3 out of 4 stars
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In The 11.05 Murders by Brian O'Hare, Denise Stewart has been promoted to Detective Sargent after solving a case which put a fellow officer behind bars. Faced with constant harassment for her “betrayal”, she transfers to the Serious Crimes unit of Strandtown Police Station. Her new task is to discover the identity of killer who commits all his murders at the same time with the same gruesome modus operandi.
I liked the interactions between the characters, especially the camaraderie between the officers. It added humor to an otherwise serious plot. Each person has their own little quirks that define them, but I do wish a few characters had something more to make them really shine as a different individual and not just another cookie cutter cop. I also liked all the many twists and layers to solving the mystery. Just when I thought a clue lead to a very obvious suspect, another clue would have me second guessing.
I did not like the romance aspect of this book. It all felt really forced and unrealistic to me. A great deal of the introduction is spent hammering into the reader’s head just how beautiful Denise is and how every man wants her. Every time the author brought it up, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and say, “OK, I get it already!” Because of this, her relationships feel like attractiveness is the only redeeming quality she has despite her smart and stubborn personality.
At one point towards the end, I was also disappointed in how very fast Denise could easily walk away from a certain harrowing experience. Sure she is stubborn, and I get that people handle trauma in their own way, but her turnaround was so fast that I was left feeling dizzy. I felt the author should have given Denise a lot more recovery time because her actions gave me the impression of extreme denial and an unwillingness to cope just so she could prove herself a strong person.
I give this mystery/thriller a 3 out of 4 star rating. This book will have you guessing who the killer is till the very end, but I think the romantic interactions need a lot of improvement. Though this is the second book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone. There are a lot of gruesome scenes in this book and mentions of rape, so stay away from this book if you find those situations upsetting.
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The 11.05 Murders
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