Title: The Drowned Girls (Angie Pallorino #1)
Author: Loreth Anne White
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Type: Series – Book 3
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, crime
Primary Characters: Angie and Maddocks
Narration: Multiple POV
This was my first Loreth Anne white book. I saw this in kindle recommendation and read the blurb. It was interesting so I picked up without much thoughts and preamble. I loved the story lane and the way author has put in details. Its very evident that author has put in lot of research and investigation. Some details may be little sordid and may not be for faint hearts. However, there is no single dull moment in the book. All the twists and turns kept me on my toes.
Book starts with Sex crimes investigator Angie Pallorino’s one of the normal day. Since the time she has been investigating several horrid cases, she has her own way of dealing with it. She also wants to move to homicide department. With her history of losing a partner, past incident leading to tragic past and being a single female detective, the road ahead is not easy.
A brief, anonymous, passionate, one-time encounter with a stranger turns into awkward situation when she meets her new co-worker. James Maddocks is her new temporary partner. When they found a comatose Jane doe body in cemetery and a body of a drowned young woman floats up in the gorge, James and Agnie have to put their night behind and work together to catch the culprit.
The case takes a very interesting twist throughout. From young women’s body being baptized to an involvement of news reporter, internal politics in Police department, Angie’s personal and professional life being clashed, city’s prominent political players motto, Judicial parties’ interest, other riches involvement in case all makes this a very fascinating plot.
The author did a great job in the character development of the characters. Chapters from killers’ point of view is deadly. Agnie is an intelligent and strong woman and a tough detective. Maddocks was a gem. I warmed up to him from the beginning. His kindness, level headedness & unfaltering patience & support is splendid. Holgersen still had that air of mystery surrounding him down to the final chapter! Leo was ok -ok. I will leave out my judgement about him for now.
The setting of current city with a bit of old sleeping hometown touch bought this story to life. The secondary plot related to Angie’s personal life just made for a strongly layered story. Some parts were well researched with a lot more of gruesome details.
Overall, if you prefer your mysteries and unsolved cases then this is for you. Though I wouldn’t call this a simple cat and mouse story. It’s thrilling, addictive, mysteries with many interesting layers and side stories. Hopefully we will get more details on this continued case in next book.
Source – Free in Kindle Unlimited
Buy link – https://www.amazon.in/Drowned-Girls-Angie-Pallorino-Book-ebook/dp/B01JGIOO2Q
Blurb as per Amazon
He surfaced two years ago. Then he disappeared.
But Detective Angie Pallorino hasn’t forgotten the violent rapist who left a distinctive calling card—crosses etched into the flesh of his victims’ foreheads. When a comatose Jane Doe is found in a local cemetery, sexually assaulted, mutilated, and nearly drowned, Angie is struck by the eerie similarities to her earlier unsolved rapes. Could he be back?
Then the body of a drowned young woman, also bearing the marks of the serial rapist, floats up in the Gorge, and the hunt for a predator becomes a hunt for a killer. Assigned to the joint investigative task force, Angie is more than ready to prove that she has what it takes to break into the all-male homicide division. But her private life collides with her professional ambitions when she’s introduced to her temporary partner, James Maddocks—a man she’d met just the night before in an intense, anonymous encounter.
Together, Angie and Maddocks agree to put that night behind them. But as their search for the killer intensifies, so does their mutual desire. And Angie’s forays into the mind of a monster shake loose some unsettling secrets about her own past. How can she fight for the truth when it turns out her whole life is a lie?
Meander - Read & Roam 