reviews mystery | suspense | horror
Hold Your Breath
Twisted Love
Mystery/Suspense Heat Rating: 3
Mystery/Suspense Heat Rating: 2
Katie Ruggle
In the remote Rocky Mountains, lives depend on the Search & Rescue brotherhood. But in a place this far off the map, trust is hard to come by and secrets can be murder... When captain of Field County’s ice rescue dive team, Callum Cook, meets new diver Louise “Lou” Sparks, his orderly existence is obliterated in an instant. Lou is a hurricane. A walking disaster. And with her, he’s never felt more alive...even if keeping her safe may just kill him. Lou’s new to the Rockies, intent on escaping her controlling ex, and she’s determined to make it on her own terms…no matter how tempting Callum may be. But when a routine training exercise unearths a body, Lou and Callum find themselves thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a killer who’ll stop at nothing to silence Lou—and prove that not even her new Search and Rescue family can keep her safe forever. Review: Louise “Lou” Sparks is a newbie to the Search and Rescue team, to the area, in fact. Her move to the Rocky Mountains puts a considerable amount of space between herself and both her parents and her ex. No longer willing to be their doormat, Lou wants to prove to herself that she can be on her own and survive. Except, months after settling in, Lou starts noticing odd things that indicate she has a stalker. Fortunately, Lou has captured the watchful eye of Callum Cook, captain of the search and rescue team. Since Lou walked on-scene, Callum has noticed everything about her. During a training session, Lou dislodges a body and both Lou and Callum who the body is and how it ended up where it did. As the investigation continues, Callum discovers that Lou has been having some trouble. When he realizes just what types of issues Lou has been facing recently, he becomes protective of her and infuriated at the thought of someone harassing her. Callum makes it his responsibility to keep an eye on her. Hold Your Breath is the first full length book in Katie Ruggle’s Search and Rescue series and I loved it. The world building and character development is spectacular. The interactions between Louise “Lou” Sparks and Callum Cook are witty and full of chemisty. The sparks that fly when they are in the same vicinity are undeniable. Katie does a wonderful job of bringing together two characters romantically but doesn’t overshadow the murders, stalkers, and other serious parts of the book. The author’s writing style is great. I was engaged quickly and the content kept me focused. Katie weaves several themes throughout the story, keeping the book from becoming stale, but not so much that the reader feels confused or overwhelmed. The characters were well developed and Lou and Callum are really likeable and realistically written. Hold Your Breath is an engaging romantic suspense novel. Reviewed by Amber Marr
52 | btsemag.com
JoAnne Myers
A collection of true crime cases from Ohio and surrounding states, featuring riveting cases of obsession, lust, murder, secret lives, and sexual depravity. It showcases the chilling reality that homicide investigators know all too well: the last face most murder victims see is not that of a stranger, but of someone familiar. Review: There is a simple joy (for me) in reading true crime stories. Staring down into the dark souls of other people and the lengths they will go to captivates me as well as horrifies me. This collection of stories wasn’t any different. Myers has done an excellent job with giving you both the human side of the stories and the court side of the stories. She presented each one in such a way that you could empathize with all of those affected by the murders. Dying is easy, the living are the ones who have to find ways to cope with the aftermath. With as horrible as the crimes are, Myers manages to show that the perpetrators are just as human as their victims. She illustrates that you never really know who has a monster lurking just beneath the skin. I feel that is what makes these stories stand out. Human monsters are the scariest because they are us. They look like us. They think like us and you never know who can be one. This is definitely not a book for people who are overly sensitive or squeamish. Not all of the stories are as well known as others. One of the most well known stories in the collection happens to be the craigslist killers who would lure innocent victims with the promise of a job on a farm. For all the hope that a potential new job can bring, the applicants were paid in death. You will also find within the pages gruesome details of a woman killed by her husband and his family then stuffed into a septic tank all the way to a daughter getting revenge on her father. So if you are looking for a good true crime story (or in this case stories), this is one you should pick up. Reviewed by David