I'm delighted today to share my review of Before She Wakes, the third book to feature FBI agent Max Carter, by Ed James as part of the Bookoutre Books-on-Tour blog tour. Huge thanks to Noelle Holten for my invitation and for my review copy, which I received via Netgalley.
The Blurb:
She opens her eyes and focuses on the room around her. Everything is in place, yet something isn’t right. She walks towards her daughter’s room, calling her name, as she does every morning. But this morning is different. This morning there is no response. Marissa’s daughter has vanished.
Single mother Marissa stands in her daughter’s untidy room. Olivia’s phone is still charging at the wall and her clothes are still hanging in her closet. The mirror above her daughter’s desk is cracked and a message written in red ink reads ‘Never Forget’.
When the investigation into Olivia’s disappearance makes local headlines, people begin to gossip about the missing teenager and it soon becomes clear she had been lying to her mother for a long time. Not only did she have a secret boyfriend, but she had also been talking to her guidance counsellor constantly in the weeks before she disappeared. What was so big that Olivia couldn't tell?
And when a blood test reveals that Marissa was drugged the night Olivia went missing, fingers point at Marissa’s estranged husband, but he too has vanished without trace. Could a long-buried family secret have put the teenager’s life in danger? And will the truth be revealed before it’s too late for the missing girl?
She opens her eyes and focuses on the room around her. Everything is in place, yet something isn’t right. She walks towards her daughter’s room, calling her name, as she does every morning. But this morning is different. This morning there is no response. Marissa’s daughter has vanished.
Single mother Marissa stands in her daughter’s untidy room. Olivia’s phone is still charging at the wall and her clothes are still hanging in her closet. The mirror above her daughter’s desk is cracked and a message written in red ink reads ‘Never Forget’.
When the investigation into Olivia’s disappearance makes local headlines, people begin to gossip about the missing teenager and it soon becomes clear she had been lying to her mother for a long time. Not only did she have a secret boyfriend, but she had also been talking to her guidance counsellor constantly in the weeks before she disappeared. What was so big that Olivia couldn't tell?
And when a blood test reveals that Marissa was drugged the night Olivia went missing, fingers point at Marissa’s estranged husband, but he too has vanished without trace. Could a long-buried family secret have put the teenager’s life in danger? And will the truth be revealed before it’s too late for the missing girl?
Fans of Melinda Leigh, Kendra Elliott and Mark Edwards will love this pulse-racing crime thriller from bestselling author Ed James. Before She Wakes will keep you up all night!
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My Review:
Max Carter is back! And I am delighted. Before She Wakes is the third book featuring FBI Agent Max Carter, following Tell Me Lies and Gone in Seconds. Carter heads up the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Unit who are called after the disappearance of teenager Liv. We follow Max and his team as they race to find Liv.
I really like Max. He's a straight up guy, decent, fair, loves his family and is very dedicated to his job. But he's not without his demons, and has very personal reasons for doing the job he does. He also has a complicated relationship with his dad, Bill, which is further muddied when a Scotland Yard detective heads over to Seattle to join forces with one of Max's FBI colleagues to investigate Bill. You don't have to have read the previous two books to enjoy this one, as all relevant information is given, but as will all series, I feel you would probably have a richer reading experience if you have.
The main story is twisty and full on. James really knows how to pile on the tension as Carter's team but dead end after dead end with the odd red herring thrown in. Some of the characters we meet along the way are all kinds of shady, including Olivia's own absent no-good father, although it 's been so long since anyone's heard from him in so long they reckon he must be dead. And some are seriously sinister and creepy.
The tension doesn't let up and so many secrets are uncovered along the way, both in the case and in Max's personal life. Small ones, big ones, devastating ones. James masterfully weaves the two storylines together as we race to an exciting denouement and maybe a resolution of sorts for Max.
Well written, tense, gripping and action packed, Before She Wakes has everything I'm looking for in a crime thriller and I'm looking forward to the next offering from Ed James.
The Author:
Ed James is the author of multiple series of crime novels.
The bestselling DI Simon Fenchurch series is set in East London and published by Thomas & Mercer.
The self-published Scott Cullen series of Scottish police procedurals features a young Edinburgh Detective Constable investigating crimes from the bottom rung of the career ladder he's desperate to climb. The first book, "Ghost in the Machine", has been downloaded over 400,000 times, hitting both the Amazon UK & US top five.
The Craig Hunter collection is a sister series to the Cullen novels, with a PTSD-suffering ex-squaddie now working as a cop investigating sexual abuse cases. With lots of slapstick and banter.
Ed lives in East Lothian, Scotland and writes full-time, but used to work in IT project management, where he filled his weekly commute to London by literally writing on planes, trains and automobiles.
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