4 Stars from me
This is the first book I have read by Ellery Kane and I am so glad that Watch Her Vanish is book 1 of a series – the Rockwell and Decker books.
Both lead characters were great – flawed, yes, a little cliched, yes, but great!
Decker put me firmly in mind of Will Trent from the Karin Slaughter books – he is the perfect lead guy… handsome, a bit broken, devoted to the woman he loves, happy to punch a bad guy but kind to animals.
Fans of Noelle Holten’s books will enjoy the protagonist, Drake, and Criminal Psychologist Olivia Rockwell. Drake is a superb character, he is a proper nasty piece of work.
The pace and tension was maintained throughout and there were many clever layers to this story – I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Blurb: Fear hits her like a wave crashing against the sheer cliffs nearby. She sees the woman’s feet first, then the legs bent like broken driftwood. Then, the blouse strewn open; the marks on her beautiful neck. Her knees buckle as a hand grabs her elbow to break her fall.
Forced home to Fog Harbor, California, to look after her little sister, Criminal Psychologist Olivia Rockwell is struggling to adjust to life in a town so small she can hardly breathe. Until, at church one morning, the sound of a scream leads her to the body of a missing local teacher in the shallows nearby. All the evidence points to Olivia’s most threatening patient, Drake, who is safely locked up behind bars…
Convinced of Drake’s innocence—and desperate to believe in the system that’s keeping her own murderer father behind bars—Olivia gets to work on her own suspect list. All her life she’s run towards trouble, but this time she’s treading on the toes of brooding and handsome Detective Will Decker.
Then a second woman’s body is discovered, strangled while out on an evening jog. The strip of blue material used to choke her implicates Drake once again, forcing Olivia and Will to admit they are out of their depth and must work together to crack the case.
The deeper they dig, the deadlier the trail becomes. It’s clear more innocent women will die if they don’t get one step ahead. But then a note written on a scrap of paper found in the last victim’s car leads them to a terrifying realization: the killer has his sights on Olivia’s little sister as the next victim…
Read and Rated 