Saturday, October 29, 2016

ARC REVIEW Beautiful Maids all in a Row by Jennifer Harlow

An intense Psychological Thriller. Jennifer Harlow has the promise to make a great series with this brilliant, compassionate, and grieving woman Iris Ballard. Once an accomplished FBI agent who made a name for herself profiling and never being wrong; unfortunately her last case ended in disaster, well for her it did, the good guys won but she lost her husband and her will to continue on and almost her sanity. This book was not shy on the descriptions, and I liked it! It wasn't needlessly gory but descriptive at all the right parts for the right reasons. It's told in Iris' point of view so she told it like it was and she didn't hold back. If she thought it was gross it was described aptly. The Woodsman is a serial killer, although I knew who it was from the very start, it does reveal who he is around the halfway point and that makes this even more so a good thriller because Iris knows, and he knows that Iris knows and he also knows she can't do a damn thing about because there is no evidence. He is a great manipulator and that's what makes him so scary. There is also Luke, Iris' old partner, and he comes off as a bit of an ass at the beginning but as the story progresses you see him for who he really is and that's a great guy.

Iris just wants to be forgotten, to forget, she can't sleep and even when she gives in and pops couple of pills she doesn't sleep for long, so she lives off of candy bars and vodka. There is a serial killer on the loose and as much as she tries to avoid it as soon as she sees Luke's face as the FBI Special Agent In Charge she knows it's only a matter of time before he shows up at her doorstep. Luke knows all the right buttons to push to get her interested in the case and before the night's over she at his hotel room with a profile. Luke trusts her implicitly and brings her in as a consultant. When another woman goes missing and they are following the clues Iris' name is leaked to the media and the Woodman takes an interest in her. It doesn't take long for Iris to figure out who the Woodman is he fits her profile to a tee, but proving it is a whole different matter.  

Overall, this definitely goes in my favorites group. It really reminded me of two books Kiss the Girls by James Patterson, The Maze by Catherine Coulter. If the series continues on this path I can see it being just as good as Iris Johansen's Eve Duncan series if not better.

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