A Merciful Silence by Kendra Elliot

Book Four of the Mercy Kilpatrick series was a great installment and slightly better than the middle two. This time Elliot tackles the Sovereign Citizens movement, and doesn’t give them the same respect as she does the preppers, and rightfully so! Truman pulls over one these wingnuts only to learn that he’s kicked a hornet’s nest and is soon abducted by them. Mercy goes into rescue mode, while concurrently trying to solve a series of grisly murders. Are they connected, and can she get to Truman before it’s too late? I was a little sad while reading the book as this was supposed to be the end of the four-book series, but in the author’s note Elliot reveals that there is more to come. Yay! I just hope it doesn’t involve either Mercy or her beau being on the brink of death again… I think they’ve been through enough for a while.

The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison

If the Roses of May was a bit of a letdown after The Butterfly Garden, The Summer Children brought the level of the trilogy back up again. Told from Agent Ramirez’s perspective this time, this installment really brought home the agony that working with abused children must bring, particularly for someone who experienced it herself. I liked Mercedes’ point of view, and her connection to the “subjects” is heartbreaking. Bloodied children keep showing up at Mercedes’ door, after an “angel” killed their abusive parents in front of them. The killer is clearly someone who was abused herself, and she trusts Mercedes to take care of these kids after she gets rid of their abusers. The identity of the killer this time is still pretty obvious (obfuscation is not the author’s strongest skill), but the rest of the plot is well done. There is a new addition to the team as well, so maybe the trilogy will be expanded? One can only hope.

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hiller

Georgina Shaw was involved with covering up the murder of her high school best friend, Angela, by her boyfriend, Calvin. When the truth comes to light years later, she goes to prison for five years for her role, and Calvin gets a life sentence but soon escapes. When it’s time for Geo to be released, more bodies start turning up, killed the same way as Angela, and it seems as though Calvin is on the hunt again and coming back for Geo. All is not as it seems in this suspenseful novel though. Told in alternating timelines between present day and the days leading up to Angela’s murder, the truth slowly and eerily unravels. Complicating matters is Geo and Angela's other best friend, Kaiser, who still carries a torch for Geo but was responsible for sending her to prison. Can they reconcile and move forward, or will Geo's past and her terrible deeds haunt her forever? The final ‘denouement’ is rather sad, with Geo having to make a heartbreaking but necessary decision. A worthy “summer” read!

The Naturalist and Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne

Dr. Theo Cray is working on field research in Montana when a former student of his is killed by a grizzly bear, or so everyone thinks. Theo is not convinced, and he lends his considerable intellect to the task of finding the real killer. By approaching the task as a biologist and computer programmer, he sees a pattern of missing people in the state that reminds him of the predatory area of a great white shark. When he gets close to an area where he knows one girl went missing, he also realizes that he can tell where the dead bodies are buried. This leads to the rather gruesome task of Theo trying to dig them up in order to show the authorities that the killer is real. Fans of Andy Weir’s The Martian will appreciate the heavy-duty science Theo uses to “MacGyver” any number of situations, and he finds himself in many, let me tell you! There’s a side romance plot that seems a little like an afterthought, and a final get-the-bad-guy scene that’s right out of the movies. While there are thousands of books and series out there about cops, private investigators, or other law enforcement personnel chasing down the bad guys, it’s a nice change-up to have it be a nerdy science-guy instead. 

After successfully finding a serial killer that no one even knew existed, Dr. Theo Cray is in high demand. He’s working for a shadowy arm of the government, trying to find connections between suspected terrorists. He’s also being hounded by people who’ve lost loved ones, looking for answers where there seemingly are none. The sad eyes of a father missing his only son gets to Theo, and he’s on the case in L.A., looking for missing African American children with light-colored eyes. I’m happy to report that he escapes the physical trauma that beset him in the first novel, though this episode seems to take a more psychological toll. Expect more of the same solid pacing from Mayne’s first installment, along with Cray continuing to “science the shit” out of every situation. The ending did seem slightly far-fetched, and it left me a little sad for Cray – is he going down to the dark side? I’m looking forward to finding out in the third book.

Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

Killman Creek picks up about a month after Stillhouse Lake leaves off. Mel Royal has yet to be caught since his escape from prison, and Gina/Gwen decides she wants to take the fight to him and get the heat off her children. She leaves them in the safety of Javier and Kezia, and takes off with Sam to hunt down Absalom and her ex. Unlike the first installment, which was told solely from her point of view, this one bounces between her, Sam, Lanni and Conner, giving us a little view into their thoughts and motivations. Gwen is getting so desperate for revenge, and for it all to be over really, that she’s willing to put herself out there as bait for one last chance to protect her kids. Sam is torn between his growing feelings for Gwen, and new evidence that makes it seem like she was complicit in Mel’s murders after all. Lanni is exploring her growing feelings for her best friend, and the possibility that her mom was lying to her all this time. And poor Conner is split between his limited understanding of his dad’s atrocities, and his old self, Brady, who has a deep longing for his father’s love and attention. That leads him to make a foolish choice, which brings all of Gwen’s careful preparations falling down. 

The pacing in this installment is fast, as Gwen and Sam gallivant around trying to hone in on the increasingly depraved reality of the Absalom group. The one thing I just can’t understand is why Absalom wants Gwen taken down so badly, but sometimes it’s best not to think too hard on these plot points! Not sure where the third book is going to go with the narrative, since things tied up quite nicely at the end, but hopefully it spares the kids any more trauma.

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

If you can get over the initial premise of this book (husband Mel has created an abattoir in the garage where he tortures and kills women and his family is none the wiser until a car randomly plows into the house one day revealing all), then this is great read. Even the (now-ex) wife Gina/Gwen (she’s been on the run since she was cleared of any wrongdoing in the killings, because “how could you NOT know?” wonders how she could have not known. Now she has to worry about other people wanting to take their vengeance out on her, whether it’s internet trolls, family members of the victims, or her butcher-ex, who is still trying to exert his influence from prison. At first Gwen seems a bit paranoid, but when her worst fears start to come true and her fake identity has been compromised, we realize what real threats she and her children are under.  Even the remote community of Stillhouse Lake, Tennessee is no refuge, and when women start to turn up dead disposed of in the same manner as her husband once did, Gwen is under the microscope once again. This book isn’t for the faint of heart, but not overly gruesome either. And it does end on a cliffhanger, so that you’ll race to read the next installment, which I’m still not sure I want to do …