Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Karen Rose - Closer Than You Think

Psychologist Faith Corcoran is desperate to escape the stalker who’s made her life a nightmare for the past year—desperate enough to run to the one place that has been her nightmare far longer. Both boon and bane, her recent inheritance of her grandmother’s old house in Cincinnati offers sanctuary in which she can start her life anew, but requires that she face the dark memories that still resonate to this day.
But she has no idea how close to home her fears still are.
Two college girls have gone missing in the area, and FBI Special Agent Deacon Novak is called to work on the case. When his inquiry unexpectedly leads him to Faith, he finds a beautiful and brave woman he can’t help but fall for. Soon they’ll discover that this seemingly simple investigation is anything but. Reaching back decades into Faith’s own past, it will shatter everything she believes to be true and will give terrifying new meaning to
flesh and blood.

Comment: This book is this the latest by author Karen Rose. The book was released by the end of last year but this edition is the paperback published already in 2015.
I've been a fan since I've read her first book several years ago. Interestingly, as time time goes by, so does the page count on her books...

This is the story of Faith Corcoran and how she escapes Miami because someone has been trying to kill her to go work in Cincinatti in a bank, but the road of troubles follows her and by inheriting her grandmother's house, she will be in the middle of countless problems and crimes.
Deacon Novak is an FBI agent trying to do the best for his siblings so he returns to a place he doesn't like that much. As soon as he sees Faith, something about her strikes something in him and by taking care of her while solving the crimes will make it very difficult to not mix business and wishful thinking...

As usual I liked this story. It has all the elements we normally see in any Karen Rose's novel. The lengthy plot development, always marked with time and places in the beginning of each change of scene to help situate the reader on every step of the way. The book is long and many things happen at the same time, the bold time line does help to keep up with what's happening.

The plot, once again, is quite imaginative and is full of details we se in pretty much any crime scene tv show or book. The crime details, motivations, workings and hows are very particular and objective. The author thinks about these things and I don't know how she can write the worst parts. If there's one thing we can say about the forensic details explained and present in the book is, they seem quite realistic and I'm sue the author does a great research work. But things do happen quite fast, I understand why, but the plot develops through a week, sort of, and I wonder if it's only the plot's purposes driving that need...

The bad guy. Oh the bad guy. Again, a crazy, out of hid mind smart killer. I do have to appreciate the author by creating these types of characters with such normal lives but always with weird thought processes that make them crazy killers. Once more, the motivations this killer had were selfish and twisted. His acts worse. But I do have to say it. I HATE IT that we SEE so many scenes from his POV. Hate it! Why, we can still know what he's doing without knowing his thoughts. I get it, it's a writing strategy but I find myself annoyed so many times, I usually skip the bad guys parts. I do get it that it's a way to play with reader's emotions, but I hate those parts!

Another usual element in ms Rose's books is the romance. There's a couple falling in love in the stories all the time. Again, back to the plot's timing, which occurs for a week. Is it a week enough time to fall in love and establish feelings powerful enough to last a lifetime? Plus, to be believable it will be something lasting? The author does it all the time, some times it works better than others. In this case, I think we didn't see them dealing with that part of the book that well. I wish the author would do better epilogues, maybe romantic ones to balance the horror of the plots and to allow the reader to dream about happy rewards a bit more...

So, the bad guy is a real case, the romance wasn't as hot as some of the previous ones, but I do have to admit I was eager to keep reading and wished the good guys didn't suffer. I felt the adrenaline in some scenes so that has to count. But the things I hate aren't easily forgettable, so...
Grade: 7/10

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