Ten Days Gone

My blog is diving into the world of suspense and mystery with this review of Ten Days Gone by Beverly Long since I do enjoy the genre and Harper Collins was kind enough to send me an invitation to read this and tell you about it! Heh. That’s my way of saying, I was given an advanced reading copy of this book by the publisher and am required by the FTC to inform you of lest I face heavy fines that I am much too broke to pay. The bequeathing of this advanced copy does not in any way sway my opinions of this book and all views of said book are my own. Let’s get settled in nice and cosy before we get this review started, get in your favourite reading spot, grab a comfortable blanket, and curl up, folks.

I wasn’t really a fan of Ten show more Days Gone for several reasons which I’ll lay out for you here. I’ll start with saying that I so disliked the investigative duo, Detective A.L. McKitteridge and his partner, Detective Rena Morgan, that I was decidedly Team Serial Killer before I even reached chapter four. McKitteridge is a real man’s man and I just want to feed him to an alligator, y’all. He’s a prime example of latent misogyny and toxic masculinity and he does very little regarding this case he’s lead on. He scoffs at his new boss’ appearance because he dresses smart and maintains a manicure. He gets romantically involved with the woman they believe to be next on the serial killer’s hit list. And actually pulls the Thin Blue Line family crap with a fellow officer so his daughter doesn’t get arrested for underage drinking and just throw the whole man out, please! Detective Rena Morgan seems to do most of the work in this case despite her constant worries regarding her disastership of a marriage and thinking “disastership marriage+baby=saved marriage”. No! Rena does all of the work and all of the thinking in this investigative pairing and gets none of the credit from her partner or her co-workers. And we really played some nasty little points in her storyline that I wish had not been written because this is 2020 and why are we still doing ish like this for storyline foil?

I had the ‘whodunnit’ part figured out pretty quickly, the clues were a bit obvious for me. I’ve watched 30 years of crime shows and obsessed over suspense novels for just as long, I can see them coming from a mile away unfortunately. I was also a bit bored while reading this when I wasn’t wanting to chuck the ‘hero’ into the lake behind my house (we have alligators…). Nothing really reached off of the page and grabbed me, which I really wanted to happen because I love serial killer suspense. I actually came close to DNFing this book, but I’m trying to get better at seeing things through to the end. Look at me, embracing commitment and ish. Next thing you know, I’ll be signing up for a dating app. Someone set up an intervention before that happens, please.

Overall, Ten Days Gone is not a book I’d recommend unless you want a book to keep you mildly occupied at the Dentist’s but not ensconced while you wait for your mum to have surgery and you have to be there to drive her home. Because that’s how I got through this book. Anxiety and a need for distraction. I am giving Ten Days Gone two stars and no flames because I was not a fan of this book which was surprising because I used to enjoy reading Beverly Long’s HQN novels as a teen. As always, these views are my own, I’m a picky heifer at times so you might enjoy this where I didn’t. So if it sounds like a book you’d enjoy, have fun. It’s your reading time, read what you want!

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Reading this book was like eating my favorite comfort food. It is my go-to genre; dead people and mysteries, cops and coffee, plenty of legwork and problem solving. Just the right amount of drama among characters, a little too much romance for my taste (but any amount is too much for me), it was perfectly entertaining. The mystery draws you through the story effortlessly, keeps you guessing, and delivers in the end. I would definitely continue on with this series and look forward to reading the next installment.

I had high hopes for this book, as the description on the back seemed very fast-paced and suspenseful. I was incredibly disappointed. Although there was a time limit on finding the next victim to prevent their murder, there didn't seem to be a true sense of urgency while reading this. There was no suspense at all until the last 20 pages. There were a lot of things happening, and puzzle pieces were being dropped until the very end when everything came together, but it just didn't seem like anything was really going on. There was no page-turning action or real urgency. I wasn't in a rush to get back to it when I had to put the book down. We saw the personal lives of the detectives, as well as their working relationship, so they were show more well-developed and you have a good sense of who they are. The next victim (once found) was a strong female who was also pretty well developed even though she wasn't brought into the storyline at the very beginning. You do feel for her and understand what she's going through.

All in all, I would say to skip this if you're on the fence about it. I've never read anything by Beverly Long before, but if you are a fan of her other books, then you may enjoy this one. I own the next book in this series, but I am going to skip reading it. It sounds like a good story with a lot of suspense and action, but this one did too, so I'm choosing to not move on to the next book. If you like cop stories, putting puzzle pieces together, and strong female characters, then you may like this. If you're looking for a gripping read, though, this is not it. show less

I read the next in this series first and I think that instalment is better, but this one is still pretty good. The detectives, Rena and A.L., are excellent characters who work logically and well together. The reasoning behind the murders and the choice of the victims seemed a little tortuous to me, but then, I'm not a psychopath...

Ten Days Gone by Beverly Long is a highly recommended police procedural and the beginning of the A.L. McKittridge series.

In Baywood, Wisconsin, small town police detectives A.L. McKittridge and Rena Morgan are on the trail of a serial killer. Four women have been found dead in forty days, exactly 10 days apart. There seems to be nothing connecting the women to each other and the careful killer is not leaving any clues. A.L. and Rena need to find out what connects the victims to each other and the significance of the ten days apart. Hopefully they can discern who the next victim will be and stop the killer before there is another murder. Finding who the next victim will be may be just the beginning of their struggles.

Long writes in an show more well-done easy-to-follow style. As the case unfolds, the clues are logically uncovered and followed. The narrative is told through alternating points-of-view and it ensures A.L. and Rena are viewed as distinct individuals as the story delves into their personal lives. The background provided in the narrative makes it easy to learn about the personal lives of A.L. and Rena while we follow their professional collaboration. Like most characters in a procedural, they have personal stuff going on while they are trying to stop a killer.

Ten Days Gone is a nice solid start to a new series and would be a nice choice when you want to simply read for relaxation and follow along as the clues as they come. There are no wildly twisty surprises or red herrings in this solid procedural. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of MIRA Books.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3186685376 show less

I thought this was a good read. It is on the milder side of suspense thrillers. Yet, this is not a bad thing if someone who is a cozy mystery fan is looking for a book to read. This book can be read as a stand alone novel.

Where the main characters, A.L and Rena are concerned, I did like them both. In fact, there were what did keep me reading this book. Despite the fact that I found the storyline easy to solve and the other characters lacking in emotion. They just did not resonate with me. Therefore, I did struggle with staying engaged with this book. However, I would check out the next book only because of A.L. and Rena.

Here I am being disagreeable again. I was so bored with this book.

Ten Days Gone is a slow moving police procedural with a heavy dose of personal drama. In fact, about half of this book focuses on the two detectives' personal lives, and not about the crime at all. Rena's character follows the incredibly annoying trend of females who excel in powerful positions but are weak, bordering on pathetic, in their personal lives. A.L. is a divorced man whose parents apparently put only initials on his birth certificate. I just started calling him Al in my head.

A romance pops up that's way too sudden, odd, and totally unprofessional.

The serial killer case has potential but gets swallowed up within the personal drama. Why are women being killed show more every ten days? I don't even care.

It's all forgettable.

*I received a review copy via NetGalley.* show less