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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great adventure, July 23, 2009
This review is from: One Scream Away (Mass Market Paperback)
I really appreciated the cat-and-mouse back and forth as we saw how Chevy Banks (the Bad Guy) was stalking, taunting and teasing Beth Denison (our Female Lead), and as Neil Sheridan (Our Hero) started to interfere with his game. The back and forth between the characters kept me reading, not wanting to put the book down.
Our Hero was a good guy but damaged by his past. Our Female Lead was tough and feisty and in over her head. The Bad Guy was a combination of mentally ill and pure evil. The dolls push the creepy factor over the edge.
Unfortunately, this book didn't work as well for me as a romance. I didn't really feel the attraction between the leads, although the author told me it was there. It also broke one of my rules of romantic suspense- the lead characters didn't work as a team to face the danger. I liked each of them individually well enough, both as people and as part of the story. There were some good secondary characters as well.
Once I decided to read it as a thriller rather than romantic suspense, I completely enjoyed reading this book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting and thrilling!!, December 30, 2009
This review is from: One Scream Away (Mass Market Paperback)
Seven years ago, Chevy Bankes did something horrific to Beth. She's been living with her ghosts ever since then. Beth has learned to live on her own and has raised her daughter by herself. But she isn't prepared to face Bankes when she finds out that he's been released from prison, and that now he's after her. Neil, an ex-FBI agent, has somehow gotten himself roped into the case. Now it's causing him to have to dig up his own ghosts and face them, too. Can two people who lost love earlier in their lives learn to love each other, can Beth keep her daughter out of Bankes' hands, and can Neil save the woman he loves from her worst nightmare?
One Scream Away was one of those books that you stay up late reading and that you can't put down, and that you yell at whoever interrupts you because it was so addicting good. It was exciting, suspenseful, romantic, mysterious... everything a book should be.
Without giving away anything, there were many parts in this book that I felt my heart rip when I read what happened. The characters were tangible, like I could pluck them out of the book and set them on my table and watch the rest of the story play out. But they were also relatable, so most of the time I felt like the characters themselves.
Pacing and plot were fantastic in this one. It was impossible to see what would happen next, and Kate Brady keeps you guessing until the very last page, and surprises you at the end.
The writing was not the strongest point. It wasn't bad per se, it just wasn't very good either. Acceptably mediocre is the best phrase I can think of, because it wasn't Dante, but it wasn't hard to read.
My only other complaint was that a lot of the times, Brady describes what things look like, but not what things feel like. Although the characters were very relatable, I found my own imagination supplying the feelings of the characters while I read this.
Content: There was no elicit sex in this book, although scenes are mentioned and skipped over. There was a lot of language (hey, we're talking about FBI agents and Police officers and Serial Killers here.) and some rather vulgar details. Murder is not exactly pleasant. Although it wasn't mapped out in extreme detail, the images left in the reader's mind are ones that are not for the faint of heart. Or stomach.
Recommendation: Ages 18+
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent., August 22, 2009
This review is from: One Scream Away (Mass Market Paperback)
Kate Brady has won or been a finalist in many writing contests, including the Golden Heart from the Romance Writers of America, the Maggies, and the Suzannah. One Scream Away is her debut novel.
After a previous case goes horribly wrong, Neil Sheridan leaves the FBI behind and embarks on a quest to drown out his sorrows in alcohol and woman whose names he can't even recall. Now working for a private security organization, the scars from his past emerge when an old colleague and friend knocks on his door about a case which is eerily similar to a disturbing one from his past. Across the country, one by one, women are brutally murdered in comparable means to resemble antique dolls. The connection- Beth Denison- a single mother who is receiving calls from the killer and at one time has researched the dolls. A beautiful woman with a secret she'll do anything to keep. After Beth surrenders to Neil, both in his embrace and in his protection, Neil discovers that seven years ago Beth was attacked by the killer named Chevy Bankes. Beth created a new life for herself, far removed from the tragedy of that night. But now Bankes is out of prison and after her, killing women in prelude to his real desire- her. It may just be too late for her and her daughter when the truth comes out. Neil knows Beth isn't telling him everything, like why Bankes really wants her screaming, or why she'll consider the unthinkable- facing Bankes alone.
The only real fault I have with the book was the secret Beth was keeping. I figured it out very early on. Then again, the author may have written it or wanted it this way. I didn't feel it ruined the story either.
I think, in a story like this, where there is so much trauma from the past, Kate Brady did a remarkable job of understanding her characters and reactions from them. This wasn't just a romantic suspense, but a delve into the psyche of human nature and how we rebound from heartbreak and previous experience. This may be a bit too deep of a statement for a fiction book, but from a writers perspective, it made the plot flow well and engages the reader without them understanding why. I felt it was worth mention because a great author does this well. This book is well worth the read for the characters alone, both antagonist and protagonist, you walk away, or close the book, without questions and with truly feeling what made them tick. I was particularly pleased with the ending. Without having to put up a spoiler alert, this wasn't a quick, wham-bam-thank-you, Mam finish. The suspense slowly built until the last page. As previously stated, the plot flowed well, was well spaced, and there weren't any areas where I lost interest.
One Scream Away, by Kate Brady, is one heck of a break-out book from a talented emerging author.
Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer
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