2020 Book Review #29: Hidden

 

I discovered this author about a month ago and decided to start her series titled Bone Secrets.

This is Book One in the series. It was quite good!

STORY SUMMARY 

Lacy Campbell is single and a forensic odontologist (a person who studies the teeth and bones for a state medical examiner).  She was a witness in the Co-Ed Slayer's kidnapping of her best friend and fellow gymnast teammate, Suzanne.  Suzanne was kidnapped and murdered by the Co-Ed Slayer whose name was Dave DeCosta.  DeCosta is dead but someone is now murdering people connected to the case and in the very same way that DeCosta killed his victims.  DeCosta murdered 9 females students from the Oregon State University campus.  Lacey was attacked by him the same night as Suzanne but she managed to get away and survive.  It's been 11 years since that horrible night. Susanne's body was never found.

Now Lacey is called to a scene to examine the teeth found on an old skeleton.  She identifies the remains as her best friend Suzanne!! 

Ex-cop Jack Harper is also called to the scene as he is the owner of the apartment complex where the bones are found.  He soon becomes interested in Lacey and she is definitely interested in him.  

Now a new season of terror begins as someone is murdering all the witnesses who sent the Co-Ed Slayer to prison more than a decade ago!  And Lacey might be next!!

Will Jack and Lacey figure out who this copycat killer is??

And what will happen to their relationship?

MY THOUGHTS

This is a fast-paced book and full of suspense, romance, and excellent character development.  The tomance part isn't sappy which I like and the character development is so well done I felt like I wanted to meet these people.

This book is part of a series so I am looking forward to reading the next book if my town library has it available.

The setting is stark....it's winter in Oregon and makes for a wonderful description of the surroundings Lacey is in.

The author does a great job with keeping the story moving right up until the ending which in my opinion was a bit unbelievable but still exciting.  She combines forensic facts with suspenseful fiction and I liked that.

One thing I did not like was the over use of the "f" word and using Christ's name as a curse phrase.  In my opinion, this is very tacky and low-class for an author to do and it drops my score of a 10 to something lower.  The story/plot is great...the language not so much! There's no need for that much "gutter talk".

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content).

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest I rate this a 7. (due to all the swearing and overly descriptive s*x scenes).