The Heron's Cry (Two Rivers #2) by Ann Cleeves

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Cleeves--New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows--returns with the extraordinary follow-up to The Long Call, in the Two Rivers series, soon to be a major TV series too.


North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder--Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.

Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

Then another body is found--killed in a similar way. Matthew soon finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home.

DI Matthew Venn returns in The Heron's Cry, in Ann Cleeves powerful next novel, proving once again that she is a master of her craft. 

Source: NetGalley; ARC kindly provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

You know, when I read The Long Call last year, I thought it was good and I liked DI Venn. It surprised me how often I'd think back to the story and in particular, DI Venn. I was drawn to his calmness, his ability to be still in the midst of chaos as he quietly turned things over in his mind while also managing detectives under him whose personalities differed from him. It's a quality I so wish I could master. The Heron's Cry was obviously going to land on my TBR pile. 

I think the greatest thrill about any Ann Cleeves novel is that she's able to pack in so much story. She seamlessly moves from character to character, inviting the reader into their private thoughts and drops all sorts of insightful, curious notes. I like her way of storytelling because whether or not those details are pertinent to the main mystery at hand, they're excellent for understanding the various personalities that populate the village or community the story is set in. With regards to DI Venn, she strikes a perfect balance between his professional and personal sides which he himself tries to keep as separate as possible. While he's often deliberate in his intentions and carries himself in a disciplined manner, Cleeves shows us his tender qualities, which are drawn out whenever he's around his husband, Jonathan. They're not showy displays of affection but simply more honest, more vulnerable interactions where Venn feels safest and allows for a more emotional connection. The first book in the series examined his strict religious upbringing and his continued struggle to make peace with it. The Heron's Call continues that line and also brings Venn closer to possibly reconciling with his religious mother. If not that, at least understanding her better.

In The Heron's Call, the victim, Dr. Yeo is an admired member of the community. Not only is he personally known to one of the detectives on Venn's team, a few of the suspects are as well. And some of them are even high profile. The personal and professional sides clash a bit amongst the detectives which for sure make conducting the investigation trickier. Dr. Yeo was working for an organization that advocates for patient rights and his latest casework involved the deaths of patients who had been suffering from depression. (As this is a sensitive subject and the investigation uncovers some troubling details I will leave a few content/trigger warnings at the end of this review.) 

I would say my only disappointment with The Heron's Cry was that I figured out the whodunnit a few chapters before the big reveal. It's weird because most often when I read mysteries, I like to try to guess at it and I'm generally wrong which is a good thing for me because I'd rather that twist or surprise, but in this case I wanted that question to carry me through the end. It didn't take away from Cleeve's marvelous writing or the suspense of the story, however, so I still say this reading experience is a win. Cleeve's writes the kind of mystery that I crave - thrilling, compassionate, deeply emotional and thoughtful. Fans of small village British mysteries will take to this one as well!

~ Bel

 

Content Warning

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 - depression; death of one of the previous patients by suicide; mention of online suicide chat forum; a separate group within that suicide forum that encourages taking action towards suicide

The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher

* * * 1/2

Have you ever been wrong about someone?

Juno was wrong about Winnie Crouch.

Before moving in with the Crouch family, Juno thought Winnie and her husband, Nigel, had the perfect marriage, the perfect son—the perfect life. Only now that she’s living in their beautiful house, she sees the cracks in the crumbling facade are too deep to ignore.

Still, she isn’t one to judge. After her grim diagnosis, the retired therapist simply wants a place to live out the rest of her days in peace. But that peace is shattered the day Juno overhears a chilling conversation between Winnie and Nigel…

She shouldn’t get involved.

She really shouldn’t.

But this could be her chance to make a few things right.

Because if you thought Juno didn’t have a secret of her own, then you were wrong about her, too. 

Source: borrowed from HooplaAudio

Wow. Just wow. This was one head-scratching WTF-ery kind of a plot twist. This is one of those stories where no one appears redeemable, save for Samuel, Winnie and Nigel's teenage son. That's because he's either on the periphery or in the middle with events happening around him, but he is definitely not the creator of all the strife. The Wrong Family has this hybrid bitter-melancholy-edgy-desperate tone that only intensifies as it continues.

Without giving much away, Winnie and her husband Nigel are having marital problems. They're emotionally distant from each other and seem to be operating on different wavelengths. It's hinted that an incident years ago affected their marriage and it hasn't recovered since. Samuel is the only thing keeping them together. Winnie was initially a sympathetic character but she turns unreliable and even erratic at times. Juno, who provides the other POV seems pretty normal, at least compared to the Crouches but then that initial perception of her is turned upside down as the plot progresses. She's highly observant having been a therapist so she's able to analyze the Crouches' behavior and sees how it affects Samuel. During one of Winnie and Nigel's arguments that Juno overhears, something is said out loud that alarms Juno. 

I did not feel good as I read this. Everyone's behavior felt so icky and intrusive. If you're someone who's all about boundaries (I am that way), then you should be aware that boundaries are often crossed here. Part of me wondered if I really wanted to go on but I also wanted to see the story through. The plot descends into a deep, dark, nasty mess that leads to tragedy.

I will give Fisher this - she was good at setting out clues, and where Juno interpreted things one way, there'd be a rational explanation later from a different perspective. It just impressed upon me the danger in having only half the information and making assumptions from there. Juno's curiosity gets the better of her and with every intention of helping to right wrongs, she digs a little further, oblivious to the fact that in doing so she's setting off a sequence of events from which there's no turning back.

 

Would I recommend it? Sure, if you like the dark, twisty mysteries that unsettle you throughout. (I'm including CW/triggers at the bottom. In order to avoid spoilers, I've made it so that you have to highlight the section to see them.) 

~ Bel

Note: It's now been a couple days since I finished it and I've had more time to ponder some of the details. I liked how Fisher set things up and l liked how she left the breadcrumbs that seduced Juno's inquisitiveness which really propelled both the speed and sinister nature of the storyline. And I guess in the aftermath I feel more pity for Winnie and Juno. The Wrong Family is my first novel by Tarryn Fisher and I'd certainly read another one of her books in the future.

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Content Warning/Triggers (highlight to read):

- multiple miscarriages (Winnie's memories), wanting to get pregnant again, counseling runaways/drug addicts (Winnie's previous job), child abduction (Winnie's involvement with one of her previous cases), degenerative disease (Juno), homelessness (Juno), alcoholism and drug abuse (Winnie's brother), marital problems, almost infidelity (Nigel), murder, child death

Retrograde Release Blitz

Retrograde by Desiree Holt

Book 1 in the Galaxy series

General Release Date: 22nd December 2020

Heat Rating: Burning
Format: EBOOK
ISBN: 978-1-83943-470-9
Sexometer: 2
Word Count: 80,672
Language: English
Book Length: SUPER NOVEL
Pages: 297
Genres: CONTEMPORARY, EROTIC ROMANCE, THRILLERS AND SUSPENSE

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Book Description

Hot ex-military, desperate woman, tight conspiracy…wait for the explosion!

Peyton West is desperate. Her brother-in-law is dead, her sister is in a coma and no one seems interested in finding any answers. With every door slammed in her face, she’s referred to Scott “Blaze” Hamilton and the men from super-secret Galaxy.

Conducting meetings on a plane and digging into the underbelly of Tampa politics, she sees a ray of hope…and discovers Blaze lives up to his name in more ways than one. She crosses her fingers that the scorching sex will continue to blaze once the killer is found.

Reader advisory: This book contains scenes of violence, murder and attempted murder.

Excerpt

Well, didn’t this just turn out to be a clusterfuck.

“They’re gaining on us,” John ‘Rocket’ Hardin called from the rear of the van.

“I’m pushing this baby as hard as it will go,” Matt ‘Viper’ Roman ground out.

The tension inside the van was so thick they could almost see it. Disaster was always waiting for them around the corner, but Scott ‘Blaze’ Hamilton knew if anyone could get them to the exfil point, it was Viper. No one could outdrive him.

“Damn it,” Blaze swore under his breath.

A previous rescue attempt by another group had failed and put the hostages in jeopardy. That was always when Galaxy was called. When Blaze had done his research, he’d learned that the only reason the hostages were still alive was because the kidnappers needed them to make sure the ransom was paid. At first, it had sounded like a by-the-book rescue. Jim and Nita Rosen, one of America’s one-percenter couples with money to burn, had been kidnapped for ransom. Their daughter, Angela, afraid her parents would be killed if she called in the FBI, had paid it, but the jerkoffs had come back and asked for more.

When the first people she’d hired had botched the job, that was when she’d turned to Galaxy.

For the four highly trained former SEALs, this should have been a simple retrieval. Tapping into every source, they were unhappy to learn that the kidnappers were less than sophisticated. They were offshoots of a cartel whose leader was barely second tier and had big ideas about establishing himself. Kidnapping was his prime source of income while he built up enough of a bank to take on the big cartel chiefs. These people were the most dangerous kind, since they had oversized egos and small brains. The crew who worked for him came from the dregs, which meant things could easily go wrong.

Reaching out to all their contacts, they’d gotten the location where the Rosens were being held—an old warehouse just outside the little town of San Felipe. Only two guards were on duty at any one time, an indication of the kidnappers’ stupidity and arrogance. The one good thing was that the so-called brains behind this kidnapping only showed up once a day, about midday, to check on their victims. It certainly sounded like amateur hour to Galaxy, but sometimes those were the ones that went sideways.

After a drive-by to scope the place out and take pictures, the team planned the operation. They would breach the building, grab the Rosens and get the hell out of there in their borrowed van before the leader and the rest of the bad guys showed up for their daily visit.

‘Saint’ Francis, their official pilot, would be waiting for them at an extraction point with the helicopter.

Easy peasy, right?

Wrong.

As they’d learned in the military, if something can go wrong it will.

FUBAR.

Fucked up beyond all repair.

Especially with kidnappers like these, who were not very smart.

At first, it was smooth sailing. Only one vehicle, an old car, was parked by the warehouse. They knew from their source that this was the one driven by the two men left to guard the Rosens, so they were good to go. Using an infrared scanner, they were able to determine the location inside of the guards—away from the captives, sitting near the entrance to the warehouse. Breaching the door was kindergarten work for them, as was disposing of the guards before the two knew what was happening. They grabbed the Rosens and hustled them out to their waiting van.

Just as ‘Viper’, their designated wheelman, cranked the engine, a car drove up to the warehouse. Three well-armed and unpleasant-looking men tumbled out, even before the vehicle had come to a stop. One looked to be in charge, pointing at the Galaxy van, and at once the others began shooting at them. They pulled out onto the road before the doors were even fully shut, but the other vehicle was after them at once. Blaze thought there must be a hell of a motor in that thing, because they barely got out to the road before the other vehicle was practically on their tail.

Now they were racing down the two-lane road to the extraction spot with shots from the vehicle behind them peppering the van they were using. It pissed Blaze off that a cheap-ass operation like this one had managed to grab two high-value targets and get away with it. But even more, that best-of-the-best Galaxy was barely escaping a deadly showdown.

“Fuck it all,” Viper cursed.

“It’s true, you know,” Blaze reminded his partners. “The only easy day was yesterday.”

“And today will be our last,” Rocket snapped at him, “if we let ourselves get beaten by these pieces of shit.”

“Never fear. The Viper is here.”

Viper was swerving back and forth to avoid the bullets as they sped down the road at a speed that would dry the spit in the mouth of most people.

“Yeah?” Blaze shifted in his seat. “Well, get us the fuck out of here, then.”

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About the Author

Desiree Holt

A multi-published, award winning, Amazon and USA Today best-selling author, Desiree Holt has produced more than 200 titles and won many awards. She has received an EPIC E-Book Award, the Holt Medallion and many others including Author After Dark’s Author of the Year. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The London Daily Mail. She lives in Florida with her cats who insist they help her write her books, and is addicted to football. 

 You can follow Desiree on Facebook and Twitter and check out her Blog.

 

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Desiree Holt's Retrograde Giveaway

DESIREE HOLT IS GIVING AWAY THIS FABULOUS PRIZE TO ONE LUCKY WINNER. ENTER HERE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A LOVELY GOODIE BAG AND GRAB YOUR FREE DESIREE HOLT ROMANCE BOOK! Notice: This competition ends on 31th December 2020 at 5pm GMT. Competition hosted by Totally Entwined Group.

The Quiet Girl ARC Giveaway

Series: n/a; standalone    I    Genre: Psychological Thriller    I    Publisher: Sourcebooks

Publication Date: August 11, 2020

Good girls keep quiet. Quiet girls won't stay silent forever.

When Alex arrives in Provincetown to patch things up with his new wife, he finds an empty wine glass in the sink, her wedding ring on the desk, and a string of questions in her wake. The police believe that Alex's wife simply left, his marriage crumbling before it truly began. But what Alex finds in their empty cottage points him toward a different reality:

His wife has always carried a secret. And now she's disappeared.

In his hunt for the truth, Alex comes across Layla, a young woman with information to share, who may hold the key to everything his wife has kept hidden. A girl without a clear recollection of her own past. A strange, quiet girl whose memories may break them all.

To find his wife, Alex must face what Layla has forgotten. And the consequences are anything but quiet.

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Advanced Paperback Copy Giveaway

To celebrate the cover reveal of THE QUIET GIRL by S.F. Kosa, we're giving away four advanced reader copies (ARCs) of the book!

GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS:  Open to US shipping addresses only. Four winners will each receive an Advanced Reader Copy of The Quiet Girl by S.F. Kosa. This giveaway is administered by Pure Textuality PR on behalf of S.F. Kosa (Sarah Fine). Giveaway ends 4/30/2020 @ 11:59pm EST. CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

About Sarah Fine

SARAH FINE is the author of several books for teens, including Of Metal and Wishes (McElderry/Simon & Schuster) and its sequel, Of Dreams and Rust, the bestselling Guards of the Shadowlands YA urban fantasy series (Skyscape/Amazon Children’s Publishing), and The Impostor Queen (McElderry, January 2016).

She is also the co-author (with Walter Jury) of two YA sci-fi thrillers published by Putnam/Penguin: Scan and its sequel Burn. Her bestselling adult urban fantasy romance series, Servants of Fate, includes Marked, Claimed, and Fated, and was published by 47North in 2015, and her second adult UF series —Reliquary (and its sequels Splinter and Mosaic) was published 2016. When she’s not writing, she’s psychologizing. Sometimes she does both at the same time. The results are unpredictable.

Sarah Fine writes psychological thrillers under the name S.F. Kosa.

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The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) by Ann Cleeves

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For the first time in 20 years, Ann Cleeves—international bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—embarks on a gripping new series.

In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place. Once loved and cherished, the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death. 

The case calls Matthew back into the community he thought he had left behind, as deadly secrets hidden at its heart are revealed, and his past and present collide.

An astonishing new novel told with compassion and searing insight, The Long Call will captivate fans of Vera and Shetland, as well as new readers.

Source: advance e-galley provided in exchange for an honest review


I’ve been wanting a murder mystery and I got one! Cleeves sets up the story and characters impeccably and I was riveted from the get go. As a fan of British detective shows I could picture clearly this story playing out in my mind. It’s moody, character-driven and suspenseful. Things started taking on urgency by the time I reached about the 70% mark of the book and I knew I couldn’t go another day without knowing the ending. 

I didn’t realize until I started reading that Cleeves is the author of the Shetland book series that the TV show, Shetland is based on. Even though I've only seen a couple of episodes I was excited to find that out. I happen to be a sucker for good mysteries and I especially love it when they're set in small towns or villages, and the story is about exploring the characters and their narratives. It's riveting to me how a suspect's behaviour changes the more they feel scrutinized under the microscope. It's that gradual increase in tension in The Long Call that had me hanging on every page eager to get to the truth. Detective Venn, whose backstory is intertwined with the murder mystery, comes across as methodical, introspective and a bit mysterious in his own way. He's a quiet, unassuming man who when he says something, has purpose behind it. Despite his own reservation about staying on the case because he feels too personally involved with certain aspects of it, he remains professional which demonstrates why he's good at what he does. He's the calm in the storm through the chaos of solving the crimes even if it brings him uncomfortably close to his own unhappy past. I also liked how the story unfolded seamlessly through the other characters' POV. 

The Long Call is filled with all the things I love in a mystery and was exactly what I needed. Of course, now I want to read more so and I’m definitely going to look through Cleeves' impressive catalog of books for more mysteries to satisfy my appetite. 

~ Bel

One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase

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A tragedy on a hot summer night at a lake house forever alters the lives of two best friends—and the man they both love. But the truth isn’t as simple as it appears in this intricate novel of love, friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness in the tradition of Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s Bittersweet.

Leah Tessaro has been waiting for this moment for a long time: Her boyfriend, Ollie, is taking her to his family’s home on Seneca Lake for a week of lazy summer bliss, boating, and barbeque. The couple has been together for four years, and Leah is convinced that Ollie is finally going to pop the question. And Leah can’t wait to share the joyous news with her best friend, June Kang, who is joining them on their getaway, and whose presence will make everything feel more real. 

Seven years later, the moment June has been dreading has finally arrived: Her fiancé, Ollie, is taking her to his family’s lake house. But this is not an ordinary visit to an ordinary place; it is a house haunted by June’s long-buried memories of her lost friend, Leah—and the connection that appears to remain between Leah and the man for whom June’s love is as deep as her sense of foreboding.

Alternating between the two women’s vibrant voices, One Night at the Lake is a gripping novel that explores a complex tangle of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, all driving toward one question: What exactly happened to Leah on that hot summer night?

Source: advance e-galley provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review


I've been a fan of Bethany Chase's since her first book, The One That Got Away so I eagerly scoop up anything she releases. Chase continues to explore themes of complicated relationships and friendships, his time adding a mystery.

Chase has split the story into two timelines. The first with Leah that happened seven years ago and the second with her best friend, June which happens seven years later. In the past, Leah and Ollie have been dating for years and they're the couple that most people envy. Sickeningly cute, he's so perfect, she' so vibrant ... yada yada yada. Things seem so perfect that Leah is convinced he will propose during their upcoming trip to his family's place on Seneca Lake. She also invites June to accompany them for the week since she's broken up with her latest boyfriend and best friends don't leave their BFFs alone. Seven years later, June is now engaged to Ollie and dreads the return to Seneca Lake for another family get together. At this point not much is known as to why and how it's June and Ollie and not Leah and Ollie but we know that Leah hasn't been in the picture since the last visit. What happened is slowly revealed as the week at the lake in both the past and present slowly wears on. In both timelines everything starts out fine. It's a typical holiday with lots of fun and and lakeside shenanigans. Then the pressure sets in and little by little this perfect picture of happiness and contentment starts to become fractured. 

Firstly, I purposefully didn't read the blurb too closely so I was not expecting the time jump and couple switch. I literally gasped when I realized June was now with Ollie. I did have a hard time at first reconciling that they were a couple in the future. It felt disloyal and disingenuous to Leah. But I think that's what I was supposed to feel without knowing all the specifics and come on, I wanted the gossip. Secondly, this mystery is my kind of catnip. I loved the suspense and how details gradually emerged via Leah and June's recollections and observations. The timeline flip flop was genius! It gave me the sense that I was there in the thick of things. There's something alluring about being a reader who knows that something foreboding is close at hand when reading it in real time (Leah's POV). June's timeline is all about reconciling the past with the present, and her guilt over moving on with her life which includes Ollie. There's so much baggage in that relationship that's been ignored; this trip will undoubtedly force them to finally unpack all of that. The contrast between the two trips to the lake couldn't be more apparent - the first starts out joyous and second one is just pure dread. (By the way, Leah's timeline does have a few possible triggers which I will list below. They could be spoilery so consider yourself warned.)

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but I was definitely surprised by how everything played out. Chase crafted a story that steadily escalated in tension, especially during June's POV as she began to fit in the missing pieces of their last time at the lake with Leah. I had not anticipated the ending as I let my imagination run wild with all sorts of possibilities but it was still shocking. One Night at the Lake is something different from Chase and I say if you're in for some mystery, good storytelling and a close examination of friendships, you'll be pleased with this one.

~ Bel


Trigger Warning

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suspicion of cheating, unwanted touching, unwanted sexual advances

Never Let You Go by Monica Murphy

****1/2

Source:  Advance e-galley from Penguin Random House

The truth hurts, they say—and my pain cuts deep. While I was falling for Ethan, he was deceiving me the entire time. He held a huge secret, protected by his lies. When I discovered what he was hiding, the truth shook my world, threatening to ruin us forever. Ruin me. But I soon realized that what we share can't be destroyed.

The connection between us is too strong. It always has been. I can't deny him any longer. And I can't deny my truth: I'm in love with Ethan.

I don't want to let him go.

While we're trying our best to make this relationship work, other forces are fighting against us. My family, who wants to keep me safe. The media obsessed with my tragic past. The public that feeds off of it. Even Ethan's father—the man who nearly destroyed me all those years ago. He's doing his best to finish the job.

Despite my love for Ethan, the doubts creep in, clouding my mind. Is he worth the pain? Will our love survive, or will we have no choice but to end it—end us—once and for all?


Source:  e-galley from Penguin Random House.

Never Let You Go is the heart-wrenching conclusion to Ethan and Katie's story.  It's full of angst, love and mystery and IT WILL CRUSH YOUR SOUL!!  Seriously, I don't recommend reading it over your lunch hour like I did.  It made it impossible to function as an adult and had me all teary-eyed in the office, which is unacceptable.  There were tears, puffy eyes, red cheeks - it's a good thing I could lock myself in my office until I recovered enough to fake it through the rest of the day.  

But I digress...  there are no words to describe the emotional rollercoaster of this series.  I can't recommend it enough, and this is from the girl who generally avoids books with this much angst.  Once again, Monica Murphy has taken me out of my comfort zone and I love and hate her for it!

~ Shel

Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

****1/2

From Author's Website:

Samantha is a stranger in her own life. Until the night she disappeared with her best friend, Cassie, everyone said Sam had it all-popularity, wealth, and a dream boyfriend.

Sam has resurfaced, but she has no recollection of who she was or what happened to her that night. As she tries to piece together her life from before, she realizes it’s one she no longer wants any part of. The old Sam took “mean girl” to a whole new level, and it’s clear she and Cassie were more like best enemies. Sam is pretty sure that losing her memories is like winning the lottery. She’s getting a second chance at being a better daughter, sister, and friend, and she’s falling hard for Carson Ortiz, a boy who has always looked out for her-even if the old Sam treated him like trash.

But Cassie is still missing, and the facts about what happened to her that night isn’t just buried deep inside of Sam’s memory-someone else knows, someone who wants to make sure Sam stays quiet. All Sam wants is the truth, and if she can unlock her clouded memories of that fateful night, she can finally move on. But what if not remembering is the only thing keeping Sam alive?

I loved Sam.  She finds herself wandering in the forest, unsure of who she is, how she got there - just lost, in every sense.  Her path of discovery is fascinating.  What do you do when you realize you don't like who you were, but you don't remember any of it?  The Sam that everyone describes to her is completely foreign and at odds with her instincts.  And for her family - her mom, dad and twin brother - the change is disconcerting to say the least.  

I don't know what it is about douche-bags (or as JLA would say douche-canoes) in the books I'm reading lately, but Sam's boyfriend is a complete douche-bag.  I'm anti-spoiler, so I won't say anything more, but someone needs to beat that boy.  Luckily, Don't Look Back also has an awesome Forever Boy in Carson.  Of course, Sam's mean girl past pretty much guarantees that she treated Carson like crap (him being the son of the "help" and all).  How will Sam figure out what happened when everyone had a reason to want to hurt her and Cassie?

I'm pretty stingy with my ratings.  I believe I've only given 5 stars to two books in the three years that we have been blogging, so giving Don't Look Back 4 1/2 stars is huge!  I am a JLA fan, a devoted adorer of Daemon Black, loved The Covenant series, et cetera, et cetera.  That said, Don't Look Back may be my favorite JLA book.  It is incredibly well written, a phenomenal plot, intriguing and down right creepy!  I stayed up far to late reading Don't Look Back and then was too creeped out to sleep - this is the sign of a great mystery!

~Shel