Loved this book! It was fast paced, twists and turns at every page turn, likeable characters you can get behind and well written.
The book follows FBI special agent Susan Parker who is investigating a murder of a billionaire at his home in Southern California. This is just the start, and the bodies start piling up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sam Baron, and Storm Publishing for granting me access to an e-Arc of this book in exchange for a honest review.

3.5 ⭐️s
In this story we follow our FMC, Susan Parker, a special agent of the FBI, as she embarks on a twisted journey of mind games. Susan Parker is introduced to a teen podcaster, who brings her attention to a serial killer, who is killing single moms over a span of eight years. At the same time, our FBI agent is put on a case following the murder of a billionaire, and member of The Murder Club. The Murder Club is a group of billionaires who are stalking and watching a local serial killer, until the tables turn and now the serial killer is killing off the members one by one. Is Susan Parker searching for two serial killers now or are the serial killers somehow intertwined?

Have you ever had a book grab your attention in its first three sentences? I don’t believe I have, but this one did. It begins with “He knows they’re watching. He knows it’s a trap. He goes in anyway.” I was hooked by these lines and my attention never wavered throughout. Put this title on your “must read” list.

Susan Parker, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the L.A. office is assigned to the case of the Clothesline killer by the director of the FBI. Parker’s team eventually learns that the person they are seeking is not only a killer, but a serial killer focusing on single mothers who are physically abusive of their children and are frequently into alcohol and/or substance abuse.

Parker heads a team of young FBI agents, all of whom are superlative at their jobs. A bit annoying is the somewhat juvenile interactions among these members as well as herself. I can’t quite picture FBI agents behaving in such a manner.

On the other hand, Agent Parker’s interactions with her seven-year-old hearing-impaired daughter seem quite warm and genuine. Susan is a pit bull of an agent, and one I would not want after me. She feels motherly guilt for the very long hours she puts into her job, but her job appears to be priority number one.

A major thorn in Agent Parker’s side is Santa Carina (CA) Valley Chief of Police McDougal who continually does all he can to thwart her actions during her investigations. The chief is described as a homophobic, chauvinist, racist character which may offend some readers.

Although this book can be read as a standalone title, I would encourage interested individuals to first read The Therapy Room, as it is book number one in this series. Having some of the background from the first book will allow readers to better understand Agent Parker’s mental anguish as well as sharp exchanges with her uncle and mother-in-law.

A very minor quibble with the book, is the repeated use of “meters” for units of measurement rather yards, etc., a word possibly used as the publisher is U.K. based.

With lots of twists and turns this book succeeds admirably in keeping with the publisher’s goal of being “the home of stories readers just can’t put down.”

Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGallery for providing me with an advanced reader copy for review.

3.5 stars

The Murder Club by Sam Baron  is the second in the FBI Agent Susan Parker series. 

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Storm Publishing and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

 

Series Background: (Warning - May contain spoilers from previous books) 
FBI Agent Susan Parker has been with the bureau over 10 years.  Her team consists of Special agents Ramon Diaz, Kayla Regis, and David Moskovitch, with Trainee agent Brine Thomas.  Their boss is Deputy Director Connor Gentry.  They work with Chief Evidence Investigator Marisol Mancini.  Recently, Detective Naved Seth has been working with the group.  Susan is a single mother to 7 year-old Natalie, and they are living with her sister-in-law Lata, who stepped up after Susan's husband died.




My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions):
Susan is called to investigate the death of a wealthy business man.  He, and other very wealthy men belonged to a group who were following a serial killer.  Dubbed the Murder Club, they were obsessed with a man who has been strangling women in their beds with a clothesline, while their children slept in adjacent rooms.  None of this group want to discuss anything with Susan.

But this wealthy group is not the only one tracking this serial killer.  A local podcaster has been following the case as well, and has finally got enough information that she has brought it forward to Naved.   She has a whole scrapbook filled with information showing a number of women who have been killed, leaving behind a number of orphaned children.

Soon Susan, herself, will be targeted.  She will be putting her own life, and that of her family, on the line.

 

My Opinions:
I enjoyed this one even more than the first in the series.  It was a fast-paced, gripping, and entertaining read.

Susan's team is great, and her sister-in-law is priceless.  I've gotten over the fact that the author combined so many different ethnicities, sexual orientations, and people with disabilities within the pages.  I thought he was trying too hard to be inclusive, but now...it is what it is. 

The plot was very good,  and although there seems to be never-ending questions as to what happened with Susan's dead husband,  I'm trying to ignore it, as I hate when things drag on from book to book.  I think the dialogue was much better in this one....except Marisol's....whose grammar for highly educated woman is atrocious!

In the acknowledgement, the author provided a few clues as to what was coming next, and that's fine, but I was not thrilled that he is going to be writing so frequently.  I doubt very much I will keep up.

However, I am looking forward to the next book..

Kept me on my toes! I probably should’ve read the first one but overall I liked this book and will definitely read the first book as well

This is book 2 FBI Special Agent Susan Parker, who lives with her daughter Natalie and sister-in-law in Santa Carina Valley. Susan is called in to investigate the death of a billionaire, Derek Chen! Susan discovers he was a part of a Billionaire Murder Club. Once, Susan starts to get more involved with the investigation, it appears there is a link to the Clothesline Killer. Through her partner, Detective Naved Seth (Santa Carine Valley PD), she meets with U who has a podcast with two friends that is looking back at earlier cases. How do they tie in? All I can say, I was gripped by the story and it was unputdownable. I will be recommending this book.

This was the first book I read in the FBI Agent Susan Parker series. I feel this did fine as a stand alone. There were no missing plot points ad they were adequately addressed. The story involved the case of a serial killer and some very wealthy and powerful people that were obsessed with him. There was a good twist at the conclusion of the case that was satisfying. However there were a lot of unanswered questions about the other billionaires involved. The ending left room for a sequel but not sure my questions will get answered there.

When a wealthy local man is killed in his home, Susan is asked to join the case and figure out what is going on. Through a friend and the investigation of the wealthy man she discovers there is a brutal serial killer amongst them and he is targeting single moms who are struggling through life. He believes they don't deserve to live because they are turning tricks or have done drugs or whatever their issues might be. The problem is the now dead wealthy man and his friends have been following this man in what they call the "murder club". But things start taking a turn when Susan gets targeted.

This was one of those books where I sat there and could not put the book down. It was a very fast paced novel and kept me wanting more and guessing what was going to happen next. I would highly recommend this. The plot is somewhat sickening because you can honestly see this happening in real life.

Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for giving me this ARC for my honest opinion of the book.

I think this is an excellent book I would absolutely recommend to others! It held my attention, and made it so hard for me to put down! It has so many details, and twists that make you wanna keep reading to find out who is behind the murders.

A little about the book:

FBI agent Susan Parker gets called to a crime scene at a millionaires house. As she investigates, she finds out he is a part of a murder club that is tracking a serial killer. The murder club isn't the only one's whhasve been tracking the cases's but also a young girl and her friends.

Omg, I just realized this is actually book 2 in the series but it definitely can be read as a stand alone! I'll definitely be reading book one now that I know it exists!

This author is new to me and I love this books so much I can't wait to get my hand on more of his books!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

I really enjoy a good thriller/police procedural novel, especially when the main character is female and/or a person of color. So I was primed to like The Murder Club, but I could only get through about 50 pages. I understand that this is the second book in a series, but there was a lot of explaining happening, to the point where it felt like the author didn't trust the reader to figure things out. I want a writer who has higher expectations for their readers.

Suspenseful amazing gripping and twisty are a few words to describe this amazing novel! The character building was intense, even gave me a hate love relationship for some of it. This made the journey of the novel extremely enjoyable. Definitely a page turner.

Wow!! I read the first in this series and I think this one is even better. I don't think you have to read the first one though. The characters are well written and believable and the plot moves along at speed. I lost count of how many murders the team were investigating!. I was actually quite disappointed when I finished reading this book as now I have to wait for the next one.

This is the second book in FBI Agent Susan Parker's series, it follows on from the 1st with the same mystery who killed Amit her husband?

Her series follows Serial Killers and this book follows the Clothesline Killer and the possibility he is connected to the killing of members of the Billionaire Murder Club. With the help from a small group of Podcaster's Susan and her team race to put the pieces together and find this killer!

The twists and turns keep you guessing and keep you on the edge of your seat! I never guessed the ending and I absolutely loved that. Most books you kind of get an inkling but I just did not with this one! This is a 4 star book for me and it has me very excited for book 3!

Thank you so much for the opportunity!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

An exciting well-woven police procedural. This time Susan Parker is chasing two serial killers.

Fans of police procedurals and mysteries will greatly enjoy this novel full of fast cars, close calls, and personal threats as Parker races to stop an obsessed murderer who is making abusive mothers pay with their lives, as she also tracks a murderer who is killing off local area millionaires.

Great fun, I look forward to Sam Baron's next installment in this addictive series!

First read by this author and i loved loved the cover. Definitely makes you want to request this book!

The book and the author writing was captivating, intriguing and very tense which is a must in any book! Will read more from this author because when you start reading this book gives you chills and makes you not want to put the book down with the twists and turns!!!

The MC is awesome and an amazing protagonist!!! I cannot wait for the next read by this author. This book is a must read for anyone.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

I really struggled to get through this book. I feel like it had enough information to work as a stand-alone, and the author painfully referenced the previous book so many times it felt like book number 2 was envious of book one.

One aspect of this book that I agonized over was the over abundance of cultural inclusion. I found it distracting from the story that every character had a different race or ethnicity, that each person was so set into their own stereotypes, etc. I also struggled with understanding interactions with the deaf daughter who could read lips but also “says” (p134, 138, etc) vs. signs. It gave the impression that the author wanted to be inclusive by having a deaf character, but lacked the ASL culture that is different from just using signing for words. In all honesty, it came across as if the author was in a competition to be as inclusive as possible to the point of ridiculousness (bi-sexual, Spanish, Indian, Black, Chinese, Marisol with her broken English after years of being in the states, deaf, wheelchair bound, rich, poor, middle-class,…). I found myself so distracted by the over abundance of attention of all of the above that I often lost track of what was actually happening in the plot.

Overall, I found the main character cliche and annoying. The plot was super predictable and drawn out. Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC

I would like to thank Netgalley and Storm Publishing for an advance copy of The Murder Club, the second novel to feature FBI Special Agent in Charge Susan Parker set in the fictional Southern California town of Santa Carina Valley.

The murder of billionaire Derek Chen leads Susan and the team to the Murder Club, a group of billionaires obsessed with the Clothesline Killer, a man who films himself murdering single mothers with a clothesline. Then another billionaire is murdered and Susan finds herself in the killer’s sights.

I enjoyed The Murder Club, which is a fast paced procedural with some good twists. It is mostly told from Susan’s point of view with a few chapters from the unnamed killer that mostly detail his obsession with Susan and hint at an ulterior motive.

On the whole the novel is easy to follow as Susan and the team investigate the few clues they have and develop further lines of enquiry by gaming them. It gets a bit murkier when all the explanations are given, with my main question being why would people act that way? It obviously suits the plot, but it’s hard to give it credence. Still the journey to get there is exciting and occasionally tense.

I like Susan Parker as she is a take no prisoners type of gal. She doesn’t always follow protocol in her quest for justice but mostly she has absolutely no issue with standing up to the patriarchy in its various forms, even landing in lockup for doing so.

The Murder Club is a good read that I can recommend.

Sinister Links..
The second in the FBI Agent Susan Parker series finds our protagonist being called to the case of a wealthy man murdered in his own home. As she digs deeper she finds, what may well be, sinister links. What exactly is The Murder Club and who is the Clothesline Killer? With a propulsive and edgy plot, a well crafted and credible cast and a well imagined backdrop this is a fast moving serial killer thriller which, though the second in the series, can be read as a standalone.

Nope. Predictable story. It was hard to get through. The main character’s man hating was very tiresome. There were so many people that would pop up in the story is was hard to keep track of who was who. This book was a miss for me.

I loved the first book in this series and this one did not disappoint. Very intriguing. I definitely didn’t see the twist coming. I was disappointed that we didn’t find out who killed her husband though.