Series: Conard County: The Next Generation (Book 40)Conard County (Book 60)
They can only solve the perfect murder
If they work together.
After a shot rings out in the night, park ranger Blaire
Afton knows her hard-won serenity is in jeopardy. But when she's faced with a
murder with no motive and no clues, US forest ranger Gus Maddox agrees with her
suspicion that this is no random crime. With their shared military past, Blaire
and Gus become close. But will their need for each other hinder their quest for
justice?
Good book. It opens in the past with the murderer(s)
before they have started killing. The premise behind it is more than a little
disturbing, especially the way it evolved. After the prologue, the book moves
to the present day, when Blaire hears a gunshot in the night. As a park ranger,
it is her job to investigate. At the same time, Gus was out for a late-night
ride, brought on by an uneasy feeling. He was partway to Blaire's cabin when
he, too, heard the shot, so he joined Blaire. What they found was deeply
disturbing. A man was murdered inside his tent while he was sleeping, with his
young son in the tent with him.
I liked both Blaire and Gus. Both of them are veterans,
and each struggles with PTSD. Their work as rangers suits them perfectly, as it
keeps them mostly out of crowds, and lets them spend time in the outdoors. Both
have good relationships with their coworkers.
I liked the development of the relationship between
Blaire and Gus. They've known each other for a couple of years, as their park
jurisdictions are adjacent. They bonded over their time in the military, often
meeting for coffee. On occasion, one or the other will share something that
happened in the past or something that is bothering them. Sometimes they just
talk about their day, or sit and enjoy the quiet. What neither mentions to the
other is the growing attraction they feel, fearing that giving voice to it will
affect their friendship. But with the murder, Gus can no longer deny the protectiveness
he feels toward Blaire. What I really liked about him was that, even though he
felt protective, he never doubted Blaire's ability to take care of herself.
Though Blaire was confident in herself, she couldn't deny that it was
comforting to have Gus nearby. The more time that they spent together
investigating the murder, the stronger that the attraction between them grew. I
loved that first kiss and seeing the passion between them explode. One of my
favorite things is that they both knew the value of communication and honesty
between them. They were also aware of each other's problems and knew how to
support each other. I loved the ending, as nearly losing each other made them
realize what they wanted from the future. The last scene was sweet as they
discovered they had friends and found love and a new way of life.
Both Blaire and Gus suspected that the murder was more
than a random event. Thanks to their time in the military, they saw the
potential that it was a highly planned event. Those feelings deepened when they
heard rumors that there had been other seemingly random murders over the last
several years, all at parks. At the same time they tried to put the pieces
together, the reader also got the point of view from the other side. Two of the
men were clearly psychopaths, and their words and actions were definitely
creepy. As for the third man, I wouldn't go so far as to call him a victim of circumstances,
but he got caught up in something he didn't know how to get out of. His
redeeming feature was the heavy dose of guilt that he felt, which I thought affected
his later actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment