Title: Don't Ever Stop
Series: Veronica Sloan
Author: Leslie A. Smith
Read copy: eBook
Published: June 15, 2013
Publisher: LK Books
In the months since working on their first murder involving the Optical Evidence Program, Detective Veronica Sloan and Special Agent Jeremy Sykes have been trying to solve the rest of the puzzling case. That becomes even more imperative when Veronica receives data from a test subject...who sends her the images of a brutal murder he committed.
It’s a race against time as the taunting clues come in. Ronnie and Sykes find themselves traveling across the country, always one step behind the killer who is zeroing in on his real target...in the nation’s capital. It will take all of Ronnie’s ingenuity and every bit of her courage to not only solve this crime, but the one that’s haunted her for months.
Especially because, this time, she’s the target of a killer’s brutal rage.
My rating:
After searching in vain for the second killer that her partner has warned her about and the proof pointed to, DCPD Detective Veronica Sloan is back on regular duty. With a new partner in tow, until her old one recuperates, and sans FBI Agent Jeremy Sykes, who's returned to New York on his own regular duty.
The O.E.P. investigation is no longer a priority with all the leads gone rather cold and the powers that be losing their patience...until Veronica receives a disturbing message with an even more disturbing attachment. This time it's not an O.E.P. implantee that got murdered, but it's evident it was an O.E.P. implantee that committed that murder.
And with Sykes back in town, thanks to a similar message with the identical (almost) attachment, the game is back on. But is this the same killer that had eluded the two investigators for the past couple of months or is this one working his own agenda?
Despite this second installment in the Veronica Sloan series carries over the final mystery and one of the killers from the first novel, it didn't pull me in immediately as its predecessor did. Everything started off a little too slow for comfort and even the staging and presentation of the murder scenes wasn't as gripping as the actions (and murder scenes) from the previous book.
Which, as I discovered in the end, was the entire point show/hide spoiler, since the 'main' killer in this book wasn't the killer left over from the previous one. And the final twist, and the final reveal, made up for everything that I thought was lacking in the suspense/thriller plot of this book. Because I sure didn't see that coming, and I have to thank Ms. Kelly for writing these two books in such a way that I really didn't see that one coming.
Beside the initial disappointment due to the 'lackluster' murder-scenes and suspense, the rest of the story was par with its predecessor. The writing and narration flowed nicely, the plot was tight (and I realized and appreciated the need for two separate books because of the final twist), the characterization once more wonderful (though the female lead annoyed me slightly from time to time), and the resolution to everything (from murder, main suspense arc, to the 'love triangle' spot-on and perfectly timed).
I was sorry to read the epilogue, though. Does that mean we don't get more Ronnie books? Bummer.
P.S. And I'm super glad Sykes actually got the girl in the end. 😉
4 stars, bodyguard/military/merc/gov/cop/spy, Leslie (A.) Kelly/Leslie Parrish/Leslie A. Smith, sci-fi/futuristic, suspense/mystery/adventure/thriller
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