solid

I listened to the first book on a whim, liked it, and now the series is one of my guilty pleasures. They are way soapier and more "private life of the lead detective" based than what I usually enjoy, but the author crafts such careful, clever, engaging mysteries that I can put up with the personal stuff.
That said, what a relief it was that Lottie's home life was moderately more stable this time around. The amount of extreme trauma she and her children have faced in previous books borders on the ridiculous (and totally improbable). Despite her fiance's cancer (and seriously, please, PLEASE let him go into remission. If Gibney kills him off I am going to be so annoyed), things are going sort of ok! Yeah, her kids are still awful (I'm going to editorialize here and say that they come by it honestly, though. I am so glad that my mother isn't a Lottie. She never grew up and is such a mess. Not even a relatable mess, but you can't help but feel for her, anyway, because she came by it honestly, too. This series is like a study in intergenerational trauma...), but at least the eldest and her baby look to be flying the coop. So there's definitely more melodrama to come in the next installment with that, and the middle child having dropped out of school and being generally difficult, and Boyd's cancer and their impending marriage and her insufferable mother and scheming half brother...
Yeah, it never ends. But it does feel like it is mellowing out a bit. And I am definitely here for that. Go stability!
So, the mystery, as usual, was on point. And refreshingly, was only barely connected to her family. Solid. Creepy, well drawn characters and an interesting plot. And excellent narration, as usual.

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1 person found this helpful

Really liked it.

what a page turner. I was hooked right off the bat. The actual investigation/mystery part was really great. I didn't have it figured out until almost the very end.... and I listen to A LOT of this sort of book. This was maybe my favorite book of the series so far. Lottie is finally getting her sh together (thank goodness) so I didn't spend the whole book being annoyed at her. AAannnd, her relationship with Boyd is actually almost sort of functional. I wish more of the characters in this series actually act like they like each other but that seems like it's improving, or is at least less jarring. I'm looking forward to the next book, and I really hope the squad continues to get more and more likeable!

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