This is another one of those NetGalley Read Nows that I got carried away with recently and loaded up on a few to check out this summer. For anyone who has never gotten caught up in that, BE VERY CAREFUL with those Read Now books that sound good. I’ve been fortunate with the ones I chose to read, so far, so good.

The book summary is kind of misleading, at least to me it was. When I read the book summary about the MC(s), a gay man and his partner, who is going back to his hometown in “Don’t Say Gay” FL, I’m picturing crossing from one end of the country, from some progressive city, to another, or at least many states after a long absence, like years and/or decades. That is not the case here. What I certainly wasn’t thinking was a man who lives in Tampa (less than 400mi away), who goes back pretty regularly and is just suddenly homesick. Ok, whatever. I am still of the notion, that any story that has the MC “going back home” (wherever that home may be) will probably always lead to no good.

The book summary pretty much lays out the first 30-35% of the story. From shortly thereafter, I was pretty sure I knew who the killer(s) were and guessed at a few different motives. There is a secondary story of one of the investigating officers (the young one), who does not believe Compton is guilty of the killings and is helping to find out what really happened. Then there is another investigating officer (the old one) that thinks this is nothing more than a lover’s spat between two “of those kind of guys” and doesn’t spend a whole lot of time or energy trying to prove otherwise. At one point, he even makes the accusation towards Compton being the killer and tells him he’s going to prove it. Good grief!!!

Before the halfway point, the killers are revealed and I was right, and I’m pretty sure I’ve narrowed down to one or two motives too, but who knows, maybe Coffield will surprise me. I’m into the second half when I start thinking that I want to set the book aside and read something else for a little a while, but I’m thinking if I do, I will probably not finish it. I end up scratching that idea for just hurrying up and getting this story finished.

The story takes a weird turn and another perpetrator is introduced, the one who actually hired the Commander and the Brute. I’m pretty sure I know who that is too, but once again, not sure of the motive. At this point, it’s not too much of a stretch to guess what it is. The ending comes pretty fast after that in a whirlwind of activity and pulse pounding scenes. As for the ending, I was right about the one who hired the killers and was also about 95% right about the motive too; there was a certain aspect about the motive that I didn’t guess.

This story reads more like a drama/cozy mystery than a crime thriller. It was kind of like a Lifetime story, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I like a good Lifetime story every now and then. From the way that Coffield has Compton talking to the reader, he makes it sound like this is a true story and he’s just guessing at what all the other characters did and said, he clears that up in the Author Note at the end of the book. Anyway, I’m going to be that odd one out on this book, especially after all those 5star reviews on Amazon. For me, this is a solid 3star read. I want to thank NetGalley and Woodbridge Publishers for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #WoodbridgePublishers #HWY98

I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley, though I believe the book has been released. The first half of this book didn’t keep my attention, I kept picking it up and putting it down. The foreshadowing was a little too heavy at times. Things picked up in the second half and the ending was worth it. The book resolves all of the questions that swirled in my mind.