Friday, May 15, 2015

Review: Closer Than You Think by Karen Rose

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Title: Closer Than You Think
Series: Karen Rose's Interconnecting Books, Cincinnati, OH
Author: Karen Rose
Read copy: Mass Market Paperback
Published: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Signet
ISBN: 045146673X
ISBN-13: 9780451466730

Psychologist Faith Corcoran is desperate to escape the stalker who’s made her life a nightmare for the past year—desperate enough to run to the one place that has been her nightmare far longer. Both boon and bane, her recent inheritance of her grandmother’s old house in Cincinnati offers sanctuary in which she can start her life anew, but requires that she face the dark memories that still resonate to this day.

But she has no idea how close to home her fears still are.

Two college girls have gone missing in the area, and FBI Special Agent Deacon Novak is called to work on the case. When his inquiry unexpectedly leads him to Faith, he finds a beautiful and brave woman he can’t help but fall for. Soon they’ll discover that this seemingly simple investigation is anything but. Reaching back decades into Faith’s own past, it will shatter everything she believes to be true and will give terrifying new meaning to flesh and blood.

My rating:

Faith Corcoran changed her name and left everything behind in order to escape the criminal that wants her dead for putting him in prison...Unfortunately, none of her safety measures have worked, because evil and death has followed her back home to Cincinnati, and there's only one man that can keep her safe.


Well, this is a surprise. Or maybe not, because whenever I'm looking forward to a book, it seldom (there are exceptions, of course) ends well. That's what happened with this book. I've been looking forward to reading Deacon Novak's story since he first appeared in Did You Miss Me?, yet I'm far from happy about it.

Maybe the rating doesn't reflect my "disappointment", but that's because I loved the suspense part of the book. Which dominated the story and kept the plot flowing.
It's the other side of the story that left me cold. Deacon Novak was nowhere near what my imagination made him out to be, the only exception being the scene on page 51 where Faith sees him for the first time. That description was just wow. Pity the rest of it wasn't. The guy that looked like a superhero with his wraparound glasses and leather coat, the guy that had stolen every scene he's been in previous KR books...That guy never made an appearance in his own book. The hero of this story was rather bland, and pretty uninteresting. And despite everything she's been through, so was his heroine.
And because I didn't connect with either of them—I actually preferred to read about Novak's partner (whose story is up next) and cousin that needs anger management therapy (at least he had a personality and didn't appear a cardboard cutout)—their "romance" had much to be desired. Everything to be desired, in fact. Yes, it was too sudden, but while the others were as well (everything happens in a span of just a few days in KR novels) at least they worked. This one didn't. There was no chemistry, there was no connection, Deacon and Faith merely went through the moves. And in the end, I just couldn't root for them.

The suspense, on the other hand, was wonderful, as previously stated. Edge of the seat, chilling, gripping, intense, and though I figured out who the baddie was, it still kept me turning the pages to see how everything would be resolved, and why the baddie was the baddie in the first place. It packed quite a punch. Enough of a punch to earn the book 4 stars.

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