Review – Deadly Obsession by Katie Reus

Publisher: Carina Press
Publish Date: Out Now!
How I got this book: Net Galley

This was my first suspense read by Reus, and I was both impressed and a little let down by the overall story.

Lily is an undercover field agent for the NSA, and after the death of her aunt has returned to her hometown. She is still recovering from being abducted and being held hostage by terrorists in Africa, Lily is dealing with PTSD as well as the loss of her aunt, and the return to her hometown, filled with both wonderful and difficult memories.

Braden is the local sheriff and dealing with a string of murders that keep getting more violent and sadistic. When Lily struts back into town, Braden falls back under her spell, and quickly realizes that she might be the link between the killings. With a killer on their tail, Braden and Lily must solve the mystery quickly before more women are brutalized.

First off, the mystery and suspense and villain in this book are TREMENDOUS! I was constantly kept guessing even after clues and hints were dropped. It was a mind twister of the highest degree, and I love when an author can do that to me! The serial killer was also creepy to the highest power. He rivaled against Cynthia Eden’s serial killer from Deadly Fear for the creepiest villain I’ve ever read. He was brutal and sadistic and awful, and while I was creeped out, I also wasn’t disgusted by the author’s descriptions. It was very well done!!

However, for me the book fell flat when it came to the hero and the heroine, and their relationship. Lily went through a recent traumatic event, and I was a little disappointed that  previous experience didn’t have a larger affect on her. Yes, she was suffering from PTSD, but at the same time it didn’t seem to bother her as much as I would have expected. Also, Lily is supposedly a trained NSA field agent, yet she does things and says things that contradict the training and background that I imagine a field agent would have to go through. She leaves a LOADED gun leaning against a tree outside the cabin of the serial killer she is hunting!! O_o  I’m not a trained anything and even I was totally dumbfounded by that.

Braden was better in that he acted like a sheriff. However his dealings with Lily seemed unrealistic to me. The woman left him, gave him no reason, and disappeared for ten years. Yet the moment she walks back into town he is tripping over himself to get to her, to be with her. Despite the anger he admits to having, he never seems to deal with it. It was odd and unrealistic to me.

Their relationship was also weird. Lily and Braden were high school sweethearts, they dated during school, and then Lily left promptly afterward. However, some of their conversations seemed to imply there was more history between them as adults. The tone and banter between them implied a deeper level between them than what I can imagine a high school couple would actually have.

All in all this story was all over the map for me. The great aspects of it were phenomenal, knocking it out of the park with mystery and suspense and a crazed killer that kept the story moving and interesting. But the parts that didn’t work for me failed miserably, making the book at times unbelievable.