Review – You Belong to Me by Karen Rose

Publisher: Penguin
Publish Date: June 7th
How I got this book: NetGalley

Years ago, a young girl was beaten and raped while onlookers did nothing. Now those witnesses are becoming victims themselves…

Baltimore city Homicide Detective JD Fitzpatrick has seen a lot of horrific violence, both as a cop and during his deployment in Afghanistan, but nothing like the trail of tortured bodies that are turning up throughout the city. He’s up against a brutal killer with a very personal vendetta. And now JD is beginning to suspect that his medical examiner may be shielding some crucial evidence linked to the case.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Lucy Trask is intrigued by JD’s compassion, but she isn’t about to mix work with pleasure. Not while there’s a ruthless killer on the loose. And definitely not while she’s keeping a dark secret that could connect her to these vicious killings—and put her next on the killer’s hit list…
*Blurb from author’s website*

This was my first read from Rose, and I have to say… WOWSA!

Lucy works for the medical examiners office, dealing with death day in and day out. But when a stream of grizzly murders all center around her, she finds herself edging closer and closer to death than ever before. Thankfully she has sexy homicide detective JD on the case.

JD and Lucy work around the clock trying to find out who is behind the murders, what the victims have in common, and why everything keeps leading back to Lucy. They are barely able to put together all the clues before the killer comes for her, and she manages to escape his clutches, by the skin of her teeth.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect picking this book up. Mystery’s are not my usual genre, but with my recent love of all things romantic suspense, I went out on a limb to try this one out, and I’m really glad I did. Although the murderer was easy to pinpoint about a quarter of the way through the story, I sort of enjoy knowing things that the characters don’t. Plus, when an author dangles tidbits of information like that, I always find myself surprised by additional aspects of the story.

I thought the characters were really well done and developed thoroughly. Although Lucy kept her secrets close to heart, I loved watching her story unravel, getting newer and newer tidbits as the story went along. I admired her, felt sorry for her, and really enjoyed reading how strong and yet vulnerable she was.  JD was very similar in that he had a lot of insecurities, but when push came to shove he was always on, always giving one hundred percent to the case and the people he loved. The strength of the two leading characters was one of my favorite aspects of the book.

While I am normally one of those people who can always figure out what is going on, I was a little confused for the first few chapters as to why there were two totally separate story lines. It took me awhile to catch onto the fact that one followed the investigation into the killer from a PIs perspective, and the other followed Lucy and JD’s mission. Once my brain finally got on board with what was happening though, I really enjoyed watching the two plots lines weave and merge together at times, only to break off and head in separate directions at other times.

Some of the torture scenes were a little brutal to read, but at the same time I didn’t feel as if it was over done. The story had a good blend of suspense, mystery, horror and romance that it left me feeling satisfied on all fronts. I have to admit though, I was slightly annoyed that the meat of the story takes place in a 48 hour time frame. I mean, my brain hurt after getting through the first 24 hours. I have no idea how the characters were able to survive through that. But despite that, I really felt like it all flowed together quite nicely.

I have no idea if Rose has plans to write any books about any of the secondary characters in the book, especially Lucy’s two best friends Gwyn and Thorne and JD’s partner Stevie, but I would really enjoy reading more about these folks. Especially after what each of them had to endure.

All in all I was very happy with my first Rose read. I enjoyed her blend of mystery and suspense and was even taken by surprise with the twist of the killers identity at the very end. While it didn’t have as much romance as some of my other favorite’s, it was still a very enjoyable read.

I give You Belong to Me a B

3 thoughts on “Review – You Belong to Me by Karen Rose”

  1. Wow your very first Karen Rose book? You must go back and read her earlier works – so so good! She’s an auto-buy author for me.

  2. @Judi – I am definitely going to have to go back and check out her other stuff.

  3. This too was my first read by this author and she definitely blew me away. I love the attention to detail in this book.

    I didn’t know who the murderer was until that person was named in the book. I knew which unnamed character he was (it was obvious when I read that POV from that character) but I didn’t know it was *that* character! LOL

    The beginning with the story line switch also had me confused for a bit but everything comes together.

    There is a sequel to this book coming out, next year I believe, but I don’t know which characters it’s going to follow.

    Great review!

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