Snapped -- Laura Griffin
Book 4 of Tracers
Adult, Romantic Suspense, Crime Thriller, Murder Mystery
Until now (and maybe even the previous Tracers books) I had found Laura Griffin’s work to be a little mediocre, even if written well with an interesting premise to the entire series. One of the main reasons I’ve been following the Tracers series is because I love the base conception of it: The Delphi Center, filled with intelligent crime scene and forensics specialists who are some of “the best in the nation”... or so that’s how the book describes them.
I’m a sucker for mystery thrillers, but I’m also a big sucker for all aspects of forensic investigations: DNA analysis, forensic anthropology, ballistics… I’m also really interested in how cyber crimes are investigated and was hoping to see more of those as well since The Delphi Center in Tracers had boasted some really good computer specialists from previous books (Alex Lovell, main female lead of the first Tracers book, being one of them).
But the previous books I’ve read by Laura Griffin have merely been the “I’m interested and I’ll read it and the books serve their purpose” types. I’m not saying I didn’t like them, but I don’t really give them a second thought outside of them being simple, typical, standard Romantic Suspense types.
I think I’ve finally gotten to a point where I’m actually starting to enjoy and like these books very, very much now, on a whole different level than I had been enjoying them before. And I’m not saying that they’re getting more insightful or anything. I’m just saying that something’s different and I’ve found that I really, genuinely, very much liked Snapped so much that I’m really looking forward to the next book, and not just because it’s part of a series that I’m passively enjoying for one reason or another.
Something has definitely changed, but I’m not sure what. Maybe the writing has gotten better, maybe the narration is a little less clunky. For certain, the narration POVs between all the characters are a little less deliberate in the introduction of characters who will be getting their own books in the near future. Everyone in the story serves a purpose for the current story and no one feels out of place.
Everything just seems to tie together a lot better than they did in previous books.
Things are getting a bit better and bit more exciting.
The Story:
Sophie Barrett is caught in the middle of a college campus shooting. Despite the fact that the shooter eventually took his own life and was identified, the case closed, Sophie realizes that she may have visual evidence that there was an accomplice, and that the school shooting wasn’t as simple as it may have seemed. However, the police don’t take her seriously. Instead, they choose to believe that she is either under stress from her previous ordeal (an abduction that took place at the end of the previous book, Unforgivable) and is being paranoid; or that she is simply reaching for some media attention because she is an aspiring singer and wants her name on the airwaves.
But when she pushes her theory and persists in investigating what she witnessed, her life is suddenly in danger. Jonah Macon, who had had his own suspicions about the entire shooting to begin with, was reluctant to believe that there was more to the story until he realizes that Sophie has now become a target.
My Thoughts:
I mean, yes, the tone and telling and feel of this Tracers book felt and read differently than the previous three. But that doesn’t mean that the storyline itself wasn’t still a little haphazard. Sure, it was a pretty straight shot on the crime and the investigation, but a lot of things still seemed to veer a little out of control, progression-wise.
Nonetheless, I found Snapped very exciting and enjoyable, and found that I liked Sophie. She’s spunky and she’s no-nonsense and she’s a lot smarter than most people give her credit for. She has her moments of slipping into an “I make bad choices” scenario, but so do every other human being in the world and I don’t begrudge her her moments of making bad choices--that’s human.
Jonah, on the other hand, might have come off a bit… well, I’m not even sure how to put my finger on what I thought of him. At times he seemed like an asshole, like he was THE MAN and needed to assert his role as THE MAN (there were few instances of arrogance on his part when interacting with Sophie that I didn’t appreciate); but at other times he was the protective stud, and then other times he was just flippantly broody and indifferent at the same time. At this point I’m not even sure whether I like him or not.
I like how the next character, Allison, is introduced, because the introduction didn’t feel forced at all. Nor was there a side tangent for her probable story or romance being flung in there. She was just another rookie cop who got included into the current book’s investigation and she gets to show off that, yes, she is quite competent, and yes, please do look forward to her time in the limelight. She was a very well-written side character who didn’t try to steal the spotlight within someone else’s book.
Appearances by previous characters in the Tracers series were also very welcome (because they aren’t forced appearances), and even Fiona Glass (from the Glass Sisters duology) makes a brief showing as her usual forensic sketch artist self.
Aside from being a modestly enjoyable Romantic Suspense to be read on an R&R summer evening, there isn’t really much else to say about this book.
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This book is a pre-chosen participant in the following Reading Challenge(s):
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