2.5 stars. Was a 3 star read until the ending.

TW: r*pe, SA, parental neglect, cheating, affair, kidnapping, violence, cutting, dead bodies, crime, killer/psychopath/r*pist. Might be missing a few but this is dark, this has flashbacks that go into detail of the kidnapping, r*pe, and childbirth. It's graphic, it's painful. Proceed with caution.

This was my first romantic suspense. It was jarring. A woman who was kidnapped, r*ped, and tortured for a year and escaped helps catch the copycat killer who starts this up 8 years later to other women. The romance occurs between the detective on the case and the survivor of the past event.

Spoilers on my feelings overall:

Spoiler

I was guessing throughout the book who the killer was, and guessed it was a neglected kid of the professor (kind of) but I so thought it was the geology boy. From the beginning, I was guessing it was geology boy or the guy in the red shirt in chapter one that called her a bitch. It was a bit annoying when they didn't investigate the Marshall neighbor's background to verify who he was. My final guess was there were two men coming in, since sometimes he talked/didn't stutter and other times he did. I was sincerely PISSED as all hell when they named the killer, and it cast the only gay character as the villain. And it turns out he was faking it, like it was a ... choice.... INFURIATING. I'm glad I didn't guess who it was, but also was sincerely pissed he was a straight man parading around in character, acting as a gay man. Couldn't have made him bisexual or pansexual? He had to be pretending to be gay.

The other annoyance I had was the last of romance and exploration of the romance between Josie and Zach. Josie had been through FUCKING HELL and back, having one tiny breakdown in the middle of starting sex, and magically putting it out of her head and going in all steam ahead felt far fetched. Especially after the trauma her body and vulva had faced. You know how hard and long it takes to heal childbirth trauma down there? To feel that open and safe with a partner, after being carved out like a pumpkin? I'm not buying it. Sure, she remembered his indigo eyes from one night 8 years agao, but with that kind of trauma and baggage, maybe taking more than a week together before saying I love you and you complete me? Call me slow, but the timeline of the romance was swift, lack luster, and I was happy for them but also side eyeing and "suuuuuuure" ing to myself.

This was my second Mia Sheridan book, and I really enjoyed Archer's Voice, which felt more romance filled than this one. Good writing, interesting story, I didn't guess who did it which was cool! I like guessing and trying to get it right.

I don't think i'm reading the next book in the series though. Annoyed the killer got away, and annoyed it was his plan after all. Just a lot of "suuuuuuure" ing. Oh well.