Saving Anna (Jake Talbot Investigates Book 2)

When I saw that this was the 2nd book in a series I was worried that I would be lost without knowledge of the prior book. This did not happen. Despite not reading the first book, I did enjoy this novel.

The villain of the piece was perhaps a little too much over the top and the cult was a paint-by-numbers affair but it didn't take away from what I think is the strength of the book, the relationship between Jake and Frankie. Jake is all heroic policeman and Frankie is twitchy oddball but as the story progresses, these disparate men begin to work as a team.

I would definitely read about future assignments for Jake and Frankie.

Thanks to Librarything for this book in exchange for a review. The main characters, Jake and Frankie, were well developed. The plot was good and there was a lot of action, and there were a few unexpected twists as the story unfolded. However, I thought the book was too long. As an example, there were multiple discussions of smoking. It got to the point where I'd anticipate that the two men would share a cigarette before the author wrote about it -- and I'd be right! Honestly, when escaping from a madman who wants to kill you, it is just not realistic to think about getting a cigarette. Overall, I gave the book 3 stars, but would have rated it higher if the writing had been crisper and tighter.