best friends and their books

My second A. R. Torre novel! I love a good thriller, especially one that keeps me guessing and changing my theory throughout the entire book.

I won’t lie though, I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump, so at times this wasn’t what I really felt like reading when I went to pick it up. But I do think that was more of a “me problem” than the books problem.

Anyways…

Six teens are murdered, the killer is behind bars… or is he?? Scott Hardin, who would have been the seventh killed teen, has escaped the famous Beverly Hills killer and is living to tell the tale. He immediately confesses that his captor was High School teacher, Randall Thompson.

In a parallel timeline, we meet Dr. Gwen Moore who’s specialty is killers. She’s spent her entire career dissecting the minds of the states most dangerous killers. She wants to help them and understand their motives. When one of her clients winds up dead, she has to find out more. Did she mess up somewhere in her treatments with them?

Along comes attorney Robert Kavin, the father of one the deceased teens. He swept Gwen off her feet and has hired her to create a psychological profile of the BH killer because he wants to represent him in court, which doesn’t make sense because he killed Robert’s son! How could that even be a fair trial. But Robert truly believes the man that is currently locked up as a suspect is not the BH killer. The entire time I was reading I wondered how he could be so certain about that and I often wondered if Robert was the BH killer. What a twist that would be.

I actually really liked that there was a romantic element in this book and how their careers made them view the other. It made me wonder if they actually liked each other or if they were only in it for the professional gains. Gwen and Roberts professional relationship was much like a roller coaster ride, up and down, on and off. Many times she had to remind herself that Robert had a lot at stake in this case and it was extremely personal for him.

Also, I know the book is about the six teens killed, but I did want to know more about the murder of Roberts wife, Natasha. I don’t feel like that storyline was developed as much as I wanted it to be.

Overall, my rating is 4/5 ⭐️’s!