The last in the Chasing Evil trilogy and quite a lot more enjoyable than I had expected. After reading the two before, I had surmised that maybe I should space out my romantic suspense appetites between several other books (unless I'm looking for an extended romantic suspense fix, which is probably exactly what's happening right now).

 

Leslie Tentler's formulaic story progression became rather predictable by the second book, so I knew what to expect for Edge of Midnight.  It's not a monotonous feel, but it's still kind of bursts your excitement bubble when you already have an idea what's going down in this crime thriller.  And also, is it still okay to call it a mystery when the serial murderer is presented to us six chapters into the book?

Despite that, however, I found that I liked this last book a lot more than I had liked the first two.  For whatever reason, I was actually caught at the edge of my seat, feeling more suspense for the characters and more excitement for the developments than I had for the first two books. Strange, no? Well, it's not like I'm complaining much since I love a good romantic suspense any day.

Despite the solid writing, it doesn't escape my notice how "damsel-in-distress" oriented these books tended to be. Not that it's a completely bad thing, I guess. The women in these books aren't exactly weak or TSTL and they can take care of themselves just fine, but it still feels like a lot of times they just keep running into life-threatening danger and need to be saved. That, or they seem to be sitting bait for the culprit to pluck them out of safety just to land in a torture chamber (again, needing to be saved by an FBI Knight in a Nice Suit who usually has a death wish for some reason).

 

Which makes me wonder about this:  Whenever women do stupid things and walk into danger knowing that they could get themselves killed, they are deemed TSTL.  When men do the same thing in these books (walking right into a situation they that they know will end up killing them), they are considered heroes.

 

What's up with that?  Shouldn't TSTL be applicable to both genders?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong.  I haven't read nearly enough romantic suspense books to be a good judge of this, but it kind of stands out.

I guess it's all part of the excitement?

 

But anyway...  Apparently these issues aren't enough for me to keep away anyway.

***

The Chasing Evil Trilogy will be part of my 2014 Series Challenge.

This one had more of a twist and a little more excitement than Midnight Caller did; though I liked the first book in the series more than this one. Reasons that aren't important really.

 

Still, it's a nice, enjoyable, rainy-day (despite it not really being rainy right now) read with formulaic suspense, thrill, and mystery. Just another romantic-suspense, crime thriller to distract me from everything else I'm reading. It's not like I need the distraction, but I always enjoy a good crime thriller.

 

Can't say for sure how I feel about the twist at the end though, but I don't hate it.

Nothing like a nice little romantic suspense, crime thriller mystery to side-track you from your already packed reading list. I'm always up to reading a good crime mystery book when one sneaks up on me... and this one certainly did.

Typical crime mystery formula with the usual romance and character types. Enjoyable and intriguing enough that it caught my interest from the beginning despite being knee-deep in books right now.

 

A good book for a rainy day.

3.85 stars rounded up

Second book in the series and it took me WEEKS to finish. I can't say that it's the book's fault. I was experiencing book slump where all stories just can't interest me.

Story wise, I think this one was better than book #1 Midnight Caller. Ms. Tentler provided several red herrings and kept the identity of the real copycat killer until later in the game (unlike book #1 where she revealed it a bit earlier). It was quite a surprise too, someone that readers might not guess in the beginning (although, if you're like me, I already dislike this person several chapters into the book).

This book had ANGST! Even more so than the first book. Caitlyn Cahill had her life turned upside down when she helped the FBI captured her foster brother (Joshua Cahill was creepy!!). She was just building her life again when the copycat murders happen. Meanwhile FBI Agent, Reid Novak, was roped back to the case while still recurperating from surgery to remove a glioma. Gosh, an FBI Agent who suffered from cancer. I don't think I ever read a book with that kind of premise! So again, the romance was rather subdued.

I had to admit the middle part seemed a bit slow though. Or maybe it was also because I had the book slump. But I thought this series was good. I definitely will read book #3

4.5 stars. A great chilling romantic suspense, and an author to watch.

Edge of Midnight is for romance fans who like their stories with a good dose of nail biting suspense, a strong emotionally charged romance between the H/h, and a great deal of attention to the details.

Crime reporter Mia Hale escaped the evil hands of a serial killer, but she has no memory of what happened. Special agent Eric Macfarlane with the FBI enlists her help to find the man that is kidnapping and torturing women before dumping their dead bodies.

This is the kind of story that just sucks you in as you try to figure out what happened to Mia, what will she remember, and how are they ever going to find enough clues to bring down the serial killer? Nail biting stuff! The story spends a lot of time piecing together the evidence as well as building a profile for the killer. We also learn that Eric has deep personal ties to the serial killer, and that Mia’s abduction may not have been random at all.

Edge of Midnight was a great balance of romance and suspense. Eric and Mia’s attraction and eventual relationship was well blended into the suspense part of the story. This is the best kind of romance suspense (IMHO). It is a multilayer story where more and more stuff gets revealed as we read on, has a believable romance with passion and steam, plus a great ending that wasn’t overly predictable. I read this one out of order, and had no problem what so ever. This is a great author, I can't wait to read what she writes next.

ARC provided by Netgalley.com