PUBLICATION DATE: JUNE 1, 2012

hen several women are the victims of a serial rapist with a few very distinguishing features, the police are determined to find him. With different colored eyes and a tattoo of a three-headed beast, he seems like a ghost and the police are having trouble catching this elusive criminal. Not to mention that when a woman ends up pregnant, she also ends up dead, leaving police back to where they started. That is, until Dr. Lilly Reeves gets attacked too.

Dr. Lilly Reeves’s life is turned upside down when she wakes up in the hospital with pain to some traumatic news – she’s the victim of a horrendous crime. Now Lilly must try and move on from the ultimate invasion, though it’s not proving easy. After a few months and a few more shocking discoveries, Lilly is convinced she found her attacker even though DNA testing denies it. Now, Lilly feels that she must find out a way to prove that he is the serial rapist the cops are looking for.

Detective Nathan Long is looking for the elusive attacker and is determined to find him. When he meets Lilly Reeves, there’s something about her can’t forget and when she turns up as the fifth victim of this criminal, he immediately feels protective over her, despite her anger with him over not revealing the rapist to the public. Even though DNA testing denies their suspect is the rapist, he can’t help believe Lilly and tries to help prove her right, even though it means he could lose his job. And Lilly starts to learn what real friends are about.

This book wasn’t what I expected and is completely different from what you would expect from a suspense novel. The uniqueness of this novel is a major high point for me. The author decided to use topics and subjects usually skimmed over or avoided altogether by others in her genre and it was interesting to see a book solely about a topic most of us try to avoid at all costs. After reading for a little while, I finally got rid of my shock about the topic and formed an opinion on the sensitive topic. The opinion I formed was that the author picked a topic that fit her well and I felt that she portrayed the whole situation well. She helped me see how much a rape will affect your life and the way you live it.

However, I did feel emotionally disconnected from the characters. I feel like the feelings of the characters were more told than projected and I wasn’t really given a good glimpse into the characters’ thoughts and fears. Also, because of the disconnect, I didn’t feel on edge or involved in the story, the only reason I did feel anything was because I wanted to see the right guy pay for the crimes he committed. I do feel that this has more to do with the author’s inexperience rather than a conscious chose to not add that detail. I also feel that this detail will improve with time and experience.

My favorite part, by far, of this novel was the medical information in the novel. It’s easy to see that this author takes medical accuracy serious in novels and I applaud her for that. It’s also easy to see that this is her strong suit and that she will probably stick with the medical genre for most, if not all, of her career as an author and I will look forward to reading more of her books solely for the medical aspect.

There’s also a little romance in this book. But, it’s more of an afterthought and doesn’t really make a ton of sense. I think it probably would’ve flowed a little better if the author had either done away with the idea altogether or made the romance continue in the next novel. Though I appreciate the effort, I just don’t feel that this romance made a ton of sense or was something that needed to be done. I do, however, encourage her to keep trying, though. She seems like the perfect author to make that fantastic romantic suspense.

This author’s debut novel wasn’t perfect, but with a little practice and some more experience, I’d say that this author will go far in her career as an author and I actually look forward to reading more from her. Her medical experience works well in novels and she has the potential for a great romance. I feel that this author is one to watch out for because she has the potential to be a bestselling author someday.