Book source ~ NetGalley

Ever since her brother was wrongfully arrested, convicted, and sent to prison, Rachel Wainwright has fought for those she feels gets shafted by Lady Justice. As a public defender she gets a lot of those cases and she gets the occasional Innocence Project client, too. She has taken on the 30-year-old case of Jeb Jones, a man put away for murder. He has steadfastly declared his innocence and has been petitioning for his DNA to be tested for over a decade and getting nowhere. Enter the Innocence Project and Rachel. Does she think he’s innocent? It’s not up to her. Her job is to get the DNA tested now that such a test is available. After that? Well, one step at a time.

Detective Derek Morgan inherited the case from his late father. The Jeb Jones case is the one that made his dad’s career so he’s understandably pissed that the DNA test is calling his dad’s integrity into question. But the law is the law, so he sent it in. And the wait for results begins. In the meantime, he has cases to solve, including the brutal bludgeoning murder of an aspiring singer. But that’s not the only murder he’ll need to solve as bodies start dropping like flies and the only connection he can find is Rachel Wainwright. Uh, oh…

This is one hell of a twisty turny tale! It held my attention from the first chapter all the way to the end. I even stayed up way past my bedtime trying to finish it. That’s a rare thing for me since I love my sleep. The characters are awesome, the world is great, the killer is…whew, what a mess. The mystery is one that kept me guessing. I had started to glean a few half-formed inklings at about the 60% mark, but not nearly enough to state with any certainty who I thought was the murderer. Great job! This is one of my favorite reads of 2019. I’m looking forward to continuing with this series even though I’ve already read book 4 by accident. Luckily, my memory sucks ass and I didn’t remember it until after I was finished with this one. I hate reading books out of order. lol

Mary Burton excels in her field. It takes a special person to be able to write thrillers that captivate the audience, and Burton has succeeded. She is a edge of the seat, hanging in every word author and should not be missed!

I enjoyed this romantic suspense that starts a new series. This romantic suspense was a good one with likable characters, an interesting storyline, and a great Nashville setting. The two main characters, Rachel and Deke, were both likable, and I enjoyed watching these two adversaries start to fall for one another. The mystery was compelling, and I liked trying to figure out the tangled web. I'm looking forward to more of this series.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

At first, they struggle to escape. Then a torrent of blows rains down upon their bodies until their eyes cloud over in final agony. The killer shows no remorse--just a twisted need to witness each victim's last terrified moments.
Public defender Rachel Wainwright is struggling to reopen a decades-old case, convinced that the wrong man is in prison. Homicide detective Deke Morgan doesn't want to agree. But if Rachel's hunch is correct, whoever fatally bludgeoned young, beautiful Annie Dawson thirty years ago could be the source of a new string of brutal slayings.
Rachel's investigation is about to reveal answers--but at a price she never thought to pay. Now she's become the target of a rage honed by years of jealousy and madness. And a murderer is ready to show her just how vicious the truth can be. . .

This was a better-than-average suspense novel by an author I had not read before (although looking at her list of books, I have no idea why I hadn't read one before now!)

The best thing about a good mystery is the "whodunit" aspect...and the author did a fantastic job of keeping that close to her chest, dropping just enough hints to keep the reader guessing (wrongly, as it turned out in my case!) I was completely engaged with the mystery aspect of this story that I am pleased to say that I will definitely be reading more.

The romance element of this book was minor, really only becoming evident at the end of the book (which I appreciated) - so more of a mystery, than a romantic suspense novel.

The only reason this didn't score the maximum was that the ending felt a little abrupt. I think just a few more pages would have been enough to stop this ending feeling rushed.


Paul
ARH