TELL ME by Lisa Jackson

Kensington
June 25th, 2013
978-0-7582-5858-8
Romantic Suspense, Contemporary
E-ARC via Netgalley
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by Publisher via Netgalley

3 hearts



For Nikki Gillette, she was searching for that next big story, the one that will make her career as well as give that much needed information to her book agent and publisher. The Blondell O’Henry murder case returns with a vengeance and as Nikki chases leads, ferrets out secrets and more, she finds that the truth is about to be set free and someone sure doesn’t want that to happen. As the clock winds down as the most notorious murderer is set free, Nikki along with her fiancé, Detective Pierce Reed, will race against the clock to see what the truth is because someone is determined to quiet Nikki up no matter what.

I really love Lisa Jackson’s books. The stories are quite riveting and keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end. But in TELL ME, Nikki Gillette and Piece Reed are engaged to be married and one of the worst murderer’s in Georgia history is due to be let go from prison after her son recants his damaging testimony that sent her to prison in the first place.

Okay first and foremost, I loved parts of the book and others I wasn’t to thrilled about. The characters were many so you have a hard time trying to figure who is who and goes where. Don’t get me wrong, they help move the story along, throw in a few red herrings and whatnot so the reader is trying to figure out whom really murdered Blondell’s oldest daughter and shot her other two kids.

What had me shaking my head was how Nikki acted at times, I get that she is a reporter and needs to research, check out leads, etc but when she is faced with an overbearing mother, secrets in her family and more, she doesn’t turn to her fiancé…she goes off on her own and tries to save the day. That alone had me wanting to smack her upside of the head and tell her to grow up. For some reason I really didn’t care for her this go around especially after her spunky turns in the first two books (The Night Before, The Morning After).

Ms. Jackson is a talented writer who knows how to keep readers glued to the pages but at times, TELL ME felt a bit off. There were too many characters to keep track of, a few plot twists that had me scratching my head in wonder and secrets that were not really secrets hedging all around the storyline. I really missed that spark or zip I get when I have read this author’s other suspenseful books. The writing is tight, story moved along though at times there were a few times I wished it hurried the heck up and many characters to deal with.

If you are looking for a lazy afternoon read, then you might like this one though I suggest you suspend your disbelief on how the legal process works when releasing a prisoner, etc. There were mentions of a mysterious group “They” but no further details were given or an explanation over who ‘They’ were.

The story is okay if you can just suspend disbelief for a bit. The ending is a bit anti-climatic once you figure who murdered one kid and injured three other people on that long ago night. TELL ME is a perfect beach read if you are looking for alight read at the beach or a lazy afternoon. I am just hoping this author gets back to creating strong, tough characters that are also flawed. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future and hope we won’t have to wait a long time.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement