Title: Dangerous Desires
Series: Killer Instincts
Author: Dawn Altieri
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: January 27, 2020
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
ASIN: B082GRHLR1
Three years after Emma Sloane's wealthy fiance's mysterious death, she's finally ready to move on and pursue her own dreams. But her plans are derailed when she's attacked outside her New York City apartment in what she thinks is a random violent incident. Then other women who look just like her start turning up dead...
Homicide Detective Jake Quinn is haunted by the one case he couldn't solve. When he's put in charge of a new high-profile murder case, he interviews a victim who escaped a similar attack—and to his shock it's Emma, the former fiancée of his unsolved murder victim.
Neither expects the sparks of attraction between them. But the killer escalates, clearly targeting Emma, and Jake's job is on the line. Can he solve this case before it's too late for both of them?
My rating:
Three years ago, Emma Sloane lost her fiancé in a hit-and-run accident. Now, she's finally able to move on, or so her friend thinks and opens an online dating profile for her. Soon, Emma is attacked on her apartment building doorstep, but luckily a neighbor intervenes...An hour later, a girl who closely resembles her, is murdered nearby.
Homicide detective Jake Quinn, primary on the murder investigation, and the one to interview Emma, isn't a stranger to her. Her fiancé’s murder is the only case he couldn’t solve. Now, as the killer is obviously targeting Emma, settling for substitutes as he cannot get to her, Jake is determined to keep his cold case counter to one. The killer will not get Emma. Not on Jake's watch.
Nice. Very nice. It was a rather good combo of romance and suspense, though I rather missed the suspense elements once the romance picked up. Instead the suspense was only sprinkled throughout the second half of the story as (relationship) drama and angst took over.
If it were shorter, more concentrated on the stronger points, instead of focusing on the heroine and her inability to make a stand for herself and the hero and his woes about not deserving her and not being able to give her the future she deserved, it would've gotten all the stars.
Still, the whole relationship drama didn't slow the pacing, thankfully, and I actually liked both Jake and Emma. They weren't cookie cutter romance novel characters, they both had flaws and inner scars, which made for a rather compelling reading.
I also appreciated the long winding procedural aspects of the story. It was a complicated and complex serial killer case with multiple dead ends and red herrings, with the case almost going cold at a few points. I'm glad the author didn't gloss over those details, the frustration of the authorities when the leads led nowhere and the investigation almost stalling.
And though the killer was rather obvious (once the secondary option was ruled out), it was still intriguing to read just how they'd show their hand and how the whole thing would play out.
I'm looking forward to the next installments.
4 stars, bodyguard/military/merc/gov/cop/spy, contemporary, contemporary romance, Dawn Altieri, suspense/mystery/adventure/thriller
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