You’re Not Safe

by Mary Buron

March 25, 2014 · Zebra

Buy →

B

More Info →

View Book Info Page

This RITA® Reader Challenge 2015 review was written by Marlene. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Romantic Suspense category.

Here is Marlene's review:

First time reviewer hoping to give back to the community.

As a reader, I will pick up any book off the shelf (or download into my Kindle) without regard to the author or the book’s placement in a series. So I am looking for books that will hold my interest without too much referencing of previous books in a series and authors with whom I would be happy to visit again.

The book starts with a murder and we very quickly learn that we don’t care at all about the victim. Our heroine is the woman in the picture he was looking at when he dies. This fact, about her being in a 10-year old photograph that is placed near the body, is enough to make her the #1 suspect in the eyes of our hero, a Texas Ranger, natch. Not to worry: this suspicion only lasts until he actually meets her (about 20% of the way into the book). Of course she is pretty and everything and he reacts to her . . . so she can’t be the murderer.

The book takes place over the course of a very action-packed week, and that is probably the biggest thing that didn’t work for me with this book. There is a lot going on and while the story is interesting and believable enough, it loses plausibility when all the action is compressed into seven days. For example, on the police procedural side (remember that murder that we didn’t really care about?), the investigation proceeds flawlessly, autopsies are conducted the same day as the body is found, and search warrants are provided with no fuss. There are more murders, and they all get funneled to the same Ranger team, and no one starts to panic about this sudden intense killing spree.

We are introduced to a lot of secondary characters and while I was grateful not to read never-ending references to previous stories and/or hints of stories to come, I felt I would have actually liked to know a little bit more about these other folks. This applies both to the colleagues we meet (probably from previous stories) as well as the folks we meet related to the murder mystery part of the book. On the other hand, I was grateful to not read a lot of the navel gazing/internal monologue about “feelings”. In this book, they were acknowledged and we moved on.

The heroine’s “thing” is real and I thought Ms. Burton handled it well. Having said that, when the h/h do get it together, she has absolutely no issues with intimacy or trust or sex. Remember, that although this this takes place 90% of the way thru the book (blame the Kindle), they only met 6 days earlier. Given how well Ms. Burton portrayed the “thing,” I felt disappointed that the h/h got it together so easily.

The hero remains a cipher throughout the whole book, and not really in a good way. Some childhood issues and some work drama history were referenced, but those stories were not developed enough and I felt I wasn’t invested in his issues. Basically, he seems like an okay guy, and he does do some good things (with her, with his nephew) but I didn’t see any change or growth in him.

The book ends with the resolution of the murder mystery, and then skips forward to an epilogue. Yeah, I believed they had a chance of getting there, but given all the build-up (her issues, well presented; his issues, at least alluded to) I didn’t think there would get there so easily.

The book earns the B because the story was a good one and it was well-written; it held my attention even through a second reading. But . . . I still wanted to know more than I did about most of the characters; too much action occurred in too short a time period; and when the h/h got together it was not congruent with everything we had been told/shown up to that point about her issues. Having said all of that, I look forward to the next time I randomly pick up another book by Ms. Burton; I believe I will enjoy the ride.