In the latest collaboration between an established author and an up-and-coming author, Jeffrey Deaver (author of, among other things, probably the Lincoln Rhyme series most notably) teams up with Isabella Maldonado (an Amazon darling who the service seems to be pushing to mystery/crime genre readers every chance they get). I've read books by both writers independently and they're both decent writers, which raises the question of how two decent writers were able to write such a mess of a book. My guess? Each of them was probably expecting the other one to do all the work, like some sort of high school group project.

My biggest issue with this book is that it all just felt so... forced. Both of the lead characters were bland Mary Sues who have no actual flaws or weaknesses and just run from one scenario to the next where there's a bit of action and, of course, a bit of a "will they won't they" romantic vibe even though neither character is likable enough to root for, let alone root for them getting together. There was no plot to speak of, so much as a series of scenes that were kind of strung together for the purposes of having the two leads run into one another.

If you're really curious about the work of either of these two writers, read their independent work... this series feels like something they just phoned in for the paycheck.

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Created Jan 18, 2025 at 7:33pm • Submit your own review...