This was fantastic. I loved the mystery, I loved the suspense, I loved the characters. A new favourite crime tackling heroine for sure.

Roxane is totally badass. And a total hot mess. She has no idea if she's coming or going and I was digging it. I felt really sorry for her. She's struggling with her dad's death - they had a messy relationship and she's not sure how to resolve her grief for both what was and what could have been. She's sleeping with her dad's ex partner except he's now moving on to new people. And her old love, Catherine (who frankly is a manipulative bitch and reminds me of the character from Chicago Fire that screws with Leslie Shay), is back on the scene having sort of left her husband? It's all messing with her head something shocking.

Between that she's finding she's having a little bit of a drinking problem and her bank account has pretty much been emptied from months of not working. It sounds like a mess and it is until her brother recommends his friend come see her about a detective gig. Danielle's brother was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her parents and his execution date has finally been set. But Danielle is convinced she just saw his girlfriend Sarah at a gas station - alive and well. She hires Roxanne to look into it. And that's when things get interesting.

I loved the fast pace of the mystery and Roxanne was brave and tenacious. The more crimes Roxanne uncovered the faster I flew through the pages. It was fantastic. It was well plotted and I had no idea who the criminal was. The resolution was awesome. I can't wait to read more Roxanne. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5. ( )

3.5 nice style and Roxane is an interesting protagonist ( )

Very much a detective novel, this book was kind of all over the place in the topics it covered but was a solid read.
 
One of my initial thoughts about this book was "wow, this chick drinks all the time." Thankfully, while this started off as overtly descriptive, it turned into an interesting facet that allowed Roxane to grow up a little bit throughout the novel. I never really gained an appreciation for her, however, and though she was sympathetic and tough, she simply never resonated with me.
 
I liked that her two major relationships never turned the novel into a romance but had plenty of elements of adult relationships. They were rather different in nature but each again had her maturing a little and contributed to her backstory. I really loved that she was bisexual but that she didn't have to talk about it.
 
More so than the mystery itself, this book was driven by the relationships. She also formed a cool friendship with Shelby, a teen who managed to be caught up in the drama. It was definitely more a detective novel, but the parts I mainly cared about were by far these relationships.
 
This book aptly demonstrated all the problems that can happen with corruption in the government and was quite alarming at some points but hopefully could serve as a wakeup call.
 
I'm not over the top about this book and am not likely to read the sequels, but it was a fairly solid detective story.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Roxane is a total mess: She has a messy love life, a messy family relationship, a job she's been phoning into since her father died. She takes Brad's case mostly because she needs the money but becomes more invested the longer she investigates. I...at some point... became more invested also. I kept rooting for Roxane, even when she tried her hardest to get in her own way. I wanted her to please do us all a favor and just figure this out. I didn't have a clue how the pieces of the case would all fit together, which became more and more obvious as all my guesses turned out to be more and more wrong...but I have to say that it was an entertaining ride the entire way. ( )

Some cliche elements but found myself enjoying it despite that. ( )