After finishing the sixth book in the series, I was fully ready for the next book to be all about Derek—and then I got this book. So it was a surprise that we meet Derek in one book and then to have the next book not be about him seemed a little shocking. But I was willing to go with it, who knows it could be that somehow we meet another character in this book that somehow ties in with Derek’s ultimate love story that will likely be the seventh book I guess.
With any long standing series, there are always some books that I like better than others. I think it’s inevitable that some books are simply just better for different reasons and I have to say that this book was not my favorite. While I might not have loved this one, I still am fully in love with this series. This series can certainly be read out of order but personally if I would not recommend starting with this one. For me it just didn’t read the same as the other books and part of that could be that I didn’t love the main character in this one (Maddie).
Just because one book fails to hit the mark though doesn’t mean that the whole series is a bust for me. I will say that I could be in the minority here as most people liked this one but for me it just didn’t live up to the expectations I have had with this series so far. Even still though, I love this series as a whole. It’s so well written, researched, and executed. If you love thrillers you do not want to miss this series, it’s just so wonderful but this book just left me a little meah by the end.
Summary
Every picture tells a story. But not all of them have happy endings.
As a forensic photographer at the Delphi Center crime lab, Maddie Callahan is used to seeing violence up close, but she’s never before been the target of it. When a freelance photo shoot goes awry, she realizes she may have seen, and perhaps photographed, the kidnapping of a key witness in a federal probe. And although her camera was stolen, Maddie knows she has something that could be even more valuable to investigators.
FBI agent Brian Beckman has spent months investigating a vicious criminal known as the Doctor, only to have a key witness abducted on his watch. Worse, he’s falling for the woman who may be the Doctor’s next target. Maddie’s aloof facade hides a world of hurt that he wants to heal, no matter how much she keeps him at bay. But first he has to protect her from the danger that’s just out of focus, drawing close enough to shoot . . . and kill. (summary from Goodreads)
Review
I think what bugged me the most in this book was Maddie. She cared so much about what everyone thought of her. Brian is younger than her too and she made this huge deal about it and it just seemed unnecessary in a lot of ways. In passing it wasn’t a big deal but Maddie made this five year age different (I think it’s five years) this huge deal and I didn’t think it was really that big. On top of that, she lost her two year old daughter which as a parent this hit me so hard in the feels. I had a hard time reading some of the parts of this book based on that. It was HARD and so sad. But by the end of the book I found myself wondering when Griffin was going to feature a female character with a child or maybe one where the main character ends up pregnant etc. Maybe something different than a young single girl meeting Mr Perfect. I get she was sort of trying to do that with this one but I simply found Maddie off putting and I didn’t care for her and as a result had a hard time with the romance that developed between her and Brian. Even Brian was felt for me as a male lead—-especially after Gage in the previous book.
As for the mystery itself, that’s what kept me reading. Usually it’s a combo for me when I am reading one of Griffin’s books—-I want to know what happens next with both the romance and the mystery but in this one I could have done without the romance and just had the mystery. But even then the mystery wasn’t a good as some of the others that I have read in this series. It was good but not great and ultimately forgettable unfortunately. I remember thinking when I was reading this one that I wanted to solve the mystery and see what happened next but not in the way that I was excited for the other books.
It was a good mystery but knowing what Griffin is capable of writing makes this one harder to love because compared to her other mysteries this one is just ok. But in the end it was the only thing that kept me reading if that makes sense. While this one wasn’t my favorite in the series, I am still committed to reading all the books in this series as well as Griffin’s other books! I really am looking forward to reading more and seeing that Derek’s book is up next makes me even more excited to keep reading!
Book Info and Rating
Format: 374 pages, Kindle edition
Published: June 25th 2013 by Pocket Books
ISBN: 9781451689334
Review copy provided by personal collection. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 2.5 stars
Genre: mystery, thriller, romantic suspense
The Lit Bitch 