A bit long for a lack luster ending. It felt like the author was as bored writing it as I was reading it towards the end.

Plenty of credible suspects all the way through until the final pieces of evidence come in just before the end.
The sex scenes can be skipped over without missing anything crucial to the mystery crime plot.

ARC generously provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

RATING ~ 4.25 Stars.

The story follows Dr. Faith Corcoran and the FBI Agent Deacon Novak in their investigation to find the missing girls in town of Cincinnati.

Faith:


Deacon:


Dr. Faith Corcoran is a thirty-two year psychologist or she was until her she got a stalker who made several attempts on her life. Faith used to be a therapist to criminals until one of them decides to stalk her. Fed up that the local police was not taking her seriously, she decides to change her identity move back to her hometown and to a house (left to her in by her late grandmother) she hasn't visited since she left twenty-three years ago when her mother died. She just gets back into town that trouble has found her again. This is how I imagine the somewhat looks like house:



Agent Deacon Novak has also just returned to town and joined the task force there because of his troublemaker younger brother who no longer listens to his uncle and aunty. Deacon parents died young, he and his siblings were forced to sell their home and move in with their aunty and uncle. He’s bought in when the trouble comes knocking.

Faith and Deacon were both very strong characters with very interesting background. Faith and Deacon’s relationship was also great, it was a slow build up where they went from being strangers to trusting each other to being together as a couple. They also had a definite connection which I always like in my hero and heroine. I thought they were great together.

I don’t want to give away too much but the story follows the investigation of the missing girls and Faith’s stalker/ attempted murderer which leads to pain and old secrets being revealed.

This book is about 700 pages long but you don’t feel that, the story flows smoothly in a typical Karen Rose fashion with twists and turns and mayhem just around the corner. I really enjoyed the suspense and figuring out who-dun-it part of the book and of course faith & Deacon together.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series which I believe also has Faith and Deacon as protagonist, cannot wait for more of their story to unfold.

Karen Rose writes really amazing romantic suspense books, if you have not read any of her books you definitely should. Happy Reading!

P.s Yes I thought them as anime characters because why not?

Review posted 31 Oct'14

Originally posted: http://www.afortressofbooks.com/2014/10/31/arc-review-closer-than-you-think-by-karen-rose/

This book was TOO DAMN LONG and also much too slow at times. I jumped on the Karen Rose train last year and have bounced around with the order of the books due to my library recommending You Belong to Me first. I started with Baltimore then went to Vartanian. Before finishing Vartanian, I went back to the beginning, but I haven't read Dana and Tess' books because my library doesn't have them available in audio format. *Anyways* I typically rate Karen's books between 3-5 because I don't ever *dislike* them, but sometimes certain aspects of the books get on my nerves. This is the first of her books I'd give a 2.5 if it was possible. The book went on and on so much that I found myself wanting to skip parts just to move the story along. Obviously Karen writes lengthy books, but this one has way too much happening and could *easily* be 150 pages shorter. The killer was easily identified (I recognize we all have different experiences with that. Sometimes I'm oblivious when other folks know almost immediately, and sometimes Karen takes out the guesswork and tells us within the first 2 chapters.), a couple of errors were far too glaring (I am well aware we all have to suspend some beliefs for these novels, but I work for CPS. The children Faith tried to protect by working with sex offenders *WOULD NOT* still be in the care of mothers who did not believe they were sexually abused after the offenders were arrested and mandated to participate in treatment!!!!! That's just bullshit!!!!!), and there was *way too much* of a deep dive into ancillary characters (Dani has *her own Cincinnati book*! I did not need to get to know her so well in this one! That whole subplot with her and Greg was completely unnecessary!). Also, Adam was a *TOTAL ASS* who shouldn't have been on the case (another one of those numerous glaring errors), and I'm *not* excited about him being the love interest later in this series.

dnf

The story begins when we meet Psychologist Faith Corcoran. Faith is on the run from a serial stalker. One who has made numerous attempts on her life. Faith inherits her grandmother's old homestead, and the timing couldn't be better. She changes her name, sells her car and leaves her old life behind. She Relocates to Cincinnati taking a position outside of her profession in hopes to begin anew. But TROUBLE is following her, and she is in more danger than she knows. When she almost hits a naked woman in route to her grandmother's house, it is just the beginning of her nightmare.

FBI Special Agent Deacon Novak is called in when the girl is identified as one of two missing college students. As Faith sits in the ambulance having her wounds checked from the car accident she thinks she is hallucinating when Novak comes into view. Clad in a leather jacket and wraparound glasses this white haired hulking man moves towards her like something out of a movie. When he pulls off his glasses, she is mesmerized by his strange eyes. Their first interaction was intense and I liked the undercurrent and awkwardness. Novak knows she is hiding something and Faith is leery of law enforcement, but the two soon find themselves working together because someone desperately wants Faith dead.

Faith proved to be a competent, complex heroine and I admired her guts and level-headedness. She faced some serious scrutiny and handled things with surprising fearlessness. I admired Agent Novak and appreciated his uniqueness. Novak and his siblings share a rare genetic disorder and Rose brought attention to this disease. The romance that develops between them was intense, and despite how quickly it progressed physically and emotionally the author made it feel realistic.

The story is presented using different perspectives from Novak, Faith, the serial killer and a current victim. These were clearly defined and done in such a way that it pulls the reader in, amps up the suspense and allows them to feel like an engaged participant. The novels length of six hundred and eighty-eight pages allowed Rose to develop the storyline entirely. I found no lulls or unnecessary meandering as events unfolded. Each thread was sound and pulled me further into the story creating an authentic feel to the case and characters.

The thriller/mystery aspect was complex and intense. Firs,t we have the young naked woman, who leads us to the discovery of bodies and a serial killer. Then we have Faith who's linked to those bodies and has someone attempting to kill her. Rose presented a well-developed mystery with a complex cast of suspects. Secondary characters from other FBI agents to Deacon's family brought additional threads and ramped up the suspense.

Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

4.5 stars - I think this was my favorite book of the series - perhaps the second best. It was a bit of a twisty story and I loved the characters. As usual it was dark and suspenseful - you never know who will bite it next and once I start listening I have a very hard time stopping.

Dear Lord, really?

Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

‘[…] If I burn out, I’ll do something else. But I won’t do this job by stripping the victims of their humanity. It was stolen by their killer. I won’t do the same to them, or to myself.’

Karen Rose does romantic suspense so damn well. Even when you get the bad guy’s POV, you’ll still be left questioning things until the very end when everything gets wrapped up in the most satisfying way. This author’s ability to craft an interesting story with tons of factors and connecting timelines is amazing. This book, as a lot of hers tend to do, only spans a few days. However, it’s written in a way where it feels like the story spans way longer. I really enjoy how it doesn’t really skip any of the steps. You get the entire case from start to finish, and we get to see it from all of the POVs that matter.

It’s definitely a book that’s heavier on the plot and suspense than the romance, but sometimes that’s exactly what I want. There’s still romance and spice, but it feels more like the cherry on top of an amazing crime-solving novel, and it just adds that little extra something something. I really struggle with reading something without any romance at all, but I don’t always want it to be the main focus either. Deacon and Faith have amazing chemistry that adds this other element and makes it a great book and not just an entertaining crime.

I still love Say You’re Sorry by Karen Rose the most, but this one is pretty great too.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Romantic suspense
Serial killer
Police procedural
FBI agent MMC
Whodunnit
Multiple POV
Fast burn

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Graphic violence
Serial killing
Kidnapping
Captivity
Child captivity and abuse
Torture
Drugging
Gun violence
Mentions of pedophilia
Child sexual abuse (past, off page, not detailed)
Mentions of parent suicide
Death of side characters
Past and present murder attempts on MCs
Graphic murder scenes
Brief mention of alcoholic parent (past)
Child abuse: physical and verbal (on page)
Brief mentions of cheating ex husband
Car accident
Mentions of side character being raped (no details, off page)
Stalking
Severely injured MC
Mentions of homophobia

*This book deals heavily with the theme of sexual abuse of children. Never on page and not detailed.

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: No
Breakup: No
POV: 3rd person, multi POV
Genre: Romantic suspense, MF
Main characters’ age: 32 and 33
Pages: 594

‘I keep expecting robotic arms to pop out of your coat pockets like Inspector Gadget. What else do you have hidden?’

His imagination had already conjured an entire collection of images that would make it very embarrassing were he to need to stand up any time soon.

Ms Pohl, Principal. Deacon stared at the nameplate on the door, summoning his courage. He’d faced killers without breaking a sweat. Surely he could handle one very old woman.


You can find most of my reviews on Instagram as well: https://www.instagram.com/booksafety?igsh=MWZ3azhkdDc2Y2ludg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

no one does romantic suspense like Rose. it, almost 5am but I couldn't put it down.