Kendra ElliotReviews

Retired police officer is foud dead and his daugter is missing. Detective Evan Bolton investigates the death of his mentor and dear friend. The case is a total mystery and gets more confusing as time goies by. Evan's girlfriend Rowan and her search and rescue dog Thor are also a big part of the story.

This was such an engaging and suspenseful read. It kept me guessing and glued to the pages. I liked the characters, they all had such interesting backstories. The search and rescue dog Thor was my absolute favorite, kind hearted and well trained. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series of all time.

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for a copy of this book.

Hidden was an enjoyable read - although a bit too long and convoluted to rate higher. I liked Jack and Lacey well enough and the crime was interesting if not anything new to the genre. I liked Lacey's profession as a forensic odontologist - it was interesting and I would've liked to see more of it being used. It kind of fades into the background as the romantic suspense aspects take over. The romance was alright, pretty straightforward practically instalove. I'm not sure I care about any of the other characters enough to read the rest of the series, but never say never. Overall 3 stars, maybe 3.5.

The sixth Columbia River book begins with Evan Bolton discovering the body of his friend and mentor Rob McLeod in the trunk of a car in a junkyard. He was tortured before his death. Then it is discovered that his daughter has disappeared. At first, it is assumed that his grandson was taken too but he returns from a couple of days with friends and is placed in a remote location with friends until his mother is located.

With the death of a someone in law enforcement, the pressure to find the killer is extreme. Many are going through Rob's old cases and the strange assortment of case files in his home office to try to identify who would want him dead.

Evan is facing additional pressure at work when fingerprints discovered at both Rob's house and his daughter's house indicate that he was on the scene. Rob knows the prints indicate someone probably in law enforcement is trying to frame him. However, he's relieved of duty and then kidnapped.

His live-in lover Rowan is certain that the same person who killed Rob has taken him. She and her search and rescue dog Thor have been involved since the beginning of the case when she was called in to see if she could track the missing daughter. And she's called in again later when the grandson goes missing from the supposedly safe location.

This story was fast paced, filled with action, and filled with tension as law enforcement tries to find answers before it is too late.

I loved the relationship between Evan and Rowan. I thought Rowan's emotions when Evan disappeared, harrowing though they were to read, were realistic. Fans of suspense will enjoy this story.

Readable but did not stand out in any way for me.

After Emily Mills discovers her employee, Lindsay, along with Lindsay's husband, Sean, dead, it brings back memories of finding her father dead. Her father's death caused Emily's sister, Tara, to leave home, and their mother to die by her own hand. These new deaths bring Zander Wells to the small Oregon town to investigate.
A nasty thread of racism runs through the town and Emily, her sister Madison, their aunts, and Tara, as well as the townspeople have to come to terms with this ugly reality.
A sad story highlighting the ugliness of racism.

Out West, FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick is called when a Senator's seventeen-year-old daughter Paige goes missing. Meanwhile in New York State, Sheriff Bree Taggert is called to a scene when two suitcases are found in the ditch of a rural road. The contain the dead bodies of two women bound with ball gags in their mouths.

Mercy's case leads her to New York State when it is determined that Paige had met a man online at a BDSM site and likely left to go with him. Evidence shows that she had been texting with a burner phone located in Bree's jurisdiction.

Mercy and Bree team up to find the missing girl and discover who killed the other two women. They discover that they have a lot in common and soon learn to trust each other. Their investigation is complicated by Bree's City Manager deciding to call public meeting and generally make the investigation more difficult. There is also a local reporter who seems to know more than he should who is letting out information Bree and Mercy had planned to keep quiet.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints. The villain has chapters labeled Him, Bree has her chapters, and so does Mercy. There are even a few chapters from Paige's point of view.

The story was exciting and packed with danger. Since I've read all the Mercy Kilpatirck stories and all the Bree Taggert stories, I would be glad to read more stories where they find reasons to work together.

This is a murder mystery investigation story. I didn't realize this was part of a series until I had started the book but that didn't matter. There was enough information to put the referenced previous events in context.

FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick returns home to a family who has shunned her in order to recoup and heal. Instead she falls in love, and gets involved in solving a twenty-year old crime that is starting again. Did hey put the wrong person in prison? Or is this a copycat. And will she find him before he kills again.

This is the first book by the author I've read and won't be the last. There are plenty of things for readers to ponder, many from a long time ago, others very fresh. The connection between them starts with the abduction and subsequent killing of a podcaster who specializes in true crime. He came to this remote part of Oregon, intent upon solving the murder of one teen, the almost murder of another, and the disappearance of three others, all occurring on a camping trip twenty years before.
If that wasn't enough for the law enforcement protagonists in the story, someone is intent upon destroying electrical substations by shooting their most vulnerable components with high powered rifles, threatening not only electricity, but communications in this remote area.
The way everything unfolds is done deftly, keeping the suspense level up there all the way to the end. If I have a quibble, it's that the event that set everything in motion twenty years ago doesn't strike me as severe enough to create what followed. That's a very minor issue as the book kept me engaged from page one to the end.

When FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick is assigned a murder case that will take her back to her hometown of Eagle's Nest, Oregon, she knows she will have to face the family that has shunned her for 15 years. The town of preppers and survivalists is the site of three recent murders in which a large number of weapons have been stolen. On her arrival, she meets the local police chief, Truman Daly. Truman's journey to Eagle's Nest began with the death of his partner that he believes he might have been able to prevent. Both find themselves embroiled in a case which may raise the issues from Mercy's past that caused her to leave town and an attraction that could prove inconvenient.

A Merciful Death is a good beginning to the Mercy Kilpatrick series, introducing many characters and the town of Eagle's Nest. It also introduces the world of preppers, with lots of interesting information and an intriguing mystery. However, the writing doesn't evoke much emotion, and it is difficult to connect with the characters or their romance. There are also parts of the narrative that are very slow and even the parts of the novel that are meant to be suspenseful don't really offer that much suspense. Overall, A Merciful Death succeeds as the introduction to a new series but that is where interest ends.½

This is book #5 in the Columbia River Series featuring FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick and her husband police chief Truman Daly. Murder investigation of a true-crime podcaster turns into an investigation of a 20 year old cold case.
The first half of the book felt a little slow, but the pace picked up nicely in the second half. The ending was breathtaking. There were couple of good twists, and I even guessed the last one. I really liked Mercy and Truman and their little found family. There was so much love and warmth in their interactions. It's refreshing to find a thriller where the main characters are actually happy in their lives.
I've not read the previous books in this series, but the author did a great job giving all the necessary background information. I don't feel like I missed anything. This book was actually so good that I want to read the series from the beginning.
Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for a copy of this book.

A missing and murdered podcaster's death leads to reexamining the disappearance of five teenagers twenty years earlier. The podcaster's body was found in the same place as two of the missing teens. All three had had their throats slit and wrists bound before they were dumped. However, one of the two teens managed to live but was injured so severely that he couldn't recall what happened to him or his friends.

The difference with the podcaster's placement was the addition of a black taped X over his mouth.

Both Mercy and Truman are involved in the case though they came to it from different points. Truman gets involved when his soon-to-be-adopted son Ollie calls to tell him that he has discovered a woman running for help while he was snowmobiling in the wilderness. She needs to let someone know that her podcaster husband has disappeared and that the lower floor of the cabin they were renting was full of blood.

Mercy is called to the river shore when the podcaster's body was found and was told by a spectator about the crime twenty years earlier. She was called in by Noelle Marshall, a sheriff's deputy that she's worked with before.

As they investigate both the current murder and the twenty-year-old crime, they discover that the survivor is Devin Bonner and go to interview him. They learn that he suffers from face blindness which makes everyone a stranger and has made him a recluse who lives with his mother. When his mother is attacked and almost killed, Ollie befriends him and wants to stay with him to help him out until his mother recovers.

But the killing hasn't stopped and efforts to involve Devin hasn't stopped either. The podcaster's missing jeep shows up outside the Bonner home and another podcaster's body is dumped outside of the motel room where Ollie and Devin are staying.

This story was filled with tension and twists and turns. I found it totally engaging and couldn't put it down until every detail had been figured out. I liked seeing Truman, Mercy and Ollie again in this fifth book in a series. I love the relationship between them all.

Kendra Elliott is going to be one of my favorite authors. She has written a wonderful suspense and kept me guessing. Her writing style reminds me of Karen Rose, Karin Slaughter and Laura Griffin, with the added bonus of hot sex. The love scene between Lacey Campbell and Jack Harper was one of the sweetest, most sensual love scenes I have read in a long time. I look forward to reading more by Ms. Elliott who is a 5 star author!!

I received [b: Known|13132661|Also Known As (Also Known As, #1)|Robin Benway|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354665105s/13132661.jpg|18309079] written by [a: Kendra Elliot|6150778|Kendra Elliot|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1343938011p2/6150778.jpg]. I got this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The format is an Amazon.Kindle e-book version.

[b: Known|13132661|Also Known As (Also Known As, #1)|Robin Benway|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354665105s/13132661.jpg|18309079] is an exciting adventure that is fifth in the "Bone Secrets" series. "Known"stands alone well. The writing is good. The strong female protagonists are not perfect, but intelligent, and tough to kill.

With my snowsuit on I leaped into the story, sinking into the deep and ice crusted snow. There is mystery, peril and suspense. It is difficult to figure who the real bad guys are.

When a novel takes me away from my reality and transforms me into another place, it is like falling in love. The only reason I did not read this 348 page novel in one sitting is because sleep overcame me.

As I can picture the characters of Gianna, Violet and Chris, as well as a few of the shady antagonists. The skill of the author showed them all as three dimensional.

Now, I want to go back and learn about Chris and his horrible past. I enjoyed the play between the characters and could see this made into a movie.

Violet is a teenager who is heroic, smart and a survivor. I would recommend this to a mature Y/A reader, or adult.

Content: There is no graphic sex scenes, but a steamy love scene. There is violence.

Too twisted to make an enjoyable read.

I did finish this but it is SLOW moving....too slow for me. There is virtually no romance going on. Truman is interested in her and she responds to the interest at the end of the book. The last 20% was what I was hoping for much sooner regarding the murders. I think I'll move on from this series for now.

Pretty good!

I don't understand how this book was rated so high. Ugh was how I felt after reading it. Two examples below but most of the story went this way.

Mercy, the lead character, acted more like a batty housewife than an FBI agent with 6 years of experience, who faced up to her father, left her home at 18 and paid her way through college. She kept her secret for 15 years but blabbed all of it after knowing a guy for a week.

Truman, the town Sheriff, spent all of his time chasing the first woman that comes to town, ignores the law and choses the wrong path, though Mercy and her siblings actions 15 years earlier led to his uncle's death.

Lastly, the author seemed to do zero research on preppers, though it was a central theme through out the book.

This is the first book in the Columbia River series, first off Zander Wells, he was the reason I chose this book to read, as my son’s name is Zander and it is an unusual spelling.
At the very beginning, I was reeled in and I could not put the book down.
A murder case from twenty years ago where someone was charged was done and dusted, until now when it happens again, the same kind of MO, does lightning strike twice?
Apart from the murders and the investigation, there was more to the book, there was romance and a lot of other stuff including diversity in a small town.
Now this book left me guessing and kept me wanting to read more. It was written well and I liked both Zander and Ava’s characters.
I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

FBI agent and a sheriff solve fires and deaths

I quite enjoyed this one and will certainly be continuing the series. One thing I love to find in fiction is a strong sense of place and an introduction to a new culture. The preppers of Oregon are certainly a new culture for me!

A pretty good start to this series. I enjoy the aspect of the FBI agent in a romance with the small town police chief. I can't wait to see where this relationship goes.

A nice continuation to the world created in the first book. We see more of Mercy and her reintegration back into her old life and progress in the relationship with Truman. I still like those two as a couple and can't wait to see more love and adventures.

This series is moving along nicely. The relationship between Mercy and Truman is sweet and refreshing. He loves her so much and she's really starting to get to the point where she realizes it's okay to love him too. I really enjoy these characters and the world being built around him.

The case in this book was also interesting. The accusations of withcraft put an unexpected spin on things. It was also interesting how parts of the case tied to both Mercy and Truman's past. I like how we're seeing their lives become intertwined more and more.

This is actually a pretty good series. I like the characters. I like the world they've built. I enjoy watching the FBI agent fall for the small town police chief and the both of them work together to solve crimes in their area. Mercy and Truman make a good team and I like the progress in their relationship especially since she's decided to no longer hold back. The murders in this book were kind of gruesome and terrible.