Sadly I didnt finish this book. It was complex and well written, and the anguish of the kidnapping was so well expressed. Somehow I just fekl unhappy reading it and needed to stop.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a chance to read and review the book.

This is the second book in Karen Rose's New Orleans series, the first being a Quarter to Midnight. In this one we get to know Val Sorensson from Burke Broussard Agency better. Val is called to protect Elijah Cordoza, 10 year old son of DA Kaj Cordoza. Elijah has just escaped an attempted kidnapping connected to cases his father is working on, and Kai calls on the Agency to protect his son. Val is perfect for the job, and it's great to meet the rest of the BB family again - MaryBeth and Jessica from the fabulous Marica Bakery, Molly, main character of the first book, and Burke himself. All get involved in this case and nobody escapes unaffected. Action packed and full of suspense, this is a great read. #BeneathDarkWaters #netgalley

I am a huge Karen Rose fan and this book didn’t disappoint! This is Val’s story, who was introduced in Quarter to Midnight. She is tasked with guarding the son of a DA after an attempted kidnapping.
Rose writes with a certain amount of predictability, but if you enjoy this formula she is on point. She develops her characters faultlessly, slowly giving us their background as we grow to love them. Val has more vulnerability than many of the others and her story needs a few trigger warnings as it stirs up lots of emotions. However Rose writes with great sensitivity and knowledge.
A five star book in what is becoming an addictive series.

Karen Rose is one of the thriller suspense legends in my eyes and was excited to start reading this. The story follows a state prosecutor and his son after a failed kidnapping. Val is tasked to protect them as a bodyguard and keep them safe. The book was fast paced and action packed. I loved all the different elements to the story and how they all linked up. I was racing through the last 100 pages to find out what happens. I will be recommending to others.

Set in New Orleans and the surrounding bayous, this is a gritty, but fairly predictable cat and mouse thriller involving Val Sorensen, an ex veteran bodyguard assigned to protect the young son of a District Attorney. The characters on the whole are fairly binary, either very good but damaged and vulnerable, or really really evil and throughly dislikeable. It was okay but not especially memorable, though the “what next” after the traumatic events of this story (I believe it’s part of a series) might be interesting.

With thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalkey for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

Yet another hit from the one of Karen Rose. The nastiness of the criminals is equally matched by the good heroes. The plot has many a tangled web to weave, all linked to one bad family. If you like this author, there is no reason to dislike this latest offering - her predictability is one of her strengths!

It’s a long time since I read a Karen Rose book and I did quite enjoy it - thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity. I hadn’t realised it was the second book of the series but I don’t think it mattered. I enjoyed the setting of New Orleans. Val was a complex character and I liked the relationship with Kai. The story was good but a bit drawn out and quite predictable at times.

Well as always Karen Rose didn't disappoint with this gritty Romantic yet suspenseful at points making you grip the sides of your Chair ! it will make you gasp in shock & horror, it might make you cry & even chuckle softly in some parts , but overall it's a real roller coaster of a Book which I highly recommend. #NetGalley, #Goodreads, #Amazon.co.uk,#FB, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

I absolutely loved this! It’s the second book in the series but could also be enjoyed as a standalone read too.
A fast paced thrilling read full of murder, abduction, corruption, abuse, friendship and a whole lot more with plenty of twists and turns to keep you reading. I couldn’t put it down.
It’s brilliantly written with great likeable characters which are well developed and the writing is so descriptive you feel like you are right there in the moment/place as you read along.
A riveting crime thriller, police procedural and romantic suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Definitely recommend. I look forward to reading the next book in this series @KarenRose.
Thanks to #NetGallery @Headline for an arc of #BeneathDarkWaters in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.
Book publishes 17th August 2023.

I had such high hopes for this book, but being perfectly honest, I found it a slog. There were so many places where I felt I wasn't trusted as a reader, and so something was spelled out to me, which just ruined the pacing and took me out of the story. It really felt unpolished, which was a shame as the premise was good. But it was clunky, lacked polish and just missed the mark for me.

It's a Karen Rose novel - need I say more. Fab characters and storyline and another 5/5 from me

Thank you to Netgalley, publisher and author

5/5

A fantastic read, with intricately interacting plots and a fantastic lead character.
The details of corruption in the police force and the levels the bodyguards will go to to protect their clients was thoroughly believable and kept me on the edge of my seat!
I loved the gradual blossoming of Jace from downtrodden teen from a bad family to wanted and loved young man trying to fit into the society he is catapulted into.

Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose

On reading this book I realised it was the 2nd in a series of which I'd not read the first.
I did enjoy it , and although others have said you don't need to have read the previous one , I think you would enjoy it more if you had.
The author never fails to disappoint in giving us plenty of twists which make her books unputdownable.

Thank you to netgalley for the free copy to review!

I read the first book of the New Orleans series before reading Beneath Dark Waters, and I found that the same patterns/themes carried across. This made the story quite predictable.

I found that the beginning of this book and the storyline was intriguing, and you wanted to read more to find out what was going to happen. However, as the plot of the story is revealed so early on into the book, it feels pointless reading the rest, and this is something I don't like which is a shame because it was a good storyline. There were a lot of characters introduced at once, and it was really difficult to keep track of who's who, and their part in the story. Elijah also asks a lot of questions at the beginning of the book however they feel really unnatural for a 10 year old. The author writes that it is because Elijah is smart to justify this but this just takes away from the story. It's almost as if everything that the author feels may be questioned, is already 'addressed' in the book but it isnt a strong enoughl, or convincing enough argument.

Another minor thing which impacted the flow of the story were giving characters names that were somewhat difficult to know how to pronounce, only for the character to explain how to pronounce their oddly spelled name. This was consistent with the first book too and something which I found quite annoying 😅.

Like with the first book, despite the length, there was not enough relationship development, or romantic tension to make the relationship between Kaj and Val feel meaningful. I felt disconnected to their romance story because of this.

Some details were brushed over, such as the mole. This was obviously quite a big part of the story and the events that happened but it didn't have enough explanation or attention for me, which made the impact of what happened quite dull.

In a couple of places when switching POV, the same text would be repeated and it was almost like when switching the POV, the new POV was slightly behind in the timeline and this disrupted the flow of the story.

Overall I give this book 3 stars. It was good and I know other people would enjoy this but for me there were things missing in a book that I would really enjoy and the story did not flow well in places.

Has to be a 3.5 rounded up from me. Strong female lead bodyguarding a young boy and his father in relation to murder and rape cases. Plenty of action involving the completely dysfunctional and nasty family members of the alleged murderer. Set over only a few days so romance between the bodyguard too fast and pretty irrelevant anyway. A lot of repetition spoils the flow. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

I love novels set in New Orleans and this one was excellent: the setting, the well developed characters, and a tightly knitted and well plotted suspense that kept me turning pages and guessing.
It's an entertaining story that deals with serious issues and the dual POVs made the story more interesting and gripping.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Karen Rose is what I call a 'Quality' writer. Her work is amazing. This book is no exception. Brilliant, as always. Recommended.

This is a book full of dead bodies. It takes a while to sort out all the various gangsters but it is well worth persevering until you have got it all sorted. It starts with an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap an assistant district attorney’s small son which leaves him frightened and vulnerable. It was an attempt by brothers to influence a case hanging over another of their brothers. Yes, it is a large family of brothers. One of the brothers abuses his siblings but the youngest is rescued by the protection agency brought in by the ADA to protect his son. This teenager, Jace, has severe learning difficulties which are understood by his rescuers and a plan put in place to help his dyslexia. That is very well handled in the story. The story is essentially about trying to influence prosecutions and the managing of drug runners. It is a long but worthwhile read. I recommend it.

I really really enjoyed this! It was super interesting reading a thriller where one chapter was 'the good guys' and the other was 'the bad guys', so you got multiple perspectives, in various ways and got to know each characters story. This book was super intimidating at first as she's over 600 pages. A very chunky boi but I'm so glad I picked it up!
I've never read a thriller where it's part bodyguard part detective, it was really unique and a fun twist to other thrillers. Parts of this book made me so emotional especially when things got heavy, as I was very invested in the story and the characters.
I love Val, she's such a fun complex badass layered character. Kaj is a sweetheart and still has a big heart despite all the crap life throws at him. Elijah and Jace were two of my favourite characters, they were funny and wise and witty and both deserve the world
I'll definitely be picking up the other books in this series and reading more by Karen, and recommending this one to all my thriller loving friends

I absolutely loved this book! Can’t believe I’ve never read Karen rose but I will definitely be reading any I can get my hands on. I was gripped from beginning to end and I loved the main characters, val and Kaj and all the other supporting characters. Thank you NetGalley and Karen rose x