A complex plot with a deliciously twisty ending

Willow Rose weaves a complex plot of murder, abuse, and vigilante justice. In the beginning, the seemingly unrelated story threads are hard to follow, but stick with them as Detective Jack Ryder works two murder cases and tries to protect his recent love interest, a pop singer of some renown. The family and interpersonal character stories are the best parts of the book as the disconnected plot threads slowly coalesce into coherence and lead to a deliciously twisty ending.

There are several small plot holes and leaps of logic in the main plot, but Rose manages to keep you interested and keeps the story moving along nicely. Some of the dialogue is a bit forced to get in the key bits of information, especially statements from small children and teens. The cops get information a bit too quickly and easily sometimes. And I had a hard time buying the actions and attitudes of one of the father characters. But I have a hard time getting into the heads of anyone who would abuse a kid, so maybe that was the point.

The gruesome story of men being force fed gobs of food until their stomachs explode is weirdly compelling, even when you can’t figure out what it has to do with anything else. The story of the young girl with a rare genetic eating disorder meshes together with the vigilante killings in the end. Stick it out and the ending is satisfying, if a bit hard to entirely reconcile.

There will be sequels and I will be interested. The prose here is clean with only a few typos and writing issues. It is a page turner for sure with short chapters. I read this book on a cruise and found it to be enjoyable vacation reading with just enough social justice issues to make you think a little. Nicely done!