Anne Frasier

The deranged serial killer/grizzled detective/psychological profiler is hardly a new genre in the world of thrillers and suspense. What sets one apart from another is the depth of the characters and how adept the author is at getting the reader into the head of the serial killer. Anne Frasier it batting a thousand on this one.

Ivy Dunlap now lives in Canada when she gets a call from an old acquaintance in Chicago with a cryptic message: "It's happening again". 'It' is the resurfacing of The show more Madonna Murderer, someone Ivy has intimate knowledge of from 16 years past. How does Abraham Sinclair know Ivy? He worked the case when she, the soul survivor, was assaulted by the serial killer.

Ivy has had one thing on her mind for 16 years: Kill the man responsible for killing her newborn and changed the entire scope of her life forever.

Enter Max Irving. Single father, one of the best on the force..grizzled veteran. Almost sounds cliched but his back story is as interesting as Ivy's when considering his adopted son, Ethan, was born by a woman Max only knew for several weeks. She died and Max adopted him and has treated him like his own son ever since. Ethan is 16 now and Max is waging a personal war of attrition:that of dealing with a teenage son who wants to know about his real father.

It's that depth of characterization that really sets this book apart from other thrillers that follow a similar formula. Hush is filled with many great characters, even the bit players having their own emotional baggage that made me interested in them, even if they had minimal page time.

Of course the serial killer is super deranged. Convinced that he's saving people and is acting righteously. But when the point of view shifts over to him Frasier makes it chillingly apparent how deranged the inner workings of his mind are.

I really can't say enough good things about this book. It flows great, is paced fantastically, has just enough police procedure in it but not enough to bog the story down in technicalities and jargon. The character interactions are believable and the subplots are great.

I've been reading through my backlog of kindle downloads recently (Pilfering as many new, recommended, free and deal e books as I can) going from author to author but I think I'm going to spend a little more time in Anne Frasier's neck of the woods before moving on to the to be read pile, hush was that good. show less

Found Object by Anne Frasier is a very highly recommended psychological thriller. I could not put this found object down, which counts for a lot. Arguably Found Object might have a few flaws, but I was totally engrossed in the story, start to finish, and, oh my, what a finish!

In the opening Jupiter Bellarose, an investigative journalist, is leaving the hospital after recovering from a breakdown brought on by her latest investigation. Now 36 years-old, Jupiter is no novice to adversity. At show more sixteen she and her father went to her famous actress mother's house only to find the police there and her mother's dismembered body in the backyard. Her editor, hoping to give her a lighter story, is sending Jupiter to Savannah to cover the 100th anniversary of the cosmetic company Luminescent. It's not as simple as it sounds. Savannah is where Jupiter grew up, her semi-estranged father still lives there in her mother's home, and Luminescent is the beauty company her mother, Marie Nova, was the "face of." With all of this in play, it is doubtful Jupiter's homecoming is going to be as relaxing as her editor hoped.

Every clue, every new development is handled masterfully. I was completely engaged in the entire novel and savored the clues provided, Jupiter's observations, and the advancements in the investigation. Jupiter may seem like a chameleon with conflicting actions and emotions as a character, but with her background it seems like she has learned over the years to perform her role well. Plus, the clues are all there for the detailed oriented reader to follow.

The well-written narrative moves along at a brisk pace and follows story lines set in the past and present with adept skill while providing great character development. All the loose ends and story lines were provided with closure. Now, admittedly, the ending was a maelstrom of exciting new information and developments evolving at a riotous pace. I set all my disbelief and misgivings aside, went with it, and really enjoyed the entire novel, including the sudden, multiple twists at the end.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley.
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I suspect that what the author aimed for with Bad Karma was something along the lines of Twin Peaks – there is the small American village whose quaintness might just be facade for its sinister aspects, and which is populated with likeable, quirky characters who just might be serial murders in their spare time. The novel has humour, it has supernatural elements, it has suspense, it has a few moments of bizarre surrealism and it has main characters who hide a heavily damaged psyche behind show more the smooth surface they present to the world.

Unfortunately, the different elements do not cohere all that well: Instead of a single narrative braid that would show off the variety of multi-coloured strands it was woven from, it comes across as an embroidery with various bits and parts sticking out but which do not form into a picture or pattern but only make up a confusing jumble of colours. But while the novel was a bit disappointing in that it did not manage to transcend the sum of its parts, it has to be said that those parts taken for themselves are actually rather good, and I definitely never grew bored while reading Bad Karma.

One thing does stand out in particular, though, and that is Theresa Weir’s portrait of the novel’s heroine, or more precisely, of her mental illness. As is gradually revealed over the course of the novel, she is suffering from a severe trauma after a car accident she thinks she caused, and while there are very many traumatized protagonists in Romance fiction, I do not think I have ever before seen it done this well. with Cleo is fully aware of her problems and is suffering under that awareness, trying to appear normal to others even as her symptoms keep slipping through, beyond her control – the novel’s description is spot-on without glamourizing or glossing over. Also, her problems do not magically disappear in the end, even after she has found her Happily Ever After, but the author leaves no doubt that she will have to continue to struggle with them, but will now be able to to cope, thanks to her newly-discovered strength and with the help of the male protagonist (who also has a dark past but which, by contrast, gets disappointingly short shrift). show less

David Gould is Savannah Homicide Detective Elise Sandburg's new partner. He's former FBI and is on the run from a personal tragedy; his ex-wife drowned their son in the bathtub so that her new boyfriend would accept her. Now, she's in prison and David is trying to build his life in Savannah and deal with his grief. He's been under psychiatric care and on drugs which are having a effect on his job performance.

Elise Sandburg is a Savannah native who was found abandoned as an infant in one of show more Savannah's many cemeteries. She has always believed that her father was a noted conjure man. She played a bit with magic when she was a teen but has now settled in as a homicide detective. She's divorced and has a thirteen-year-old daughter named Audrey who prefers to live with her father and stepmother.

The latest case the pair are working on has to do with bodies sent to the morgue who aren't actually dead. There's a new drug called TTX that mimics death. However, superstitious Savannah is spreading rumors of zombies. Since a number of the victims are associated with Black Tupelo - an "escort service" run by a Gullah woman named Strata Luna who is known for her own conjuring, the rumor is flourishing.

Elise and David are looking for a more realistic reason for the deaths but find themselves getting more involved than is probably good for them with Strata Luna and the magical parts of Savannah.

I enjoyed the plot of this story. The characters were also intriguing people. I loved the setting and the magical elements. The narrator did a great job with the voices and accents. show less