JDCMustReadBooks

By Mary Burton
ISBN: 9781420132137
Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: 4/28/2015
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars

A special thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mary Burton's BE AFRAID catches up with some familiar characters for a cop procedural, crime mystery, psycho-thriller, and romantic suspense. . Driving a woman from Boston, returning to the tragic scene of the southern crime from twenty-five years ago in Nashville, and even more danger to come.

The novel begins in Nashville with the opening of "Reason and Madness, like Jekyll and Hyde, were two sides of the same coin. One worshipped peace, the other devastation. One told the truth. The other, rule breaker and thief, always lied. Once again, a war raged between the two."

Detective Deke Morgan’s (from last book) brother, Rick Morgan, detective with Nashville Metro Homicide (nickname Boy Scout) is fairly new to the homicide division of four weeks with his partner Bishop, (from Boston) and Tracker (the dog) are on first on the scene of a crime in Middle Tennessee. A 132 acre-Centennial Park, where the remains of a child have been found in a pond. The body is pretty much unidentifiable, with only a pink blanket and bones, approximately a girl, four to six years at the time of death.

Ricks sister, Georgia Morgan (from the last book), with a great singing voice, and a senior member of the Nashville Police Department’s forensics team is called to work the case. She recommends using an artist (forensic reconstruction) to create the child’s face in order to investigate.

Jenna Thompson is a forensic artist and a cop on leave from Baltimore Police Department. Even though she is in Nashville battling demons from her past, she agrees to help with the case. She is renting the The Murder House. A woman, had been killed on the property but she had fallen in love with the rustic exterior, the woods and the stream behind the house. The locals say the house is haunted.

She needed a break from police work and really did not want to get involved; however Georgia talked her into it, especially when she learned it was a child. She has to help find the killer.

Jenna has a horrific past, at only five years old when police rescue her from the closet where she was held captive for nine days. Now, twenty-five years later, Jenna is here to try and obtain closure from her past. Days after her fifth birthday, her captor took her from her home, her pink blanket had become her lifeline. She had clung to it. She had her blanket in the closet and now the pink threads brought those memories front and center. He had killed her family

Now she finds herself working with Rick, as the old memories come flooding back and possibly a link in the cases. Now she may come the focus of the serial killer and Rick, with his own demons may come to her rescue even though they do not hit it off in the beginning. There is also some attraction between Georgia and Bishop which was interesting.

This was quite the book, and was so excited, immediately purchased the audiobook of her previous book, COVER YOUR EYES, which I enjoyed, in order to learn more about the characters. Both can be read as as a standalone; however, you will want to read the two of them, plus her previous books.

A fast-paced suspense, keeping you on the edge with an intriguing case diving into psychological elements of the crazy killers. I also enjoyed Jenna's character, her talents, the light romance, and catching up with familiar Morgan characters.

Readers you are also in for a rare treat with a sneak peek of her upcoming next romantic suspense thriller, I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO, coming 10/27/2015.

My kind of book – "cannot wait"!