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Hunted

I am very, very excited about The Profiler series by Elizabeth Heiter–a new series about a badass female FBI profiler? Yes, please!

The first book, Hunted, is a little rough in terms of the execution of the mystery but as the first book in a series, I’m willing to give it some latitude.

Our heroine is Evelyn Baine, a profiler with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. Evelyn is a woman of color working in a male dominated, predominately white workplace, and at times she feels as if she doesn’t fit in, though her coworkers don’t treat her differently. Evelyn’s race doesn’t play heavily in the book, but I wanted to mention it because I know heroines of color aren’t often found in suspense fiction.

Evelyn is assigned the case of the Bakersville Burier–a serial killer who murders women and buries them from the neck down. There is much creepiness and suspense here, so if you’re looking for a cozy mystery, this isn’t it. Evelyn is also covertly working on the case of a child abductor who kidnapped a childhood friend of hers. Honestly, that plot line held more appeal to me, but it’s the main focus of the second book, Vanished.

This book starts a little slow, but when the mystery really gets rolling about halfway through, the pacing picks up. There’s also the introduction of a romantic interest for Evelyn that plays out in later books. He’s a super hot member of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team and Evelyn is adorably clueless about how much he’s crushing on her.

Overall Hunted is a pretty solid debut. The book wobbled a bit, but I was engaged enough to buy the next two books in the series.

– Elyse

Terror stalks a small Virginia town.
FBI rising star, criminal profiler Evelyn Baine, knows how to think like a serial killer. But she’s never chased anyone like the Bakersville Burier, who hunts young women and displays them, half-buried, deep in the woods. As the body count climbs, Evelyn’s relentless pursuit of the killer puts her career – and her life – at risk. And the evil lurking in the Burier’s mind may be more than even she can unravel. 
Terror is closer than she thinks.
The Bakersville Burier knows he’s got an FBI profiler on his trail. He knows who she is and where to find her. And he’s biding his time, because he’s planned a special punishment for Evelyn. She may have tracked other killers, but he vows to make this her last chase. This time it’s her turn to be hunted!