I don't normally care for crime thrillers but this one had me intrigued. I like the shift in perspective from male victim to female protagonist. The plot was interesting and believable and I appreciated the attention to detail ( )

A quick read that kept my attention, but it wasn't great literature.

A police captain is drawn into the triple murder of a minister and his two small children. The mother is missing. It becomes clear very quickly, to both the police and the reader, that the mother is probably the murderer and that she may kill again, so the chase is on. Meanwhile, in another state, a minor televangelist whose show is about to fail due to lack of funds is approached by a woman who has wonderful ideas for increasing the church's viability. Against his better judgement, the he accepts her help.

So it's a matter of whether the police can find this woman before she adds to her victim total. Told rather breathlessly with little character development, so perhaps the ideal beach or corona virus read. An extra half-star because I was interested enough to actually finish it. ( )

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I haven't read anything by this author before but I was intrigued by the cover on this book and by the description. I am really glad I requested it because I really enjoyed it. The plot line of this book was really interesting and I enjoyed the suspense of the story. The characters I thought could've been developed a tad more but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. I really liked getting Susannah's point of view at the end of the story and I just thought that the "creepiness factor" could've been a little higher if we had gotten her POV more throughout the book. I overall really liked that the book featured a woman serial killer since that is seen less in media and it was a really interesting story. I liked how the author tied in all the different pieces of the story also - I didn't see at first how Ruth & Emma's story fit into the grand plan but by the end it was all connected and made sense. Overall I really liked this book and I would recommend it! ( )

I received an advance reader copy of this book through librarything.com in return for an unbiased review.

Captain Linda Turner of the Lincoln Nebraska gets called out to a particularly bad murder scene. A minister and his 2 young children are found buried in the parsonage garden, apparently dead since they went missing some months before. Also missing is the reverend's wife. It soon becomes apparent that the wife is the most likely suspect but her whereabouts are unknown.

The investigation continues for months with little new information. Linda and her team have other pressing cases but keep this investigation alive on the back burner as best they can. It takes more months but finally some slight leads start to turn into something and they begin to paint a picture of a woman who has probably killed before and who seems to target widowed reverends.

The story was pretty satisfactory although it suffers somewhat from multiple viewpoints about halfway in. The story switches back and forth among Linda's continuing investigation and various people currently involved with the suspect. This sort of took some of the suspense out of the story. Why would the author be spending so much time with this seemingly unrelated character unless she was the killer? And it was difficult to see this woman as at all honest in her dealings. Perhaps a small quibble but it took some enjoyment out of the 2nd half.

I also felt that the ending was a bit rushed. The investigation was running out of time and budget but the investigators were sure they had their killer.

I liked the character of Captain Linda Turner and would read another book if it turns into a series. ( )

Captain Linda Turner is a homicide detective in Nebraska investigating the murder of a pastor and his two small . children. The wife is missing so everything points to her disappearance and her involvement. A good story but at times it seemed to drag, especially with the church members and all the money they would give to the church. You just had to find out what was going to happen when they found the wife. ( )