Published by FlatIron Books Genres: Contempory, Crime, Fiction, Mystery
Format: ARC, eBook
A body of a woman is found in a cornfield in Iowa. Newly promoted, Sergeant Riley Fisher is the head of investigations of the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office. When she gets to the scene, she recognizes the victim as Chloe Miller, a childhood friend. Some would feel that this hits too close to home, but this is Riley’s first case as Sergeant, and she wants to proceed. As she investigates, another woman is horrifically murdered. A prostitute has been killed and her body left on the outskirts of town. Are these two murders connected? What do they have in common? Where were both women killed? When more bodies are found, Riley believes this is the work of a serial killer.
In Iowa, farming is the name of the game. Unfortunately, there are those in big agriculture who want to win the game and smaller family farms are having difficulty competing. This is a police procedural that also looks at farming and the agriculture industry. Things get political and Riley must deal with some political roadblocks in this book as well.
Riley is an interesting character. She is flawed and the book hints at her past and Riley does not want it to come out. The is the first book in the series and I believe there will be more character development and growth in future books.
As other reviewers have mentioned, there are a lot of characters in this book. Were they all necessary? I believe this story could have been told with less.
This book is dubbed as a debut crime thriller for the author, but please note that she also writes under Robyn Young and has written quite a few historical fiction books. It is no wonder that the writing is very polished and well done in this book. Young has honed her craft and it shows.
Book #1 is off to a good start, and I am curious what she will have Riley investigating in future books. I just hope the next book has fewer characters.
Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.