Review: Where There’s Fire by Maureen McKade

Posted March 19, 2009 by Casee in Reviews | 3 Comments

Publisher: Berkley, PenguinGenres: Romantic Suspense

Shattered by her mother’s death—and the fact that the killer got off scot-free—Detective Shoni Alexander is prepared to take the law into her own hands. Nothing will get in her way. Not her badge, not her big arson investigation, and definitely not the mysterious witness who seems to see right through her.

This book was just meh. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really love it either. I’m just ambivalent. These types of reviews can be the hardest to write.

Be warned…this is an amnesia story. I’m a tad bitter about that b/c I don’t like amnesia stories (there are very few exceptions). There was no warning, not even a hint that this could be an amnesia story. Just b/c someone is homeless does not mean they have amnesia.

So…Shoni Alexander’s mom was recently hit and killed by a drunk driver. Due to a technicality, the guy got off. Shoni already got suspended for attacking the cop who was at fault for the technicality. Now she’s decided that she’s going to get justice for her mom by killing the drunk driver herself. While I can appreciate the fact that Shoni would want her mother to have justice, I had a hard time reconciling the fact that a cop, who has faith in the justice system, would cold bloodedly kill a man. That’s not justice, it’s more like revenge.

The first big case she’s been on since her mom was killed is an arson investigation. In a string of three arsons, a man died in the second one. Shoni is being pressured from all sides to catch the guy responsible. She finally catches a break when she finds an eye witness at the third arson scene. In the course of interviewing the witness and getting him to talk to a sketch artist, Shoni learns that John McClane doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t even know his real name.

Shoni takes him into protective custody and they fight their attraction to each other. They don’t give into it b/c 1) Shoni has more than one hang-up and 2) Neither John nor Shoni know if John is married. I wasn’t really feeling the love between these two. Oh, it was there on the pages, but I wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t really care for Shoni as a heroine. I felt sorry for her, but I didn’t really like her.

When John’s memory starts coming back, they both realize that his memory loss could be connected to her arson case. The problem is that John doesn’t know who he can trust. He’s having a hard time putting his last day (before lights out) together. Still, they eventually prevail and will live happily ever after if John can talk Shoni into giving up her revenge.

3 out of 5.

This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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3 responses to “Review: Where There’s Fire by Maureen McKade

  1. Shoni already got suspended for attacking the cop who was at fault for the technicality. Now she’s decided that she’s going to get justice for her mom by killing the drunk driver herself.

    My response was rather similar to yours. For a charcter to train as a police officer (and IMO it take a special person to chose that life) to suddenly assult someone and then decide to commit murder…hmmmm. Perhaps not the book for me but thank you for the review 🙂

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