As always Lisa Jackson has written a ripper of a story, great characters, thrilling plot and I could not put it down. Highly recommend to others.

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

When New Orleans detective Reuben Montoya is called to investigate a murder with his partner Rick Bentz, he's shocked to recognize the victim. Camille Renard, an old high-school friend, was found on the altar of St. Marguerite's cathedral, dressed in a yellowed bridal gown and viciously garroted...
Valerie Houston's younger sister, Camille, had a knack for making bad choices. She left Texas after falling for Val's soon-to-be ex-husband, Slade. But as Val digs deeper into Camille's death, she realizes how little she really knows about her sister and their shared past.
Soon more bodies are found brutally slaughtered. No one is beyond suspicion. No one is safe--least of all Valerie, whose connection to a twisted case is closer, and more dangerous, than she ever could have imagined. For this killer knows all, forgives nothing, and will not rest until Valerie becomes the next to pay for her sins...

Another Bentz and Montoya novel, and I think I am done with this series.

The problem is that, while it isn't a badly written book, it is just a carbon copy of all the other books in the series. They all feel like they have been altered enough to seem like an original story but the underlying plot is still the same.

I really can't think of anything more to say, really. It is a run-of-the-mill romantic suspense novel. I just expect more than that now.


Paul
ARH

Sorry I was not able to read you book but it went to archive before I could get to it. Sorry once again.

Devious is the 7th book in Lisa Jackson's New Orleans Series. It is the first I read and I had no problem following the story. It features Detective Reuben Montoya and his partner, Rick Bentz. It is quite dark and scary with a serial killer on the loose.

The story starts with a bang. There is a terrible murder in a chapel at St. Marguerite's Convent. It is Sister Camille, a novice nun with a rather troublesome past. When Montoya and Bentz arrive at the crime scene, Montoya realized he knew the victim, in fact, they dated in high school. Not only that, but the nun who discovered the body, dated his brother and the suspect in the murder, Father Frank O'Toole was a friend of his growing up. Valerie Renard, Camille’s sister is dealing with her own problems while dealing with her estranged husband who has shown up from Texas and wants to reconcile. Of course, he shows up on the night of the murder and it was an issue between Camille and him that caused the estrangement in the first place. As more nuns become victims in rather gruesome ways, Valerie realized that these deaths may be linked to the orphanage, St Elsinore, where she and Camille lived before getting adopted. Is Mother Superior keeping secrets. What happened at St Elsinore's.

The descriptions in this book are so detailed, I could picture the setting and the crime scenes. The plot had me hooked and I quickly read through this story trying to figure out what would happen next. Was Valerie going to become a victim? The suspense and tension will keep you glued and interested until the last page.

Devious by Lisa Jackson is a book that tries to be all things to all people. No doubt, trying to attract a wide range of readers Jackson has written a book billed as an 'edge of your seat romantic thriller ' but is actually a blend of paranormal/ murder/ romance/50 Shades (in no particular order). Instead of focusing on one aspect of the plot, and having the others as secondary threads, she has given them all an almost equal billing, to the detriment of the storyline.

We have a psychic Nun, able to sense when and where the murders are occurring. There is a murdered pregnant Nun who appears to have enjoyed a very active and varied sex life. And there is Valerie, sister to the murdered nun, ex-cop, partner in a struggling B & B, and in the process of divorcing her incredibly attractive and sexy rancher husband and for whom she still has feelings, who was also one of the men her sister was trying to seduce. There are dodgy priests and a mystery surrounding Valerie's and Camille's parentage.

Need I go on?

The further I got into the book, the more I found myself skimming large tracts of text, and by the end I didn't care about any of the characters or the outcome. This is the second book in the series that I have read and I enjoyed this one even less than the first. Lisa Jackson will not be receiving a third chance from me. This book will, no doubt, have a lot of fans but I will not be numbered amongst them.

Thank you to Kensington Books, Zebra via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of Devious by Lisa Jackson for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.