**I received a complimentary copy of this book for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own.
When FBI profiler Kaely Quinn's mother is diagnosed with cancer, Kaely takes time off work to go to Dark Water, Nebraska, to help her brother care for their mother. Upon her arrival, she learns of a series of fires in the small town, attributed by the fire chief to misuse of space heaters in the frigid winter. But Kaely is skeptical, and a search for a pattern in the locations of the fires bolsters her suspicions.
After yet another blaze devastates a local family, Kaely is certain a serial arsonist is on the loose. Calling upon her partner from St. Louis, Noah Hunter, and her brother's firefighter neighbor who backs Kaely's suspicions, Kaely and her team begin an investigation that swiftly leads them down a twisted path. When the truth is finally revealed, Kaely finds herself confronting a madman who is determined his last heinous act will be her death.
Nancy Mehl is the author of more than thirty books. She writes from her home in Missouri, where she lives with her husband, Norman, and their puggle, Watson. To learn more, visit www.nancymehl.com.
First of all, it is important to note that this is book two in the Kaely Quinn Profiler series. Personally, I had not read the first book prior to this one and would honestly say that it stood on it's own quite well. There were several references made to something that had happened in the past that I can only assume were covered in that book, but it in no way affected my ability to keep up with this story. I will say as great as this one was though, I would certainly appreciate getting that extra back story!
From page one this book had me at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next and it carried on right through the last page. It had a creepy element to it that kept me enthralled. Pretty early on in the book, I was able to get a reasonable guess at 'whodunnit', but there were still many questions left unanswered that made you wonder. Even through the very ending, having guessed correctly at some point there were more secrets revealed that I truly did not see coming. Isn't that how a great suspense novel should be?
I was definitely drawn in by Kaely. She is quite the unique character with some pretty significant issues of her own (which I am curious to see if they were addressed in the previous book), which made her all the more intriguing. I look forward to seeing more about her in future books in the series. Though I would say the suspense was the main focus of this story, there was a hint of romance touched upon. While I am glad that it wasn't the focus of this particular story, it does seem to set it up to be addressed in future books and I look forward to that.
For the most part, this was a fabulous story. However, I will say the final few chapters seemed a bit rushed to me. At the point where the arsonist is revealed, it seemed to leap in the story a bit. I had to reread it a few times thinking I had somehow missed something. To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced that a small section hadn't somehow been left out of the advanced digital copy I had received. Despite that though, I still really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
Fire Storm will be available on August 6. You can preorder your copy now.
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