Book Review

Touch of Red by Laura Griffin

B

Genre: Romantic Suspense, Romance

Theme: Crush, Workplace

Archetype: Cop/Sheriff

I recently shared on a podcast with Sarah that my mom would be undergoing a pretty major surgery, and I was stocking up on books to keep me out of my head (where my anxiety lives) while I waited during the procedure.

Due to some complications (Mom is fine) I found myself once again camped out in the ICU waiting room. Turns out ICU waiting rooms are absolute shit for sleep but great for whittling down your TBR.

No lie, this horror-movie worthy picture of a nun was hanging just outside the waiting room window, staring at me. I’d doze off then wake up suddenly, expecting the nun to crawl out of the picture like the girl from the The Ring.

Looking out from the windows of the ICU waiting room into a brightly lit hallway, there is a super old photo of a nun who has dark shadows over her eyes and is clearly watching me sleep.

Anyway, I was looking for a romantic suspense novel that would be heavy enough on the suspense to keep my brain fully engaged, and I found that in Touch of Red.

First of all, Touch of Red is the twelfth book in the Tracers series, but you don’t have to have read any of the previous books to get this one. I’ve only read one other book in the series, and I didn’t feel lost at all.

Secondly, this romantic suspense book is more heavily weighted toward mystery/thriller than romance. It does feature a romance complete with internal conflict and external conflict, but a lot of energy is put into exploring the suspense element of the book. I would say that the mystery/ thriller storyline could stand on its own without the romance, but the romance couldn’t function without the mystery. Since I read a lot of mystery and suspense titles, this didn’t bother me, but it might irk some readers looking for more love and less murder.

Thirdly, this book doesn’t flinch away from icky stuff, so trigger warning for murder (duh), violence against women and children, and references to sexual assault.

So now you’re probably like, “Okay, Elyse, enough with the horror-movie nuns and qualifications here, what’s this book even about?

It’s basically a lot like CSI, but with more sex. And less:

Horatio from CSI Miami slowly puts on his sunglasses (like he does in every single episode)

The heroine, Brooke Porter, is a crime scene investigator specializing in trace evidence (yay for science heroines!). She’s called to a murder scene where a woman is found with her throat slit and no sign of sexual assault. The scene is weird, partly because of the violence, and the fact that it appears that the victim was targeted, and also because Brooke finds the fingerprints of a child in the victim’s pantry (along with some cookie crumbs).

Brooke uses Science to determine that the kid witnessed the murder, then explains it to the police dudes:

“Even if you’ve got some kid’s prints in the kitchen, what makes you assume the kid’s a witness?”

“I don’t assume. I know.”

“How can you be sure this child was there last night?” Ric asked. “Maybe it’s the victim’s niece or nephew, or some kid she babysits, and the prints were left a week ago.”

“They weren’t,” Brooke said firmly.

Sean darted a look at Ric, and Brooke felt a surge of frustration.

“Just…listen.” She scooted forward in her chair. “Do you all understand how fingerprints work?” She glanced around the table, but no one would admit to not knowing. Of course not. “Fingerprints are basically ridges on the skin. Latent prints, the ones invisible to the naked eye, are made up of oil and sweat and other substances that we deposit on a surface when we touch something. Children’s prints–like the ones at that murder scene–are different from adults’ prints.

The fatty acids are more volatile and break down faster.

So kids’ prints are much more fragile than adults’ are, which is why in kidnapping cases you can fingerprint a suspects vehicle days or even hours after a child was in it and not get anything. It depends on time elapsed, heat, humidity–a lot of things–but the prints can just vanish.”

Brooke paused to let that sink in.

[…]

“My tests confirmed that we are, in fact, dealing with the prints of a prepubescent child. I performed the procedure again this morning, and the red and orange have already faded significantly as the biological material breaks down, making the minutiae of the print much harder to discern.” She passed them another photo. “See? If those fingerprints had been left weeks or even days ago, they’d be long gone.”

The hero in this book is Sean Byrne (one of the guys that Brooke is explaining this to). He’s a detective and he’s had a crush on Brooke for a long time. He immediately starts searching for the child witness, and as the mystery unfolds, he finds himself spending more and more time with Brooke.

Brooke has some serious pants feelings for Sean, but she isn’t ready to be in a new relationship. She just ended one with a controlling, abusive man who is now stalking her. Brooke, despite working in law enforcement, goes through a period where she blames herself for her stalker’s behavior and is too embarrassed by it to respond appropriately. I liked that despite being a strong, confident woman, Brooke struggles with the same feelings a lot of stalking victims do.

For me, the mystery element was the best part of this book. Once I read that a child had witnessed the murder, and now was missing, I got those delicious chills that told me I’d be up reading until I found out how the story ended. I also liked that Brooke is an expert in her field and that Sean respects her as a professional.

What I didn’t like was the resolution to the stalking subplot. Basically:

Click for spoilers!
Sean tells the guy to back the fuck off, which he does.

It didn’t feel like this adequately addressed the gravity of stalking and it wrapped that conflict up way too easily and too quickly.

I felt that the book did a decent job of balancing the sexual tension between Brooke and Sean with the scary tension of the murder-plot, but like I said earlier, Touch of Red is definitely more weighted toward suspense than romance.

If you like a solid mystery/thriller with some hot sex scenes and a romance subplot, then this book should work well for you. If you need your romantic suspense romance-driven, then it might not. I was frustrated with how the element of Brooke’s stalker was handled, but engrossed enough in the larger mystery that it didn’t pull me too far out of the book. And hey, Touch of Red, kept me awake though the night so the ghost of horror-movie nun out in the hallway couldn’t get me.

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Touch of Red by Laura Griffin

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  1. MirandaB says:

    I’m glad your Mom is ok.

    Someone needs to write a suspense or horror that features the nun picture.

  2. PamG says:

    “Oh, the Sisters of Mercy,
    They are not departed or gone. . .”

    Thanks for the earworm.

  3. Critterbee says:

    Good to hear that your Mom is doing well, and you are as well. Don’t forget to take care of yourself, too.
    That book sounds pretty intense, just the thing for grabbing your mind keeping scary nuns away.

  4. Glad your Mom is OK, Elyse. Griffin’s Tracers are comfort reads for me. I enjoyed this one too, but was also bummed about how the stalking was resolved. Even so, it’s going on the keeper shelf.

  5. DonnaMarie says:

    I know it seems wrong, and certainly isn’t true in all cases, but I was watching an interview with a security professional and he said that the presence of a strong male figure in your life, the kind who will confront the stalker and point out that their behavior is unacceptable and that there will be consequences much more painful than an order of protection, does work. Of course, that’s when you know who it is, and you get said strong male presence involved immediately.

    Also, maybe it’s a Catholic thing, but that nun looks kind of serene and comforting. After you graduate, nuns just aren’t that scary anymore.

  6. Cynthia D'Alba says:

    Having been a patient in a Catholic hospital AND been a patient visitor in same, I find the nun pictures to be terrifying! Love the picture and the laugh!

  7. KB says:

    Hope your mom is doing OK! You would think they could make hospital waiting rooms just slightly more comfortable, right? Like I recognize that you have to seat lots of people who may not know each other, but I don’t think anyone would complain about a comfortable sofa or two. Thanks for the review. When you made the CSI reference I had to stop reading because I was all BRB, BUYING THE BOOK NOW! Does anyone know if all of the books in this series are focused on detectives or just this one? And are they all romances as well? If so, I foresee happiness and good reading in my future!

  8. Ren Benton says:

    DonnaMarie’s comment applies even before a situation escalates to stalking. The entire problem with certain men is that they don’t listen to women at all. Exhausted women have learned not to waste time rebuffing advances with lack of interest and go directly to “I have a boyfriend,” even when it’s a lie–a woman’s “no” might not deter a man, but the threat of another man who could potentially beat his ass usually will with no further discussion. Toxic masculinity respects only bigger, badder toxic masculinity, or even the threat thereof.

    It’s not a satisfying resolution, but all the resolutions that would satisfy me are illegal, so…

  9. John says:

    GYMIOK

    Love the thumbnail as much as the review! Just a guy who reads good writing wherever the Hell I find it. THIS one I read to learn about the minefields ahead for men writing about relationships with women. Thank you all!

  10. @KB, almost all of the Tracers series has either a hero or a heroine in law enforcement. Some are San Marcos detectives, some are Austin PD, some are FBI. The civilians all work for a private firm that does everything from cyber analysis to forensic anthropology to trace evidence. (Hence Tracers). I can only think of one that has a tracer and non law enforcement and that’s with a forensic anthropologist and a SEAL. T

    Sorry for nerding out. When I say I’ve reread this series, I’m not kidding.

  11. Susan says:

    Amazon informed me that I own 5 of the books in this series, but (as far as I can recall) I haven’t read any of them yet. Maybe I need to start with book #1. I’ve been trying to find some good spooky reads, but maybe some romantic suspense will work.

  12. RND says:

    Responding to KB and Manda — IIRC, one of the early Tracer books featured a hero who was a true crime writer.

  13. @RND Yes! Good call. That’s a good one, too.

  14. KB says:

    @Manda and RND, thank you!! I am making all the grabby hands right now. Can’t wait to dive into this series!

  15. devra says:

    since you mentioned this author on that podcast, i have been racing through them, and i agree with everything you say here – competent heroines who are respected in their field and interesting relationship dynamics make for a great stew. it’s like turning on your favorite police procedural only, as you say, with more sex and less david caruso. great comfort read, or for a rainy day or a quiet lunch where you just want to be sucked in to something enjoyable without it being NSFW in case you sneak back to your office and fire up your kindle app on your PC for the rest of the afternoon.

    NOT THAT I EVER DO THAT.

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