Category: Book Critic

I think I have officially wrapped up one of my last Laura Griffin books. I might read the Alpha Crew novella series and I know there are a couple other smaller series that she wrote which I might also pick up. But as far as the principal books she has written, I think this was the last one. Some of her books have been better than others but I can fully stand behind Griffin being a five star author and all of her series being five star as well.

For some readers, they might find some of the characters off putting, or maybe the chemistry between the characters was a little wanting but overall you cannot deny her superior knowledge of forensics, police procedure, law, and of course military and terrorism. She is an absolutely fantastic writer and researcher and I have never found one of her books wanting in the research or pace categories. They are always interesting and read super quick.

I literally picked up a different book to read (different author) the other day when I was done with this book and I felt lost. The style of the other author was thick and cumbersome and I longed for another Griffin book that was quick, to the point and fast moving. I mean I have been reading Griffin’s books since basically October with a couple of other authors sprinkled in so it was a little jarring to read something more dense. That’s one of the reasons I love Griffin’s books, she is to the point and you get right into the story and they move FAST

Do you ever read and book and think to yourself—-wow this didn’t age well. I love Laura Griffin and have nearly read every single one of her books. I have loved them all for different reasons. Sometimes in her Tracer books, the technology has changed so much from the mid 2000’s and sometimes it feels a little antiquated or old but I still always find something to love in the mystery itself even if the technology might be out of date. But in this one, it isn’t the technology that’s out of date.

I will get more into that in a minute. What made me want to read this particular book is seeing Fiona in other books by Griffin. I thought she had a pretty cool job being a police sketch artist. That’s a job I never thought too much about but when I read about her in some of the other books I was really intrigued by how one becomes a police sketch artist and how they come up with their drawings etc. In this book as well as another, Griffin does a really good job of explaining how artists work with the victim. Now I have no idea if that’s legit but it sounds plausible and believable so that was the big thing that appealed to me about this book.

I was going to take a break after reading all the Griffin standalones, but who am am I kidding, I won’t stop until I have read ALL of her books at this point. So here we are, I am almost there and so far have yet to find a book that I truly haven’t liked. There were some parts or characters that I like and didn’t like for various reasons but overall I have loved all of Griffins books!

I picked up this standalone after I read Last Seen Alone, another standalone by Laura Griffin fully ready to devour another outstanding thriller. I have loved all of Griffin’s books even if some were better than others, overall I can say her books are all well research, fast paced, complex, with will developed characters. Sometimes the romance is better in some than others and sometimes I like other characters better independently, but I never finish one of her books feeling like the mystery was wanting in any way. She always does an outstanding job with her mysteries!

I feel like I have said this a million times but I will say it again incase you are new around here—all of Griffin’s books can be read as standalones, even the series. This book is actually a standalone book but if you are worried about what book to pick up, you should know that any book can be picked up at any time and you will be getting a unique mystery, character and story so don’t feel like you need to read her books in order etc.

While I look on all of Griffin’s book fondly, this one was my least favorite character wise. I didn’t like the main character, Andrea. I found her frustrating and her dedication to her brother was way too over the top for me and I had a really hard time relating to her, but I did love the plot in this one and I was really excited to see how it all came about and resolved. If you are looking for a solid well written thriller, Laura Griffin is it all around. Even if I didn’t love the main character, I did love the plot and couldn’t wait to see how it resolved.