story progresses including truly evil men who use and abuse, a man she admires but can’t have, someone young that she feels connected to and helps in a big way, many she will not see again, and a new course to set at the end of the book. The final scene is of Katherine driving down the road with her dog toward…well…I’m not sure where she will end up.

I never really got to know the woman who is the main character. I don’t know if she has a moral compass or not. She has killed before and perhaps some of those killed were not evil. Perhaps she is growing and evolving and coming out of the stupor of grieving to find herself capable of moving on to something positive and she will end up somewhere better in the future. I might give the next book in the series a chance to see what happens next with her and the dog she is now traveling with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanvies Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars

This was my first book from Linda and of this series. I thank Netgalley for giving me a digital review version. The book overall is nice with a good twist in the tale in the middle. However I was not very comfortable with the way the storytelling was written, for a very serious situation Linda uses humour in the mind of the protagonist. It may be what happens but not what one expects in a thriller reading.

Dead West is the third in a series, but is able to function as a standalone. The unnamed narrator is a professional hit woman who falls for one of her targets.

This one just didn't land well for me. The narrator was incredibly unbelievable. The narration was rambling and the dialogue was stiff. The narrator basically winged everything and it's impossible to believe she hasn't already been caught. The way she judged someone for something at the end made me actually hate her.

I did think the overall idea was good, it was just executed poorly, in my opinion.

This was a good story which kept me turning the pages throughout the night. Great mystery, writing and plotting will recommend to all my friends who love this genre.

A compelling and suspenseful novel. Our unnamed protagonist is a contract killer, an assassin. Her most recent target is Cameron Walker, an Arizona rancher who fights to protect wild horses. Not the typical target; he seems like a saint. Shortly after meeting Cameron, she knows that this kill won't be easy. In fact, she might want to help him instead...

This novel pulled me in from page one. It's in first person, and it worked so well. Though the protagonist is a killer, it was still surprisingly easy to connect with her. The plot was engaging, and it gave a lot of interesting information about wild horses in the US and the politics surrounding them. Not something I've ever considered. The story is full of twists and turns. Though I've not read the other two books in the series, I had no problem jumping into this one. I will definitely be picking them up now, as I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is such an interesting story with a great romantic twist. I really liked Katie’s mysterious character and how she heals as the story progresses. I also liked how caring Cameron was; especially towards the Salt River Wild Horses. This part of the story was interesting to me because I live in Arizona and have seen the wild horses myself. The book had lots of action, but I found it easy to skim through the paragraphs in between each obstacle Katie and Cameron faced. The ending was a little disappointing for me because it ended so abruptly and I wanted to know what happened next with Katie and Cameron.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Dead West is a little different with a heroine who is a hired killer. The mystery is pretty well done with some nice plot twists and turns. I enjoyed the desert setting. The hero is compelling as is his ranch and their mission of saving horses.

The one thing I struggled with was the heroine's attitude when she thought she'd been crossed. She immediately went on the hunt to kill the person. Maybe that works for someone who kills for a living but it didn't make her likable since she was attracted to the person she wanted to kill.

Dead West is worth the read for the mystery and the setting.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of the book to me. All opinions are my own. #DeadWest #NetGalley

4.5 rounded up
Loved the characters and the story. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

A lady contract killer is given an assignment in the middle of Arizona to take out what appears to be a simple cowboy or rancher. Katie always research's her contracts to pick the right spot and to get an idea of why there has been a contracted issued. While she researches her current contract, she runs into him and quickly starts to fall for him as he has awoken feelings within her she has not felt in a long time. While she has a reputation for always completing her assignments this time will be different and now, she is looking over her shoulder as she assumes there will be a contract on her and there still is the one, she did not complete. So, the premise of the story is enough to draw you in and hold your attention for about half of the book and then for me it starts to lose some of the appeal with too many story lines that the author does not bring back together and in my opinion would have been better to leave out. This is book three of a series and in my opinion i do not feel you needed to read the other two to get an understanding of the story line.

A very good read.
What drew me to this novel was the premise—a woman who is a killer for hire. Having read quite a few murder mysteries and written a few, motivation is always the big question when it comes to hired assassins. It speaks of a deadness inside, doesn’t it? A hard mafioso type who laughs when he pulls the trigger or the coldness of a sniper taking aim….
In Dead West, our killer, Katherine, accepts the job, though she questions who would want to kill an environmental activist type of whom no one can say a bad word about. The details of Cameron’s activism—wild mustangs vs the cattlemen—are vividly detailed and fascinating to read about. In order to get close enough to do her job, she actually has to get close to him, and here’s the twist when she first sympathizes with, then falls for the target.
Now the story is who wants Cameron dead, a bit of a pre-murder mystery to solve, and a fascinating investigation begins.
Apparently this is third in a series, which I didn’t realize when I first picked it up. It’s very readable as a standalone, but I’m glad some questions about her have already been answered, and I will very likely go back and read the series from the beginning.
I recommend this series if you like contemporary suspense and killers with heart.

Dead West, by Linda L. Richards, is a somewhat unique suspense with just a touch of romance. I got a kick out of the fact that the main character is an artist, even setting up to paint while in the middle of a job. The story got a bit slow at times, but otherwise, I really enjoyed it.
Being an assassin is getting harder. She finds that she's questioning it a lot more often, lately. Maybe some of those that she's murdered are awful human beings but they're still human beings.
Enter rancher, Cameron Walker. He's supposed to be her next victim but then she accidentally meets him. Once she realizes that he's a really good guy she wants to find out who would want him gone.
As it ends up he’s working hard to protect wild horses. To that end he's been fighting to save the mustangs that live near his land and his enemies aren't afraid to threaten him. Now she has to figure out a way to save him while protecting herself.

When a professional assasian finds herself questioning her assignment, the story gets interesting. She'd sometimes wondered what had gone wrong in somebody's life that they were targeted for death. This time, she accidentally meets her target and her immediate response to this man brings the rest of her life into question. When she is unable to find a reason to kill him, she must decide if she will now keep him alive. Interesting is definitely the right word for this plot line. While readers are sometimes asked to suspend their belief, it was a good read that I'd recommend to my reading circle and these women can be brutal if the book does not measure up.

Our unnamed hired assassin has been assigned, by her handler, to kill a man named Cameron Walker, a rancher in Arizona who is working to save the wild Mustangs. Simple, she has done these jobs many times, but what happens when the target is a good guy and she likes him? The more time she spends with him, the more she procrastinates to complete her assignment. This is the third in The Endings Series, and my favorite.

She turns around and decides to find out who wants him dead. Is it those that oppose his work with the horses? He has received death threats. One thing is for sure, she needs to find out who put out the contract, before they send someone else to do the deed.

Our assassin is evolving, she is questioning her moral compass. This can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading the previous books to appreciate how the character is changing. This is a great mystery and once you start you won't want to put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Oceanview Publishing, for an ARC. The review is my own.

Thank you to the author, Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This tale of an assassin-for-hire is a quick and at times chilling read, although we get only bits and pieces of the main character's backstory, and thus only a fragmentary understanding of her character. I enjoyed the subplot of the wild mustangs, and the issues involved in protecting them, which were new to me. However, there was so much that didn't add up within the story, that I had a hard time getting into the flow of the story. For example, in my understanding an assassin should be planning ahead when they have an assignment, so they're not surprised when things go awry. And the whole sidestory about the assassin falling in love with her target, all in the course of a short conversation, and deciding not to carry out the hit - please. Upon which said target gets himself kidnapped and most of the story involves her search for him. I suppose I should be grateful the book didn't end with them riding off into the sunset happily ever after...

Dead West by Linda L. Richards #sixtiethbookof2023 #arc

CW: hitmen, murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, drug overdoses

This is the third book in the Ending series, and I haven’t read the first two. Supposedly, they all can be read as stand alones. For some reason it feels like I was plopped down in the middle of something larger but that’s not actually what’s off putting about this book.

There are severe timeline issues with this book. Constant issues with time frames, so much that it was distracting from the story and I went back in a few places to make sure I hadn’t missed a day passing. The main character, a female hit woman, is so naive, unthinking, and unprofessional that it’s unbelievable. She doesn’t plan ahead and is surprised when things go awry. And all of a sudden, she becomes a tech expert when the story calls for it, just by googling a few things. But worst of all, she falls for her target in one conversation (which happens purely because of her poor planning) and decides not to follow through on her mission. It’s ridiculous. Spoiler: then he gets kidnapped and she decides to find him. Eye roll. Her search for him is the plot for most of the book. I was glad that the book didn’t end with them getting together.

I enjoyed hearing about the wild mustangs that were the subplot. But I thought so many times, what is she doing? Why is she doing that? That makes no sense. I couldn’t enjoy the story because the MC acted so…out of character? From the very beginning, she didn’t act like a hit woman. To me she seemed just incredibly lucky that things turned out in spite of her really bad decision making.

This was not for me. I prefer more hard core novels. But someone who’s interested in reading a light mystery with most of the violence off the page would enjoy this.

Thank you to @netgalley and @oceanviewpub for the advance copy. (Pub date 9/5/23)

A standalone review of the third novel of the Endings trilogy, Dead West by Linda L. Richards (2023) is a modern Western tale. A female with false identity papers is an assassin for hire, whose next target is a rancher in Arizona. Traveling to the horse shelter and rehabilitation ranch, she meets debonair Cameron Walker, a vegan idealist, protecting America’s wild horses. In coming to know him, the assassin struggles with killing him and whilst out riding, he disappears, setting off on a cross-country rescue journey. As the situation becomes more complicated, the assassin finds her personal circumstances compromised. A gentle action thriller with a lack of Western noir grit that makes for a three stars read rating. With thanks to Oceanview Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

This is more of a love story than anything else -- something I am not a fan of. In my opinion, it would have been a decent story without all the before mentioned. That is why I am giving it 3 stars. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.

Katherine is a hit-woman and gets an order to take care of Cameron Walker. After meeting him and seeing how enamored he is with the wild horses who share his ranch, Katherine finds she doesn't want to carry out the hit. Then Cameron disappears..now what?

This is the third book in Linda Richard's Endings series, but stood well on its own. There were some impossible-seeming situations that Richards expertly got her characters out of. It was exciting and current (as issues with wild horses are happening now), and I look forward to reading her other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ebook.