SAY NO MORE by Karen Rose

 

Publisher:      Penguin
Published:      August 22, 2020
ISBN:      ‎ 978-1984805300
Genre:     Suspense, Women’s Fiction
Format:     Ebook from Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

TWO HEARTS                                                             

After escaping the Eden cult as a child and more recently a serial killer Mercy Callahan has settled in New Orleans with her extended family. She’s made friends and built a life for herself but has pleasant memories of the man who risked his life to save her from the serial killer, Rafe Sokolov. There is also unfinished business with her brother, Gideon, who escaped Eden years before. There are things she kept from him, like their step siblings, and then some but the time has come to open those doors to Gideon. Along with her friend, Farrah, they leave for Sacramento.  Upon their arrival Mercy’s world once again begins to crumble when one of the men from Eden, her husband, is there to meet her. But this is not a reunion she wants. In fact, it is more her worst nightmare.

Disappointing. Sadly disappointing.  I loved the first book in Karen Rose’s Sacramento series, SAY YOUR SORRY.  That was one of the best serial killer themed books I’ve read and I couldn’t wait for SAY NO MORE to come out. I’m in several online book clubs and raved about it to not only my in person friends, but in all my clubs, even the Vintage mysteries.  I started SAY NO MORE as soon as I got it and the first chapter was a white knuckle page turner. After that it went south for me.  I put it aside thinking it might be me. Over the past year I picked it up, sometimes re-reading that intense first chapter, sometimes picking up where I left off and it just wasn’t doing it for me. With the arrival of her latest in this series, SAY GOODBYE I knew it was time to sit down and get this one read. It was, as I said, disappointing.

It seemed like each character was having their own personal pity party. The Sokolov family, who I adored in SAY YOUR SORRY started to sound like a bunch of teenagers running around trying to solve a crime. Jeff, the actual teenager, seemed to have it more together than the adults at times. I get it that there’s a nasty cult and a psychopathic killer, but it seemed like every character had some kind of issue they were dealing with and if they started out not having one, they got one when Ephraim killed someone they knew.  And Ephraim wasn’t a serial killer….he just killed everyone he met.

It’s been my experience that when it comes to series either book 2 or 3, sometimes 4, doesn’t measure up.  I saw it recently in Jeffrey B. Burton’s the Keepers and S.A. Lelchuck’s One Got Away where the first books in their series were major page turners and book 2 was just meh.  I’ll pick up the third books in their series to see if it’s the author or if just a book 2 event. Since I already have SAY GOODBYE I’m going to hope this is just a stumble in Rose’s otherwise stellar writing and the series will pick up. 

 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

 

 

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