A Dark Mind

A Dark Mind
by
T.R.Ragan

My " in a nutshell" summary...

A crazed serial killer is killing all sorts of couples.

My thoughts after reading this book...

Totally creeped out after reading this book...but a good creeped out. I believe that this is the third Lizzy Gardner novel...but it's really not necessary to have read any of the others before this one.

Lizzy is recovering from past issues...she is living with her FBI boyfriend and is immersed in her career. Unfortunately her investigative work lines her up to be in close proximity with the weird serial killer who is taking couples, doing horrific things to them and escaping...so far.

The killer...deemed the Lovebird Killer...has an awful backstory that only makes him even creepier...and show more seriously...he is creepy enough!

He is smart, evil, and determined...to hurt others and Lizzy. Did I say he was creepy...bears mentioning again! Lol...

What I Loved About This Book...

Love is not a word I should use on this intense book...my feelings about this book were these...once I started it...it was so good I could not put it down...but there were so many parts that made me want to put it down...but I knew that I wouldn't be able to until I found out everything that was going on in sicko Lovebird's head.

What I Did Not Love About This Book...

Oh my...I despised all of the horrible things that the " bad guy" did! Especially the way he threatened his former teacher.

Final Thoughts...

Whew! Fast paced, chilling, perfect as a last days of summer beach book. Just don't read this alone! show less

This is a difficult book for me to review. The writing is engaging, but the book as a whole just didn't work for me.

The book is broken into relatively short scenes, jumping back and forth in time, with a ton of POV characters. Victims long since dead in the current time have POV parts on and off throughout. People that could be minor characters have many POV scenes. Everyone has a story here, which overshadows what should have been Lizzy's story. Consequently, it all felt disjointed and didn't flow in a way I could relax into.

Each scene is well written and, on its own, would rate a 4- or even 5-star read for me. But, put together, it's a bumpy and chaotic ride.

Lizzy's back! This one had me squirming in some parts. And not even at the gory scenes. Those I can handle. Eating bugs, now that grosses me out. I felt like Lizzy was more of a secondary character this time letting Jessica and Hayley take the reins. Can't wait for the next one!

In this third book in the series, Lizzy becomes involved in the search for a serial killer when one of her clients is killed. The woman's husband has been arrested for the murder, but Lizzy is sure that she was another victim of the "Lovebird Killer".

This story was really good. Lizzy continues to grow away from her dark past, although it is always there. And the killer is interesting and pretty smart. The stories of some of the other characters advance also. Hayley in particular has to face a lot. Starting the next one soon.

Amazon-Prime-Lending (one book per month, this is for November 2014).
Thought about DNFing, but managed to finish it.
There are several interesting stories, but interwoven in an unnecessary complicated way, with flashbacks and the current stories.
In the end, all parts where concluded, and what I really liked, not all neat and clean.
But the problem I had with the book (and which I also saw reflected in some other reviews, maybe influencing me), there where to many parts.
It is a fast read, and you should not really stop (which I did), or maybe take notes. For the Kindle, X-ray is active and it should have helped, but did nothing for me, to many names, to many stories, to many cases and not all really interesting.
The romance was ok, not show more drawn out, but also no sex-scenes, rather a "when will this case be over, so we can have sex again", probably happening after the book, off-page/print?!
Also the character I like most is Haley, which is a minor character. Lizzy (the main heroine in the book) was a bit much, with her background story and while I can understand her, I think she is not a good P.I. and should consider a different job. Jessica I could not dig it all, she wants to be a Profiler, but sounds like she should be an accountant, chained to a 9to5 desktop-job. As a Profiler (read books from [a:John E. Douglas|54208|John E. Douglas|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-3fbaf32fc1fc48e6ffaf3f63a026f0ff.png]) she would do much more fieldwork than now, and she does not like it, nor is she too good at doing research, easily trumped by Haley.

The 3 stars given are solid, not rounded up or down, but also I cannot honestly recommend this to anyone. Having not paid for it helps, I cannot set a price value I consider right. In all probability I will sometime read another book by her to see wether it is better or not. show less

Fast easy read for me. It definitely kept my interest. Love the characters and was glad to see Hayley and Jessica working together for a change.

This is the 3rd book in the Lizzy Gardner series. Once again, T R Ragan provides a different window into the mind of a serial killer. If you enjoy suspense and mystery this series is for you!