We Don’t Know About Emma

New Orleans is the home of secrets and We Don’t Talk About Emma shows the dark, gritty, and ugly underbelly of the city. This book is full of dark secrets, lies, danger, powerful players, and revenge. Is murder ever justified? This book was co-written with E.J. Findorff who is from New Orleans, and I am sure he provided his knowledge of the city, the food, the streets, and the vibe.

New Orleans Detective, Nikki Mayeaux is tasked with investigating the murder of a serial rapist. A man she intended to kill that very night! She believes that his killer is Emma, a runaway who was one of his victims. She will be investigating the case with Detective Keith Teague, a man she once had a relationship with. Together they will hit the streets of New Orleans and meet with the haves and the have nots while trying to get to the truth. What they uncover will be dark, dangerous, and deadly. Those in power want to protect their sick secrets while there are those who want justice. This book becomes a cat-and-mouse hunt from Bourbon Street to beyond. It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I thought the authors did a great job depicting that in this book.

I struggled with the first half of this book. I am usually fully invested in J.D. Barker’s books, but this one had me worried. The second half of the book picked up for me as more was revealed and things began to come together, and I had several ‘aha’ moments while reading. I can’t fault the writing; I just found this one just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. That won’t stop me from reading more of J.D. Barker’s books and it did pique my interest in reading books by E.J. Findorff.

Thank you to Hampton Creek Press, J.D. Barker 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.