Guest Review: Fatal Flaw by Marie Force

Posted February 9, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 2 Comments

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Judith’s review of Fatal Flaw by Marie Force.

 

Back from their honeymoon, Senator Nick Cappuano and D.C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland are ready for some normalcy after the whirlwind of their wedding, but someone has other plans for them. When Sam discovers wedding cards containing thinly veiled death threats, she’s not sure if she or Nick is the target.

Already on edge, Sam and her team start investigating a series of baffling murders. The victims are well-liked with no known enemies, and the murders are carried out in a clean and efficient manner. Unable to find a clear motive for the deaths, she feels like she’s chasing her tail.

With no obvious connection between the victims, Sam soon suspects that she may be the ultimate prize in the killer’s clever game. When the danger starts to hit a little too close to home, she has two goals: find the elusive murderer and manage to live long enough to enjoy her happily ever after.

I first encountered this couple in the novella Fatal Destiny that was released late in 2011 and which finally got Sam and Nick to the altar but even then danger and threat came at them right up until the night before the wedding. Now they have returned from two weeks in Bora Bora and just minutes into her first day back on the active roster, Sam is called out to a homicide and things go downhill from there. This entire series, while featuring Lt. Samantha Holland, has embraced the lives and experiences of several officers in the Metropolitan Police Force of Washington, D.C. Because of that, there are background and secondary characters who have been familiar to readers who have read this series or even just the preceding novella. And while Sam’s life and experience are foremost, the lives and experiences of her closest co-workers are also displayed, giving the reader the sense that there is a whole community that is interacting with the reader and with each other. It is one of the things I like best about this kind of novel: the reader becomes a part of the whole.

This novel, like the others in this series, gives readers a good look-see into the complicated life of a police lieutenant who is trying to juggle her job, care for an officer that has been traumatized by kidnapping and rape, deal with an old adversary in the department, try to make sense of a series of murders that don’t make any sense, find some time with her sexy new husband, and move forward with their plan to adopt a pre-teen youngster. It’s a lot on anyone’s “plate” and then her dad, who was injured in the line of duty, comes down with a life-threatening case of pneumonia, and Sam’s life becomes even more stressful.

I love romance novels, but I especially like stories where the love story is spiced up and laced with the tension of a good mystery. I like police novels for that reason–people trying valiantly to juggle the demands of one of the most demanding professions with the demands of love and family. So it is here and you will find yourself neck deep in a slice of life that isn’t like what most of us experience. It is so beautifully written and it just flows–from scene to scene–and the segue is always flawless. That is the mark of a really good writer, as I see it. I tried to find something about this book I didn’t like. I really like most of the books I read so I try to find something negative just to see if I can be objective, but in this case, I just flat out really liked this book. I don’t know if Ms Force is planning anymore chapters in Sam & Nick’s life, but I sure hope so. I think she’s on a roll.

I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

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


Tagged: , , , , , , ,

2 responses to “Guest Review: Fatal Flaw by Marie Force

  1. I rarely get books on the release day, but I grabbed this as soon as it became available. Sam and Nick are just so great together, and I love the supporting cast.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.