Description:
When millionaire Paul Wheeler is murdered, his family retains renowned lawyer Derek Mitchell to defend the victim’s nephew Creighton— although the police have not charged the young man with the crime. Wheeler’s mistress, Julie Rutledge, who is also a suspect, believes that Creighton is the killer, despite his rock-solid alibi, and she’ll do almost anything in her quest to prove his guilt—even ruin Derek’s career. But the more Derek learns of Creighton’s darker side, especially his bizarre fascination with movie murders, the more he comes to believe Julie is right. The clock ticks down to a shocking ending as Derek and Julie join forces to find the truth. Has Creighton begun reenacting cinema’s goriest scenes? And who will be his unwilling costars? They won’t know until the final SMASH CUT.
I feel the need to remind you before writing this review that until a year or so ago, I read almost exclusively women's lit like this. Sandra Brown used to be a favorite author of mine, until I started expanding my horizons. Then, when I started to learn how many other great books there are out there, woman's lit lost its appeal. There are many authors whose books I don't even try to read anymore. There are some whose books I've tried to read and failed miserably. Sandra Brown's last few books, in my opinion, have not been nearly as good as some of her earlier works. I wasn't sure if that's because my tastes are changing, or if the quality of her work has diminished, so I was hesitated before reading this one too. I'm really glad that I picked it up.
This book isn't a whodoneit mystery; it's more about how the main characters are going to get out of their current pickle. And of course, because it's women's lit, they swap spit and do the horizontal mambo a few times. For me, though, the appeal of this book was the mystery... what's the bad guy going to do next and how are they going to catch him.
I'm admittedly a mystery writer's dream. I just follow the story and make little to no effort in solving the mystery before the author spells it out for me. As such, I didn't foresee the twist at the end. That's a given; but I think it will be a surprise for most... I don't think it's integral to the story, per say, but it's a surprise.
Overall, I liked the book. I liked that the focus was more on the mystery and the villain than it was on the romance. I think it was a good page turning mystery. And I think it's worth saying that this is the first book I've read that that has ever made me gasp out loud. That almost made it worth reading all on its own. (It happened somewhere in the middle... I won't say where, because I don't want to ruin the surprise.)
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