Gone Too Far by Debra Webb
Devlin & Falco #2

I have a feeling that this is a series better read in order and I did not read the first book in the series leaving me feeling that I didn’t really know the main characters as well as I should have. I ended up skimming to find out the gist of the story but must admit I did not read word for word – and there were a lot of words in this book with over 400 pages. I felt that the story could have been edited down a good bit to make it tighter and flow at a faster pace.

This book had more than one storyline that eventually overlapped by the end of the book. It begins with a gut-wrenching prologue set five days before the story picks up in real time. Next up is a murder to be solved and that is for Devlin & Falco to sleuth out. Add in an issue with Tori, Kerri Devlin’s daughter, that is much deeper and more deadly than expected. AND, there is another thread of a woman who was an undercover agent who has lost part of her memory and her story also overlaps the others. There are a number of questionable characters, red herrings, evil doers, problems to solve, murderers to suss out, and…more. The threads of the various plots didn’t come together till the end and some of them left me scratching my head.

So, this book is a mixed bag for me. I could see the way it was plotted and the way the story was being told would work for many but it did not draw me in, hold my attention, have me reading and hanging on every word, and eager to read the next book in the series. I had trouble relating to the characters and am not sure if that, again, is due to not having read the first book in the series.

Did I enjoy this book? Not so much, it was “okay”
Would I read more by this author? Maybe, if the blurb really caught my attention

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars ( )

Wow, there was just so much going on here and unfortunately every time I picked up the book I was so tired that I had to backtrack to familiarize myself with where I was in the narrative. My fault. There were a lot of names - many too many, more than one storyline, at least that is what the reader is led to believe. Very clever, very well thought out, so many tentacles reaching and grabbing and strangling, very scary and that is before you begin to deal with Sadie, her history, her relationships, her nightmare. I loved Sadie. What I didn’t love was the repetitive dialog:”She is a good kid, she would never, she could never.” It would have been more effective to wonder if maybe a good kid could, would or did.

This is a strong and clear police procedural as well as a deep look at working personalities who have to interact when one is in crisis. Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a copy. ( )

Review of Advance Reader’s Copy --- Uncorrected Proof

Birmingham Police Department detectives Kerri Devlin and Luke Falco, assigned to the Major Investigations Division, find themselves at the scene of a double homicide. Shop owner Leo Kurtz and Deputy District Attorney Asher Walsh are dead, shot in the back of the head, execution-style.

The detectives' investigation leads them to Sadie Cross, a former detective who’d vanished for nearly a year following a failed deep undercover assignment . . . and the last person Asher Walsh called before he died.

But before they can make any headway on the case, the DEA, led by Sadie’s father, Mason Cross, steps in and takes over the case, leaving Devlin and Falco to investigate in a reduced capacity as part of the support team assisting Special Agent Cross.

At the same time, Kerri finds herself embroiled in a difficult situation at her daughter’s school. Tori stood on the staircase landing with three other girls; somehow, one of the girls fell back and tumbled down the stairs. Now Brendal Myers is in the hospital, her condition critical.

Kerri is desperate to protect her badly-frightened daughter. Just what was Tori’s involvement in the accident? And what do Sadie’s fractured memories of torture during her undercover assignment have to do with the accident at Tori’s school?

Although this book works well as a stand-alone, it is the second outing for detectives Devlin and Falco following the earlier “Trust No One.” Again, the opening chapter pulls the reader into the telling of the tale; however, this scene actually takes place near the end of the story as after this heart-stopping opening the narrative slips back to five days earlier. Backstory revelations help to create complex characters and strengthen the telling of the tale.

Filled with action, the suspense builds as secrets, lies, and betrayals keep the plot twisting and surprising revelations weave a multifaceted tapestry of connected events that create a complex mystery for the detectives to unravel.

Strong, relatable characters and an intricately-layered plot work together to keep the tension building, to keep the readers guessing, and to keep the pages turning in this difficult-to-set-aside narrative with its heart-stopping denouement.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley
#GoneTooFar #NetGalley ( )