Customer Reviews

Blood Evidence (NCIS Series #2)

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Blood Evidence continues where Paid in Blood left off. Commander Will Coburn's NCIS team is called in to rescue a Marine's kidnapped daughter. The kidnappers are a local gang involved in illegal drugs and weapons. During the rescue, Will's team discovers that they are also involved in the third world slave trade. There is a violent gun battle at the farm that ends with another gruesome discovery.

The body of a Marine, missing for seventeen years is found after an explosion. Found with him is a charm belonging to a girl murdered long ago. Her case is a cold case thought to have been linked to a serial killer that was caught soon after her murder.

At the same time all this is happening, Nita, the team's medical examiner, is caught up in her own troubles. Her home life has deteriorated and she has turned to alcohol to numb the pain. This has come to Will's attention and he finds he must deal with her marriage problems while still trying to come to grips with his own divorce.

The investigation ensues and they soon find it involves a powerful US Senator, the girl's stepfather. Digging around for answers in the years old murder turns up plenty of skeletons long thought buried. It finds corruption, blackmail and murder in the corridors of power in DC.

As exciting as all the action and the investigation is, I was drawn more to the story of Nita Tomlinson. Her personal problems stem from a hard life as a child with a mother that was never there. She led a poor life and had no respect for her mom and as soon as she could, she left and never looked back. Her childhood trauma has affected her adult life in ways she could never have guessed and it is destroying her marriage.

She finds her mother and after a fight she watches as her mother is run down in an attempted murder. As her mother lies on the asphalt, moments from death, Nita uses her training to save her life. She knows she is destined to fail and finally, after years of running, faces her life. She prays for the first time and her mother fights back from death.

This epiphany leads her back home to her husband and child. The most memorable moment of the book follows soon after as she seeks to mend her marriage by admitting her weaknesses in front of her husband's church. It was a very powerful scene.

The action and pace are as excellent as they could be. The characters are brought to life through the well thought and written story. Mel has included plenty of the science and methodology behind crime scene investigations but in a way that does not leave the reader feeling dumb. Another must read from Mel Odom.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) team has another case in this phenomenal sequel to PAID IN BLOOD. NCIS Commander Will Coburn is called into the kidnapping of the daughter of a Marine captain. The team assembles to rescue the hostage only to stumble upon evidence of a cold case involving murder. Will and his team soon find themselves neck deep in the political machinations of Washington, DC, while following the trail of the evidence. Meanwhile, team member and medical examiner, Nita Tomlinson, is struggling with her family life and her drinking is beginning to become an issue. Will the NCIS team be able to resolve this cold case and allow a grieving mother peace? And what choices will Nita make in her personal life?

BLOOD EVIDENCE is an absolutely riveting thriller! The investigative details are both informative and entertaining as Mel Odom does an excellent job at explaining the reasoning behind each step of the investigation. The twists and turns will keep readers on their toes, as Mr. Odom throws in a few surprises along the way. In fact, this reviewer thought she had figured out the entire plot early on but this was obviously not the case due to the clever plotting by Mel Odom.

The character development is superb in BLOOD EVIDENCE. Will's character continues to struggle with his role as a now divorced father who is trying to balance his visitations with his two children and his duties at work. However, it is Nita who takes a central role in BLOOD EVIDENCE. She, too, is struggling in her identity as a mother and a wife. Her husband, Joe, is a solid Christian man and his faith terrifies Nita in ways she is unable to vocalize to him. Mel Odom does yet another fantastic job at interweaving realistic issues with the Christian faith as BLOOD EVIDENCE deals with marriage, infidelity, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, childhood traumas, and death without being overbearing or preachy in any manner. In fact, the last 100 pages or so had this reviewer in tears due to the powerful emotions and strong testament of faith conveyed by Mel Odom.

BLOOD EVIDENCE is a wonderfully action packed thriller! Readers should be prepared for a wild ride into the dirty underside of politics through the eyes of the NCIS team. BLOOD EVIDENCE can be easily read as a stand alone novel but there are tiny pieces of each team members' character that are being carefully crafted together to create an overall picture of the NCIS team led by Will Coburn. Mel Odom demonstrates with BLOOD EVIDENCE that he is an absolute master at combining action packed adventures with the tenets of the Christian faith. BLOOD EVIDENCE is easily recommended!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

This is the second book in Mel Odom's series on the Naval Criminal Investigative Services. The head of the team, Will Coburn, is separated from his wife, and he is trying to spend more time with his children. But he is called away to rescue a teenage girl who has been kidnapped. In the course of the rescue, they stumble on the corpse of a Marine who has been missing for 17 years. Inside the pants cuff of this Marine, they find a charm from a girl who had been murdered 17 years ago, supposedly by a serial killer. How did the charm get there? Is there a connection to the serial killer? The investigation leads the team into twists and turns in the plot that made this story a page turner that I could not put down.

The medical examiner on the team, Nita Tomlinson, has become an expert in forensics, but she finds the roles of wife and mom to be stifling. She grew up without a father and with a promiscuous mother who drank too much and often abandoned her, and Nita has no feel for how to act as a wife and mom. She feels compelled to visit her mother, with whom she has not talked in fourteen years. Though hurt feelings remain and the relationship is strained, Nita and her mother move one step closer to understanding one another.

The pacing of this novel is excellent, and the characters are so real they come to life. I also enjoyed the many details about how the criminal investigation and forensics jobs are conducted. This is the work of a master story-teller who seems to get better with each novel.

NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) Commander Will Coburn lost his marriage due to the demands of his job. Now, he hopes he won't become estranged from his teenage children as well, but his job puts a huge responsibility on him. He must first lead his team to track down an apparent kidnap victim--a teenage girl with problems of her own. While investigating the kidnapping, though, Will and his NCIS team finds evidence of another crime--a long-ago murder of a marine. Since the marine was still in the service when he was killed, this is definitely NCIS business.

The more Will pushes the investigation, the more layers he peels back. But there's political pressure for him to back off, especially when the Will turns up evidence that a long-solved crime might not have been solved after all. The victim's step-father is now a congressman who's very much in a position to make life miserable for Will and the entire NCIS. Meanwhile, one of Will's most important team members, pathologist Nita Tomlinson, is desperately trying to protect herself from pain--in the worst way possible.

Will has his faith to turn to, but Nita long before rejected faith. In fact, it's her inability to live up to the trust her husband puts in her that frustrates Nita most.

Author Mel Odom delivers a high-quality thriller. Although we can guess the identity of the criminal at the heart of Will's troubles fairly quickly, Odom delivers plenty of twists and turns as Will searches for the evidence that will let him go after even the most powerful. Odom's experience in criminal investigations shows through clearly, allowing him to involve us as readers in the case--without ever sounding like he's giving us lectures.

BLOOD EVIDENCE is published by Tyndale, a religious publisher, and faith is an important element in the story. Odom walks the balance carefully, however, making the story enjoyable as a pure thriller for those who may not be as firmly rooted in faith as Tyndale's normal audience. Resolution of the Nita subplot does, however, sometimes get a bit heavy on the faith side. I appreciated, however, that Odom was careful to let us know that the powerful congressman was a member of the conservative party--evil lies in men, not in particular institutions.

Violent gang members, dead bodies, dangerous relationships, dirty politics, luminol, assault rifles and a serial killer all feature in Blood Evidence, the second installment of Mel Odom's NCIS trilogy.

Commander Will Coburn is the lead investigator into the kidnapping of a young girl which plunges Will's specialist NCIS team into seventeen year old mystery of the murder of Commander Laura Ivers daughter and the contemporaneous disappearance of USMC Gunnery Sergeant George Haskins.

As the investigation unfolds, the team's medical examiner Dr Nita Tomlinson is battling her own inner demons, questioning her commitment to marriage and motherhood as her inadequacies begin to overwhelm her. Seeking refuge in her work, Nita makes some poor choices that may destroy not only her family and career but her very soul.

Mel Odom has again excelled, writing a novel that is replete with action, intrigue and fabulous character development. The meticulous details of a forensic investigation including autopsy descriptions, criminal profiling and ballistics information is smoothly integrated into the story, providing great interest without becoming overwhelming. There is enough military jargon and explanations of modern weaponry to keep any man enthralled and the relational threads, from Will's struggles as a single parent to Nita's marital issues, are just as expertly handled and will resonate with both male and female readers.

Mel's story held me captivate for the entire 435 pages and I eagerly anticipate the final instalment in this absorbing series to interact more with Will, Shel, Estrella, Remy, Maggie and Nita

NCIS: Blood Evidence, by Mel Odom, is the 2nd novel in his NCIS series. But they don't necessarily need to be read in order. It's definitely a stand-alone book. I'm obviously a big fan of Odom's work, so I jumped at the chance to read this one as well.

Commander Will Coburn of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is called away from a night out with his kids when he must go investigate a kidnapping incident. Through a dangerous rescue attempt, strange mysteries begin unraveling and several cold cases begin opening up. And it becomes clear right away that powerful rich and political figures are involved in covering up at least a couple deaths. As more and more questions arise, the NCIS team must race against the clock to track down the truth behind two 17-year-old mysteries that seemed to be intertwined.

Medical examiner Nita Tomlinson is also dealing with troubles at home. Feeling trapped in her marriage, Nita begins seeking out other distractions. But even while trying to flee from her problems, she realizes something is missing in her life.

Drama infused in a fast-paced, murder mystery, Odom does a wonderful job of integrating Christian elements and faith without becoming preachy. The character development with Nita was very well written. Her story of redemption is a wonderful subplot to the ongoing investigations.

With interesting and colorful characters and realistic medical terminology, Blood Evidence is must-read series for any CSI or NCIS fan. This action-packed mystery culminates into an exciting climax that won't disappoint!

I have now read all three books in this series and enjoyed all of them. I particularly liked Blood Evidence. I was easily caught up in Nita's problems and wondering how she would resolve them. The crimes that the team was investigating was interesting also. The action sequences were exciting as well. I hope that Mr. Odom returns to the series someday.

I am very happy that Amazon had the first book free as it introduced me to a new and fantastic author Mel Odom. The series NCIS was wonderful and kept me on my toes gather clues that Mel dropped along the way. I worked as hard as the team for those clues to who did what and how they were going to capture everyone. Blood Evidence left me waiting for the next book, as he did not finish describing all the characters. He not only had several crimes to solve but he wove in the lives of the team. This time it was Nita. .... I had the third book waiting thank goodness or I would have gone crazy waiting for the next installment! I was in the military and I enjoyed how the team came together and dealt with others. Very realistic, and I Loved the book!

the condition of the book was fantastic ... came in great time... the story was just like the movies only better because i could read at my own speed & enjoy it all day where ever i was .... highly recommened

BLOOD EVIDENCE is the second book in Mel Odom's NCIS Series. Once again, we follow the investigative team under the leadership of Commander Will Coburn. When their current case is linked to the death of a Marine captain's daughter who was murdered 17-years-ago, they follow their leads all the way to Washington D.C.

BLOOD EVIDENCE allows us a closer look at some of the members that make of Will's team, seeing both the personal and professional struggles that these strategic players deal with.

A great thriller with twist and turns that keep you turning page after page. Again, not a romance book by far, but a great read for those of you who like suspense.