Anything for You was much better in the abstract than it was in reality. It had the potential to be a gritty thriller, but the writing is too detached to become invested in the story. It didn't help that I didn't like a single character in this story. Not one. For the most part, I found the story to be obnoxious, vulgar, and explicit. Now, let me say that I am not easily offended, but I didn't find any of those things to be necessary for this to be a good story. Honestly, I felt like the shock value they add ended up being detrimental. The thing with being explicit in a story like this is that most people don't need it. With the right words, an author can give just enough for the reader to imagine the gory details. And I'm here to tell you that I can always imagine it much worse than most can write it. Maybe it's just me, maybe not, but the only thing I got from reading this one was a few hours that I can't get back. It's predictable, unengaging, and well, just not good in my opinion.

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

Not much to say here, I could not get into this book. Other reviewers mentioned how crude it is, and honestly it is. I just couldn't root for the main character, Valerie Hart. I don't know if I would have felt differently if I had read book #1 (The Killing Lessons) and book #2 (LoveMurder). Valerie is obsessed with sex it seems and her ties to this case (a man she almost had sex with is killed during a home invasion) didn't do much for me. I am definitely going to pass on reading any moer about Valerie.

"Anything For You" follows homicide detective Valerie Hart. Valerie is called in when former prosecutor Adam Grant is found murdered and his wife injured. It looks like a home invasion gone wrong, but as readers follow along, something else seems to be going on. Valerie is worried about working the case and anyone finding out that she and Adam Grant had a passing something (honestly the scenes about them almost having sex were just...blah) and wants to stay on the case. 

I can't say much about Valerie besides she seems or is written as oversexed. She has recently got back together with her ex-husband Nick and they just seem to be two bodies that meet and never really click. Or at least I didn't think they did. I don't want to poo poo women liking and enjoying sex. Valerie is just written as a male fantasy I think. She meets a dude and starts thinking about how he is in bed and practically starts humping men's legs. She really is a female version of the Lucas Davenport character in the first couple of Prey books. I stopped reading that series for a year since the first few books were so bad and I was tired of reading about how Lucas saw a woman and how he jumped right into wanting "to nail her." 

I can't say much else about the secondary characters since I didn't get a good sense of anyone. Once again I am going to blame myself for getting a ARC and not realizing until after the fact it was the third book in a series. We do flip between Valerie and a woman in this one (no spoilers) but once again I didn't think the other woman was written well at all. 

The writing was not good. I think other reviewers nailed it on the head is that you definitely get that a man wrote this book especially with how Black graphically describes sex. I started to skip over any sex related scenes. The flow wasn't working for me either since you go back and forth between Valerie investigating and then some mysterious woman who is up to something. It takes way too long for the dots to connect. 

The setting of the book is mostly San Francisco, but it just felt like any old beige city in America. I wish that Black had incorporated more of the city into this. I just recently watched "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" and thought that movie was brilliant in showcasing the many facets of those that live in that city.

The ending was okay. I was just glad to be done. 

My own fault for clicking at NetGalley without realizing this is a third book in a series. So far it’s interesting and the MC is a bit much though.  She’s a homicide detective in San Francisco investigating a home invasion that left one man dead. We are getting another POV though in the book and I don’t know who that is yet. 

EDIT: I should have included a warning on my original review - this is very dark fiction, featuring not just a deep dive into the cesspool of the killers' minds, but also some very graphic description of those crimes, as they occur. I'm not especially squeamish, but those parts of the book were uncomfortable for me, especially those that gave the victims' thoughts and experiences. 

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

This thriller has nearly all the elements that I really enjoy - an whopper of an opening scene, excellent pacing, characters both empathetic and repulsive, and a satisfying ending. It was not without flaws, though. The events were heavily dependent on implausibly freak timing, which is fine if it's once or twice in a story, but here it was nearly every pivotal event. The romance, or more precisely the personal relationships, used some eye-rollingly common tropes. The main character was a little too "tortured hero" for me. 

Still, the writing was good enough to overcome these flaws, and I enjoyed it enough that I'll be looking for other books by this author. 

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive. Christina Delaine's performance was excellent.  

This can be read as a stand alone if you come across this book although it’s highly encouraged to read the first one only because it’s just as good!

This time around, Valerie doesn’t get pummelled all over the place and you don’t cringe as much when she gets hit by something (whether it’s a bullet or a hit to the head). The plot held up to the same standards as the first; fast paced, filled with scenes of gratuitous violence and some sexual content here and there. This may not be for some readers as it does get graphic but I think without it, it would be hard to describe how heinous the crimes are.

Throughout the novel, Valerie has these tete a tetes with Katherine and they’re well written. You feel the tension between them and the mind games Katherine plays are subtle and sometimes even frustrating because she’s maddingly brilliant and manipulative. You’re running along with Valerie trying to catch this killer and you follow through the chase filled with puzzles and cryptic notes and gifts (none very nice gifts either…). The killer is brilliant and when you think he’s this one person, he ends up being someone you didn’t realize and it’s  mind blowing considering who this killer ends up kidnapping.

And just when you think everything’s done there’s more extra twists happening. This is what makes this novel so quick and fast to read. You’re deeply engrossed in the plot and in the chase to find this killer but you forget he most likely has a plan B and you’re blindsided again. This is what makes this book so good!!!!!! I loved every minute of it!!!

The only concern I have is, how much more can happen in this series before this starts getting repetitive. I love the way it’s going and I hope the series can stay fresh and exciting like it’s been so far. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next, given there’s a bit of a teaser at the very last page of the book.