The Blurb:
A teenage girl, brutally murdered and left in a trash dumpster; a young man, killed in a firebombing attack; a soccer mom, shot in the living room of her home; vicious thugs whose job is to protect a suspected criminal. Just another week on rotation for LAPD detective Joel Jovanic…until he uncovers a connection between the disturbing series of vicious crimes and Annabelle Giordano, who is in the temporary custody of his soulmate, Claudia Rose.
Annabelle is a troubled and traumatized teen who suffered the tragic loss of her mother and later witnessed the brutal murder of a beloved mentor. Neglected by a father who scarcely acknowledges her existence, it’s little wonder the girl makes some disastrous life choices.
But she has one staunch ally in Claudia, a highly regarded forensic graphologist who digs into the darkest of human secrets through the study of handwriting. When Annabelle involves herself with a questionable tattoo artist she re-opens a door to the grim side of life and goes down a path that could get her killed. A distraught Claudia will do anything to save her, even if it means jeopardizing her relationship with Jovanic.
My thoughts:
I hadn’t read any books by Sheila Lowe before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I loved the cover and thought I’d give it a go – guess I got influenced by Emmy and her sugar skull tattoo, lol. One of the characters is also a forensic graphologist, and since I’m a bit of a science geek, I figured that would be interesting.
Although this is book 5 in the series, it works well as a standalone, and I was able to follow the story without any problems.
The story centres around Annabelle, a troubled teen with a fondness for questionable decisions who lives with Claudia, her surrogate aunt. When an old friend of hers gets murdered, she finds herself stuck in the middle of a murder case being investigated by Claudia’s boyfriend, Joel.
There were times when I wanted to shake Annabelle, but her heart was in the right place, and the household dynamic between her, Claudia, and Joel was well-written. The mystery element kept me interested, and there were also fascinating snippets about handwriting analysis sprinkled throughout.
I listened to the book on audio while I was walking the dogs, and there were several evenings when I found myself wandering around the common, dodging cow poop in the dark because I just…had…to…finish…a…chapter. Overall, I thought this was a good suspense novel with a nice twist at the end, and I’d recommend it.
Interested US