Could not but this book down, kept me up reading into the night. Brilliant story with twists I didn’t see coming. Equally as good as the first 2 books in the series!

Detective Rachel Prince of NCA is sent out to the USA to liaise with Interpol in DC on a dead UK National. The local LAPD want a quick open and shut case. They arrest the boyfriend and Rachel is sent home. Rachel is not convinced and returns on her own time. She is relentless in her investigation it could be said obsessive. She never gives up a trait similar to the murderer.
Her personal live is not ideal her job gives her the control she requires.
A very complicated central character not unlike the murderer.
If you like your characters to have a lot of layers you will enjoy this thriller.
It would be well worth looking out for Detective Rachel Prince again.
I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

In this, the third instalment, Rachel is sent to the US to liaise with Interpol there concerning the murder of a UK citizen. Despite her US Interpol colleague telling her from the word go that there is a similar murder of a US citizen in another city, Rachel is the only person championing and chasing up the serial killer angle. This she does without any jurisdiction, at personal expense, and on her annual leave.

3.5* rounded down.

Initially I enjoyed this novel: the chapters from the killer's perspective were interesting and provided clues as to what was going on, and the mystery was interesting. However, it turned into a bit of a road trip where Rachel was zeroing in on the identity of the perpetrator, and became less interesting.

SPOILERS

Once it was clear who the killer was and how she was disguising herself, the plot became a little absurd. Rachel made stupid mistakes and various things didn't hold together: the killer of the initial chapters would not intentionally have left a lipstick behind. There was no point pursuing a suspect with a lengthy criminal record, since her DNA would been in various criminal databases. The killer's actions in the last few chapters were unlikely to say the least, although they did I suppose ensure that Rachel survived. Finally I got very tired of Mark being moody and Rachel having to fend off Rob.

My least favourite of this series so far.

Detective Rachel Prince is back! This time she is sent to the USA by the National Crime Agency to investigate the murder of a Brtish national. I have enjoyed all Alison James’s books. I think this is her best so far.

4 stars

DI Rachel Prince works at the National Crime Agency> The NCA is peopled by a cutting edge team of police, military and civilian personnel. Her partner is DS Mark Brickall. Rachel’s team is also a part of Interpol and they get sent all over the world to investigate crime.

She receives the message that there was a murder of a British national in California and they request her assistance. She leaves Mark behind, much to his chagrin. When she gets there, the pathologist says that the girls had been dead for several weeks. People claim to have seen her more recently and she was in a commercial just three weeks earlier. How can this be? Rachel digs into the case and discovers discrepancies.

When she is ordered back home, she reluctantly must go. She asks a couple of colleagues to keep looking into the case in spite of the fact that the police have arrested and charged someone.

While back in England, Rachel and Mark solve the case of human trafficking involving young Nigerian teenagers.

Rachel can’t let go of the San Diego homicide and she and Mark decide to investigate further. They go to Phoebe Stiles’ hometown to look into her background. They first go to visit Lauren, a former classmate of Phoebe’s, then a former teacher of Phoebe’s.

Still unable to let the case go, Rachel heads back to San Diego to investigate the case further. She gets in serious trouble.

The killer is identified and Rachel is now free of danger.

This is a pretty good book. I didn’t care for it as much as the previous one though. I like DI Prince, although she is headstrong and has a tendency to do what she wants in spite of her boss’ wishes. I also like DS Mark Brickall. I wonder if Rachel knows he is more than half in love with her. The book is well written and the plotting is straightforward. The story reads in a straight line. One event follows another. I enjoyed reading it and will await the next Alison James novel.

I want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read, enjoy and review.