Sunday, February 28, 2021

Review: Say No More by Karen Rose

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Title: Say No More
Series: Karen Rose's Interconnecting Books, Sacramento, CA
Author: Karen Rose
Read copy: Mass Market Paperback
Published: February 9, 2021
Publisher: Berkley
ISBN: 1984805312
ISBN-13: 9781984805317

Seventeen years ago. That was the last time Mercy Callahan saw Ephraim Burton, the leader of the twisted Eden cult where she was raised. But even though she escaped the abuse and terror, they continue to haunt her.

When her brother Gideon discovers new evidence of the cult's—and their victims'—whereabouts, Mercy goes to Sacramento to reconnect with him. There, she meets Gideon's closest friend—homicide detective Rafe Sokolov. From Rafe, she receives an offer she never knew she needed: to track down Ephraim and make him pay for everything.

But Ephraim, who had thought Mercy long dead, discovers she is in fact alive and that she is digging around for the cult's secrets. And now he'll do anything to take her back to Eden—dead or alive.

My rating:

Mercy Callahan thought her past firmly locked up her sturdy mental box, but ugly things seldom remain buried forever. And Mercy's past has come back to haunt her...And hunt her. Lucky for her, Mercy has her brother and his best friend, homicide detective Rafe Sokolov in her corner.


I know people deal differently and that everyone responds differently to trauma, but for the first twenty percent of the book Mercy Callahan was an obnoxious bitch. A selfish, head-in-the-sand lying bitch. And then, when she finally discovered the truth of why her brother escaped their cult all those years ago...she blamed her mother for not telling her before getting shot.
Grrr.
Luckily she got a character/personality transplant later and ended up a decent enough heroine, but those first 20% linger.

The Sacramento trilogy is more-or-less a straigh-up thriller with romantic elements, so, like in the first book, the romance took a back seat. Which was to be expected, given Mercy's history. But, unlike the first book, the suspense wasn't as riveting and engrossing. It even had it's slow and dull moments. The middle-book curse, if you ask me. The first book establishes the arc, the last one ties it all nicely, and it's the middle one to bear the brunt of exposition and moving the chess pieces in their perfect positions.

That doesn't mean the hunt for the deranged killer wasn't intriguing and exciting, it's just that it took it's sweet time and, even though the plot was at tight as ever, the pace wasn't as fast as I would've preferred. Because I want to know how it ends, I want the bad guys to pay for all they've done...And I know I have to wait for the next book to get that.

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