I set myself the mediocre goal of reading 20 books this year, sinerely thinking I’d lower the bar and absolutely crush it… until my grandmother fell seriously ill 9 days into the new year and my rush of books came to a grinding halt. I finally picked one up again for the first time in months and just finished reading it, marking the 9th book in to my challenge. There’s hope for me yet!
The Brief: From the author of The Girl Who Was Taken and Don’t Believe It, a taut, gripping thriller about the deadly secrets that hide in plain sight . . .
Charlie Donlea’s chilling new suspense thriller is the story of two women, separated by forty years, yet both inextricably linked by a series of horrific murders that took place in 1979.
“She wondered if the mysterious woman had chosen darkness. Or if darkness had chosen her.”
As a forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore sheds light on cold-case homicides by piecing together details others fail to see. And while cleaning out her late father’s law office, she takes a call that plunges her into a forty-year-old mystery.
In the summer of 1979, five Chicago women went missing. The predator, nicknamed The Thief, left no bodies and no clues behind – until police received a package from a mysterious woman named Angela Mitchell, which uncovered his identity. But before police could question her, Angela disappeared.
Forty years later, The Thief is about to be paroled for Angela’s murder – the only killing the DA could pin on him. But a cryptic file found in her father’s office suggests to Rory there is more to the case than anyone knew.
Soon Rory is helplessly entangled in the enigma of Angela Mitchell and what happened to her. Drawing connections between the past and present, she uncovers dark truths about the reclusive woman, her own father, and the man called The Thief.
But not even Rory is prepared for the terrifying secrets about to emerge…
Thoughts: I decided to go for something out of my usual genre- paranormal romance. After having just finished binge watching all 10 seasons of CSI: Miami, with a favoured reportoire of shows including the likes of NCIS: LA, Lethal Weapon, 9-1-1, S.W.A.T and more, the next logical step for me was a crime/thriller novel.
Sadly, despite the reviews, this book was a little underwhelming. I suppose I’m used to the fast paced, incredibly detailed world of J.R Ward’s, The Black Dagger Brotherhood but I found the writing in this lacking substance. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a good book. I read it cover to cover in three days but there was a lot of repetition, and the whole thing was yet another reminder that men struggle to depict female characters acturately.
I loved that there were strong themes of mental illness, but the depiction of it- like most of the plot, fell short for me. It was great in theory but the execution ran out of steam right before the finish line, every time.
The plot twists and turns were predictable thought that’s more because of my having seen and read far too much that nothing really surprises me any more than it being any fault of Donlea. I wonder if there was less repetition and more depth in details and connections it might have crossed the line towards amazing. It was missing the little things that set it apart… (I find it hard to believe that a man worth 1.2 million dollars in 1979, with the intelligance and business acumen The Thief had, wouldn’t put his money into a high interest bank account for the 40 years he was incarcerated) & I wished the end had a little more meat to it. I won’t say much as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it yet but I do wish there was closure between Lane and Rory (also, if Donlea isn’t a fan of Gilmore Girls and that name pairing is pure coincidence I’d be utterly devastated).
Overall, I wanted to love this book, I really did… but it was still a hearty read and I’d be interested to see his other works.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆