What a great start to a new series.
I was totally gripped throughout this book and can’t wait for the next one.
Women are being found decapitated and mutilated and Jess and her colleagues need to find out who the killer is before more women are killed.
Jess’ partner returns from working undercover and it’s evident there’s history between them and this plays a big part in the story.
The ending took my breath away but that’s all I’ll say as I don’t want to spoil it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for sending me a copy to Read and review.

Jessica (Jess) Bishop is an intelligent, brash, emotionally stunted, by the book FBI agent. She surrounds herself with high walls to keep people from getting too close, physically and emotionally. Even the two people she has let in don’t know all her secrets. She uses sex with random strangers to numb herself to all her emotions.

Jamison was her partner for 8 years before he left to go undercover for 2 years. They were best friends. When he returns, he and Jess struggle to find their balance again.

The ending was cathartic for Jess and opened her eyes to the consequences of her current behaviors, actions and outlook on life.

I figured out early on who the serial killer was and how he was getting to his victims. It was easy to recognize the twists thrown in in an attempt to confuse the reader and have them second guessing or unsure about who the killer was.

The first half of this book feels like you have been dropped into the middle of a series instead of the beginning of one. Many characters introduced and multiple things insinuated, but no details given. This book would have been better if there had been a prequel that gave more information; about Jess’ childhood, what her life was like after the huge incident that altered the course of her life at a young age, how she got to be an agent, how she and Jamison were partnered and we witnessed their bond growing and developing over the years. Also, what led Jamison to go undercover and full disclosure of his family history. There was just too much missing information to make this a smooth read.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I’m left with an abundance of questions about so many things. I would definitely read the next book just to see where the author takes this cast of characters and to see if we are given any more background.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

A good read. There are a few parts where the story just drags. Overall a passable read.

WOW! WOW! WOW!

I LOVED this FABULOUS thriller from Kierney Scott! Now You See Me is intense from the word go. The author knows how to write an FBI thriller with style and I was hooked from the start! There were twists and turns and moments when my stomach churned and if I could have sat in my chair and read it in one go I certainly would have done. The main character Jess Bishop is bright, intuitive and deliciously flawed, exactly what I want in an FBI heroine. She's got plenty of secrets of her own and the author weaves them into the plot in a way that made me gasp.

All I can say is get a move on with the next one, Kierney, because I'm ready and waiting to read it!

This is a good, fast-paced thriller that really kept me guessing.

I found that I really liked Jess. She’s smart, savvy, and vulnerable – she read as real.

The mystery itself is a good one. It’s highly suspenseful, a little gruesome, and even gave me chills at times.

As for the solution of our mystery? Didn’t see it coming!

A wonderfully entertaining read. I’ll happily read the author again in the future!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Detective Jess Bishop is called in when a body is found washed ashore in a Louisiana swamp and immediately the detectives know that this is the work of a serial killer. The body of Lydia Steiner is found with certain marks that have also been on three other dismembered bodies found recently but those marks are familiar to Jess and she just hopes the past is not catching up to her now that she is a detective.

As Jess and her partner start to investigate the case trying to find any clue or link the various victims together Jess also gets another surprise, her old partner has returned from undercover work. No one knows Jess better than he did but he’s not returned alone but with a soon to be pregnant wife. The news in the middle of this high pressure case reminding Jess of her past sends Jess to her destructive ways of pushing those close to her away.

Now You See Me by Kierney Scott is the first book in the new Detective Jess Bishop mystery series. With a flawed main character and a serial killer on the loose it is easy to become engaged in this first book of what looks like it could be a very promising series.

I would say with this first book I think the author should have done Jess’ character building a bit earlier on in the story as the reader knows there is something in her past but it’s hard to decide whether you want to love her or slap her for her actions without the depth of her story. Eventually the background comes out but I had a bit of a shaky start until finding out more myself.

This is also another book that for me the mystery seemed to be a little on the easy side to solve, not necessarily obvious though. There were plenty of twists built into the story to make one suspicious along the way and keep readers guessing so I wasn’t totally sure until the end. Overall I’d rate this first book at 3.5 stars and would check out the next in the series.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I so wanted to like this book but found the pace really slow and I didn't connect with the main characters I don't know if it is me because I have read some very good books recently in this genre, and some times comparing is unfair so I am wondering if maybe I should have read a different genre before attempting this one and would therefore have had more of an open mind I feel that others may enjoy the pace I am an impatient reader and am sorry that this book wasn't for me thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an ARC

Now You See Me is such an enjoyable read, full of twists and turns that left me eager to press the 'sign me up' button for notification for book 2 as soon as I'd finished.
I do think it must be hard starting a series, trying to resist the urge to overwhelm the reader with background to the protagonist; but Kierney Scott handles this with aplomb. There didn't seem to be any awkward "this is Detective Jess Bishop" introductions to be had, it was sort of assumed that I knew who she was with a slow drip-feed of a troubled background and the consequential behaviour that inevitably followed.
Jess, together with her partner Chan (and Jamieson of course), are great characters who I really look forward to reading more of. I didn't mind at all that Jess seemed a little harsh, in fact it just made me view her as a rounded character, and I personally found the whole human interaction between the characters quite gripping.
The crimes are, naturally, shocking; but again I didn't find them too gruesome to be disconcerting. I quite like a bit of gore though as my previous favourite books will attest too. The plot kept me entertained throughout and I thoroughly enjoyed the read right up to the end. Indeed Now You See Me, gave me that buzz of discovering an exciting new series; roll on book 2!

I often tell myself I really don't need a new series in my life but when one pops up that sounds as good as this one, I just can't help myself. And I can already tell you right now that I'll be keeping an eye on this one in future.

Now You See Me introduces us to Jess Bishop, who works for the FBI. That bit right there already sold it to me as I really enjoy all things FBI. Their investigations don't stop at state borders, widening the scenery but also the suspect pool. In fact in this story, we go from Washington D.C with all its memorable buildings to the bayou in Louisiana, where the dismembered body of Lydia Stein is found. She's not the first woman to be found murdered like that so it's obvious early on, we're dealing with a serial killer here. 

Jess has one of the most fascinating backstories I've ever read but I'm not going to tell you anything about that. To this day, it affects her in the choices and decisions she makes, her view on relationships, the way she sees things. She makes for one fantastic main character but the whole team is brilliant. It reminded me of the tv show "Criminal Minds", without the profiling. A varied and diverse cast that somehow manages to work together to solve a case. There's Jeanie, the boss, for instance. You never quite know what she's thinking. Tina is the computer genius. Briggs has just returned from a stint undercover. Chan is sort of the funny one but also a bit of a troublemaker. And there's even a psychologist. 

As for chasing the serial killer, the investigation had me on the edge of my seat. Nothing links these women and there's no way of knowing when the killer will strike again, or where, or where his next victim will be found. There is no doubt though that he will not stop on his own and he needs to be caught. And that's all I'm saying about that too. I know, I'm a tease but really, you need to read this yourself and find yourself as engrossed as I was. 

This is just a fabulous start to a new series. Utterly gripping and compelling! If this one is anything to go by, I have zero doubt this series is going to be an absolute corker and I can't wait to read the next instalment!

This book was full of very unlikeable characters.. in particular Jess the main detective. I tried to like this book but it just wasn't for me. Parts of it dragged out and others seemed to be skimmed over. Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book to read and review

Looking for a new murder/detective series and love characters who have "issues?" This just may be a good place to start. It's the first installment featuring 34-year-old FBI Special Agent Jess Bishop, who brings sins of the past to a whole new level. Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher. I shall look out for the rest of the series.

Hmm. I've had some pretty excellent luck lately with trying new-to-me lady authors in the crime and mystery genre and I had hoped to add Scott to that list after reading the synopsis of this one. But alas I'll have to see what book two in the <i>Detective Jess Bishop</i> series brings; though I'm not writing her off just yet.

<i>There was nothing worse than seeing death firsthand; it was like being violently assaulted by your own mortality.</i>

NOW YOU SEE ME has a creepy awful mystery that I would have enjoyed more if not for the protagonist. Jess has a dark backstory that doesn't get revealed, only teased, until about the 75% mark. It was one of the many frustrating things about her. But the bonus to said backstory was it wasn't at all what I thought it would be -- it was better. That said, Jess' behaviour mirrors that of a lot of gritty female protagonists in this genre; emotionally stunted or damaged from past whatever, tough as nails, and has a tendency to avoid intimate connections in favour of random meaningless sex. Normally I'm totally okay with this but the author was a little heavyhanded and awkward with it and it made Jess even more unlikeable than she already was having been given the unfortunate role as special FBI snowflake.

In addition, Scott's writing was really big on the telling instead of showing, spelling all sorts of facts and behaviours and backstory out in dialogue instead of exposition. As a result, a lot of the interplay between characters was awkward and clunky and it made it hard to connect to the dynamics of the cast. Made worse by an ex-partner of Jess' coming back into the fold and having to watch them dance around each other and try to adapt to their old routine while bantering about the good ol' days in ways no one actually would banter.

I'll be honest. I almost DNF'd this after the first chapter. It does get better but there's more bad than good because the mystery is overrun by the personal drama between the two main FBI agents. Normally I like my mystery to take more of a center stage and that isn't the case here. Based on how book one in this series wraps up, and all that's left unresolved, I would be interested in reading on. But book two would definitely be the make or break in this series and/or author for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Now You See Me by Kierney Scott that I read and reviewed.
I had very mixed feelings about this book. I really wish the author would not have dragged what happened to Jess as a child along as long as she did. I almost gave up on the book because it was getting to the point where I was starting to feel like I was wasting my time because everything just dragged on. For awhile I felt like I was reading a book about horny FBI agents who could were really messed up and probably should not be in the field.
However, things did pick up a bit and I did enjoy the mystery part of the book. The end had a few twist but it did end leaving you not knowing how Jess and her partners relationship is at the moment so I look forward to the next book to see where that will go.
I am give Now You See Me three out of five stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publishers for this review copy, given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Noelle, from Bookouture, for organising the Blog Tour!

My first Kierney Scott book. Also the book number one in the Detective Jess Bishop series. As it’s the first in the series, there are no problems with this book being read as a standalone novel. Just for information, it is a US based book.

If I’m to be brutally honest, I didn’t really enjoy this book at the beginning. I’m not a huge lover of books based outside the UK, so whether this was what put me off to begin with, I don’t know. The story begins with a dismembered body of a woman being found in the swamps of Louisiana. Detective Jess Bishop is assigned the case, and soon more bodies begin to turn up. Jess thinks that the cases are linked, and there is something about them which reminds her of her father, and not in a good way! She is paired back up with her old partner, Jamison who is recently back from undercover work. There is obviously a lot of history between the two, and also a lot of chemistry!

As the story moved on I began to get into the story more and more. It seemed to have a bit of a slow start which then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, turned up a gear and launched right into a full blown fast paced thriller of a story. By half way through, I could not put it down! The story had lots of twists and turns, and gave no clue (for me anyway!) as to who the killer was.

The story was raw and gritty. There was no sugar coating it at all! It had sex, murder, violence and bad language! It was also quite gruesome as well – the last scenes with the jars on the shelf were particularly stomach churning. It is definitely not a book for the faint hearted! Jess comes across as a stroppy teenager at times, particularly where Jamison is concerned, but it’s also nice to see her vulnerable side to reassure you that she is just a normal woman who has had a horrible start to life.

By the end of the book I really didn’t want it to finish! I was just starting to like Jess and I loved Jamison! I can’t wait for another book in this series to see where these characters take us next!

Five stars!

Now You See Me is billed as a gripping serial killer thriller. Does it live up to this? Unfortunately not for me. Whilst I did enjoy this book, I found it somewhat predictable and a bit bland. I think it was the main characters, Jess and Jamison where I felt something was lacking with them. Perhaps as the series progresses more will be revealed about them but I felt the depth wasn’t there.

I would rate this book as 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

Looking for a new murder/detective series and love characters who have "issues?" This just may be a good place to start. It's the first installment featuring 34-year-old FBI Special Agent Jess Bishop, who brings sins of the past to a whole new level. To that end, she reminds me a bit of J.D. Robb's Lt. Eve Dallas, although Jess tends to be more melodramatic, devoid of emotion and on the whole rather unlikable. Still, she's a hard-working, get-the-job-done detective and an intriguing character I'd like to read more about.

She and her former partner, Jamison Briggs, parted on shaky terms; her current partner, Alex Chan, is a good detective but about as companionable as our next-door neighbor's pooch who growls every time he sees me. Jess isn't fond of him either, but she's adjusting; as the story begins, the two have gone from their Washington, D.C., base to Louisiana. In a bayou there, the torso of a woman has turned up. The head is missing - and since it appears to match the MO of other murders, the agents are concerned that they're on the trail of a serial killer who may be keeping victims' heads as trophies.

Then what to her wondering eyes should appear but Jamison - back from an undercover job and ready for reassignment as Jess's partner. There's a lot of mutual hand-wringing and head games as the two try to come to terms with their earlier break-up and Jamison's new love interest, but professionalism (and an obvious like for each other) eventually win out. As for Alex, he doesn't seem fazed by losing his shotgun-riding status - to him, it's just another crappy day in paradise, I guess - and anyway, enough headless bodies keep turning up to keep his and everyone else's minds on finding the killer.

In the middle of all this, Jess meets Matt Ramsey, a smooth-talking, exceptionally hunky FBI agent who's determined to make an honest woman out of her. True to her emotion-shunning personality, though, he pretty much has to stalk her to get her attention - and even when he succeeds, he isn't able to hold it for long. That's partly because as evidence piles up, a worst-case scenario rears its ugly head: could it be that the murders are somehow related to the sordid past Jess has spent all of her grown-up years trying to hide?

The whole thing was a wild ride all the way to the end, when a few strands are left dangling to whet appetites for the next book. Overall, this definitely was an enjoyable experience for me, though my enthusiasm was dampened a bit by repetition and typos (the latter, I trust, will be corrected before the book is released; I read an advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review) as well as a few glitches in the story. As hard-nosed as Jess is, for instance, it's really tough to fathom how she (or anyone else) possibly could go out for a run hours after cutting her bare feet by stepping on glass shards. Ouch!

A fast paced, action packed book, which certainly is a great page turner.

I was not sure about the book at the start but was soon converted. Looking forward to more from Jess.

Detective Jess Bishop is the very definition of a lady boss! She never lets her past define her and it actually is one of the reasons she became a detective. Kierney Scott does an excellent job weaving a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat! There were several moments in the book that I thought I knew who the bad guy was, just to get more information in the next chapter and realize I was wrong. This is an insanely great buy at $0.99 and I will definitely be recommending this to my friends! I can't wait to see where Scott takes Detective Jess Bishop in her next book!

"Now You See Me" starts with a bang, a killer hook prologue that tells you that the bad guy is just going to be one of those baddest guys out there. We are talking pure psychopath material here, this guy has no empathy or remorse. This guy is going for the kill and that scene where he is sitting in the car practising a smile so as to get it just right, tingled my spine from top to bottom!

You know that way you read a book as though a movie is playing out in your head? You do? Well, I have just read a bumper episode of Criminal Minds with an added OOMPH! This book deserves all the #OMFGs as it grabbed me in from the start, chewed me up and spat me out at the other end crying for more!

Caught up in an investigation with chilling similarities to her past, Detective Jess Bishop is struggling to hold herself together. Only one man knows the truth about her past and it looks like she might have been wrong to place her trust in him. With the body count rising and the clock ticking will Jess have to lay her soul bare to ensure the killer is caught? A tense and fast-paced, and may I say perfectly executed, the plot kept me on tenterhooks all the way through it!

"Now You See Me" not only has a heart-racing plot, it is also an exceptional character-driven novel; I found myself getting right under the skin of Jess and Jamison, or rather I should say they got right under my skin. The tension and chemistry between the two of them was electrifying, it was magnetic. Both of them have secrets, secrets they want to keep buried. Both of them know each other's secrets and this can either work to strengthen or compromise their relationship. When Jamison returns from his undercover assignment, Jess is thrown into turmoil; her feelings for him are conflicted and she doesn't know how to deal with it. When he announces his wedding she is sure that he is making the worst decision ever but is this because she just cares for him as a partner in a professional sense or is there something more? 

As a character, Jess is complex, her secrets haunt her every single day and she lives in fear of them becoming public. We are told her story in a series of flashbacks and only then do we realise what drives Jess to behave the way that she does. She has a fear of becoming close to anyone, she does not want that intimacy a relationship would bring and to her sex is just a means of numbing herself to the pain. In "Now You See Me" her defences are shaken as she is introduced to Matt, could he be the one to make her change her mind? Don't let all this emotional stuff put you off and make you be thinking that this is just some bodice-busting steamy read - oh, no way is it that - this is a burrowed right inside your head and screw your mind up kind of read; the psychological delving will satisfy the most inquisitive of readers believe me.

Jess, quietly focused, doesn’t do small talk and is prepared to act the "dumb girlie" to get what she needs but don’t be fooled by this act, she can cut you to shreds in seconds if required. Her whole wellbeing is thrown into chaos in this investigation though, as it becomes clear to her that there is a link to her past and this makes for dark and disturbing reading!

Jamison, well here comes a new character crush that's for sure! Remember I said Criminal Minds, well I think I just found myself a  fictional Morgan! Be still my beating heart! This is a man with a past, a man who has just come back from an undercover assignment and seen and done some dark deeds. Just how much has it affected him and how much of his past is he willing to share with anyone other than Jess? 

Agent Chan was partnered with Jess while Jamison was on undercover duty. He is a bit of a ladies man and rather shallow it has to be said but watch out for his interview skills, this man is a showman and he might be a bit of an ass at times but the scene where he is interviewing one of the suspects is on point! 

And a mention has to go to Tina, a white collar worker in the FBI she has just been transferred to Jess' team; she is the IT whizz kid and someone that Jess connects with; she had to be my Penelope in the book! She is one person that Jess could see a friendship developing with and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes as the series develops.

Now obviously as well as exceptional characters, Now You See Me also has an ingenious plot. It is dark, it is disturbing and without giving any spoilers away it will keep you engrossed right until the very end! So many twists, turns and red herrings that you are going to be twisted like a corkscrew by the time you put this book down! It gives you secrets and lies and dysfunctional families and relationships that are taken to a whole new level beyond Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer level! These guys are off the wall dysfunctional!

If you like your serial killers twisted, your relationships screwed up and a read that will have you gripped to the point your skin wrinkles in the bath as you cannot get out until you finish the book then "Now You See Me" is one for you! A read that will pick away at your brains and leave you reeling! Do not miss it!