This post contains affiliate links for products and services I recommend. If you make a purchase through those links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
MY REVIEW
Author Lisa Regan had the tenth book out, how could I not read it? Detective Josie Quinn had great instincts in the past 9 books, and in this too, they were ramping up as the stakes heightened with each death.
A champion swimmer was found floating in the swimming pool with a strange symbol and a note – Be the mermaid. A firefighter’s house was set alit with the same symbol and a note – Be the match. An abandoned backpack had the food wrappers in it. Josie saw connections where the rest could not. The Lone Ranger got to investigating in her own way.
Quite a bizarre case was this where it called upon their collective hard work to crack it. There was friction with alternate viewpoints, but Josie managed to overcome the hurdles. Filled with action and intelligent scenes, I found the book to be a fast read. There were moments where I was completely immersed in the plotline.
Amongst all the police procedurals I’d read, Lisa Quinn wrote the friendliest one where I could understand the dynamics of the team even when I didn’t remember what had happened in the last case. Reading the rest of the books was not needed, but fear not, the entire series is quite addictive. I went back to read the books I had missed.
With the dual POV of Josie and the killer, the story held on to its suspense and intrigue as I flew through the pages. Emotions were heightened, and romance was interspersed in the prose. Twists were the norm, and the author kindly provided a wrenching one at the end. The characters were developed well, and their camaraderie and support kept the story going.
Quite a compelling crime thriller where the dose of realism in the cops’ lives worked well with the twisted thoughts of the killer.
MY RATING
BOOK LINKS
AMAZON USA: https://amzn.to/3mYNUX9
AMAZON UK: https://amzn.to/3lW5wSl
BOOK BLURB
Josie presses her hands into the center of the drowned girl’s chest and pumps, counting off compressions. She takes in the girl’s beautiful face, her brown eyes glassy. The memory of a champion swimmer on the podium with her teammates—a red swim cap on, her head thrown back in laughter—a stark contrast to the cold, still body before her. Breathe. Just breathe…
The body of a young girl lying face down in a swimming pool—white tennis shoes still on her feet, chestnut hair fanned out like a halo—is the last thing Detective Josie Quinn expects to find on an early morning visit to see her brother before class at Denton University. But when she recognizes the girl’s face as she drags her limp body from the water, there’s only one question racing through Josie’s mind: how does a champion swimmer accidentally drown?
Nysa Somers’ family is distraught. She was a model student, beloved daughter and everybody’s friend. There’s no way she would do anything reckless enough to put her scholarship at risk, let alone her life. It’s up to Josie and her team to piece together what happened in the hours leading up to Nysa’s death, and that begins with finding her missing backpack.
But the bag, discarded in the woods on the nearby campus, contains nothing more than empty food wrappers, Nysa’s phone and a cryptic calendar entry telling her to be a mermaid.
The next day, a terrible housefire envelops the nearby home of a retired fireman, nearly killing his two granddaughters. The last words the little girls heard him mutter before he set the blaze were, be a match.
As the body count rises, it’s only Josie who can see the deadly pattern forming. Can she convince her team that the wrapper found in Nysa’s bag that everyone overlooked is the crucial link they’re missing? Not while her partner, Noah, is avoiding her calls and acting so coldly towards her. Josie knows she must go it alone if she’s going to stop this silent and calculated serial killer before any more precious lives are taken.
But with the killer finally in her sights, Josie takes a deadly risk and finds herself hanging onto life by her fingernails. Can she trust her team to save her, and before it’s too late?
BOOK DETAILS
Publication Date:
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, and this is my journey down its pages, straight from the heart. STRICTLY HONEST and UNBIASED.
All my reviews can be found here.
6 Responses
You have piqued my interest, this one sounds divine.
This, you gotta read from beginning. Maybe we can read together when the author starts a new series
The notes left are so intriguing!!! Great review! xxx
Thank you so much ❤️ Meggy. What are you reading… I gotta check your Insta post. After your exercise video, I was psyched… And couldn’t dare to move from bed 😂😂😂😂
Excellent review Shalini. I usually get Lisa Regan’s books but unsure if I have this to read or not. Love the 5 stars!❤📚
Wonderful review Shalini. I have the first four books on my kindle and in 2021, I am finally going to get to this series.