DEEP DARK by Laura Griffin: Review

Posted May 18, 2016 in Reviews / 0 Comments

DEEP DARK by Laura Griffin: ReviewDeep Dark by Laura Griffin
Series: Tracers #10
Published by Pocket Books
Publication Date: May 24th 2016
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 368
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
Goodreads
Buy Online: Amazon  B&N  Kobo

Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely mine.

The moment detective Reed Novak steps onto the crime scene, he knows the case is going to rock his world. A beautiful young woman murdered at home. No sign of forced entry. No motive. She’s obviously not the killer’s first victim, and Reed’s instincts tell him she won’t be his last. Reed’s first clue comes via a mysterious text that links to a dating profile, but even more intriguing than the clue is the person who sent it.

As a white-hat hacker in the Delphi Center’s cyber investigation unit, Laney Knox sneaks into some of the deepest, darkest corners of the Internet looking for predators. Laney would prefer to stay away from Austin PD’s most recent murder case, but she can’t ignore the chilling similarities between that crime and her own brutal attack years ago. Laney offers to help the sexy lead detective, but he wants more from her than just a promising tip—Reed wants her trust. Laney resists, but as their relationship deepens she’s tempted to reveal the closely guarded secrets that could make her a key witness…or the killer’s next victim.

 

Review

I always look forward to reading a new book by Ms. Griffin because I know that I’ll get a suspenseful, thrilling read with something new every time and DEEP DARK certainly is that.

A twenty-two year old veteran of law enforcement, Detective Reed Novak has well-honed instincts and knows that his new case is anything but an ordinary case of murder, but with little to no evidence all he can do is good old police work. That’s until he gets an anonymous text that changes the direction of his investigation and leads to a killer who invades his victims’ lives in cyberspace before making contact in real life, operating unnoticed for a long time, and Reed knows that they’ll need all the help they can get to stop this killer, even help from a stubborn but skilled cyber investigator who has him tied up in knots and isn’t being completely honest with him.

Laney Knox’s job as a hacker is to hunt online predators in the darkest corners of cyberspace and this case hits very close to home. One of the victims was a friend and the details bear a striking similarity to a past attack on her. Laney may just be the only person who escaped this killer and getting involved in this case puts her right back in his cross-hairs but she’ll help bring him down or die trying.

Usually, it easy to see what the attraction is between main characters, but for the life of me I couldn’t see what it was between Reed and Laney. Reed is a man who walks on the right side of the law and Laney plays fast and loose with it, they don’t have shared interests, there is a huge age gap between them and in today’s world that’s a huge deal. Career-wise Reed deals with facts while Laney is all about codes and encryption, but somehow in spite of their differences they have a connection that can’t be explained. Their relationship is this awkward shuffle that sometimes made me cringe, but it works!

Laney is very independent and intelligent and doesn’t trust easily, which was quite dangerous in this case. For the first time in his life, Reed is unsure of his moves with a woman and knows that he has to tread carefully or he’ll lose her before he even has her. 

As usual, DEEP DARK is a well-balanced and engrossing combination of mystery, suspense and romance, with characters that stay with you long after you read the last word and is definitely one for the keeper shelf!

 

 

About Laura Griffin

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author LAURA GRIFFIN started her career in journalism before venturing into the world of romantic suspense. She is a two-time RITA Award winner (for the books Scorched and Whisper of Warning) as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award (for Untraceable).

Laura currently lives in Austin, where she is working on her next book.


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