*I received a free copy of Face Off from St. Martin's Paperback via Author. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
Face Off by Brenda Novak Series: The Evelyn Talbot Chronicles #3
Published by St. Martin's Paperback on 28 August 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Psychological Thriller, Romance, Suspense
Pages: 416
Format: eARC
Source: Author
Tortured and left for dead at sixteen, Evelyn Talbot turned her personal nightmare into her life’s work—studying the disturbing psychopathy of some of the world’s most vicious serial killers. Now a leading psychiatrist at Hanover House in a small Alaskan town, she tries to believe the past will never come back to haunt her—until a woman goes missing from a cabin nearby, and every clue points to the man who once brutalized her…
As her boyfriend, who is the area’s only police, begins to investigate—and finds not one but two bodies—Evelyn can’t forget that her would-be killer, Jasper Moore, was never caught. But there are no new faces in tiny Hilltop, no one who seems suspicious or potentially violent. In this twisted game of cat and mouse, Evelyn is certain of only one thing—Jasper must be hiding in plain sight. And if she can’t find him before he comes for her, she won’t be lucky enough to survive twice…
Face Off was a good story, but I have to admit I’m starting to think Evelyn will never ever find any peace. And it took quite a bit of suspension of disbelief to get that she could go through so much and still be sane.
I really enjoy Evelyn and her thoughts on what makes a psychopath a dangerous person. However, in Face Off, I just started to feel a bit tired because Evelyn can never catch a break! She never had a moment of peace, between her one-time boyfriend from her youth, and Amarok’s ex who was trying to get to Amarok any way she could.
The overall story in Face Off was very exciting, especially because I as the reader knew who was after Evelyn now. And we got glimpses into his thoughts and how he was planning to recapture her. Face Off really did make it so he had to show his face in the end – and there was a show down in a way. But that also felt a little rushed to me.
The secondary mystery was good, even if the readers knew who was behind the murders, seeing how Amarok worked to find him was very well done. All in all, I enjoy this series, even if Face Off made me want some kind of relief for Evelyn.
Of course, Novak knows how to do romance, and I really enjoyed all the interactions between Evelyn and Amarok, especially as Evelyn trusted both herself and him more and more as time went by.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Twitter: Northwomn
I have this one on audio for review so I only skimmed your review, not wanting to spoil myself. I have been enjoying the series. Brenda Novak is an author I always seem to like. Anne – Books of My Heart
I hope you’ll enjoy it, Anne! I love Brenda Novak, too 🙂 Her writing is really good, and she’s really brought me to Alaska with her characters with this series 🙂
It sounds like this was a good book and incredibly fast paced and enaging! I just got one of her latest titles and I can’t wait to read it because I always hear about how wonderful her thrillers are. A bit of a shame that the character doesn’t seem to get a moments peace though, or a pause at all! Sometimes a restful, thoughtful moment can be very effective too.