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FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident Roarke can’t believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a years-long string of “accidents” and murders, and who may well be that most rare of killers: a female serial.
Roarke’s hunt for her takes him across three states...while in a small coastal town, a young father and his five-year old son, both wounded from a recent divorce, encounter a lost and compelling young woman on the beach and strike up an unlikely friendship without realizing how deadly she may be.
As Roarke uncovers the shocking truth of her background, he realizes she is on a mission of her own, and must race to capture her before more blood is shed.
5 out of 5 (exceptional)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
There comes along, once in a while, a book that pits you out of your comfort zone. Those books are few and far between, and I really REALLY enjoy being pushed out of my comfort zone when it comes to my reading habits!!
THIS book, right here!
Its different and you all know how much I love different. You also know how much i LOVE getting into the mind of the bad guy, or in this case bad GAL. And you also know how much I dislike present tense books.
So I'm sitting here, telling you that I LOVED this book, and here's why it might surprise you.
Roarke gets his say in the third person, past tense. But Cara?? She gets HER say in the third person, PRESENT tense. And I truly loved the way the story is told! It took some getting used, flipping from Roarke to Cara, past to present but once I did, the book just flew!
The book takes place over 8 days, leading up to the 25th anniversary of Cara's family's massacre. While I'm still unsure what Cara had originally planned for that date, what she DID do, and the way it played out, was brilliant.
Roarke's reason for joining the FBI was The Reaper case, that he saw on the news at 9 years old. I loved the way it all came together.
Roarke and Cara's story is by no means finished. Cara is now on the Most Wanted list. Whether Roarke will apprehend her, though, is another matter. He is questioning everything: about himself, about Cara, and about his career. And they have a connection that they really shouldn't have.
I loved the way Sokoloff tells her story, kinda grabs you, and doesn't let go. I can't see how this is going to end, I really can't but I have book two, Blood Moon, to read next. I'd also like to read something else by Sokoloff, unrelated to this series.
Because I read it in one Sunday afternoon, and I didn't move off the sofa the whole time...
5 full stars.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
* Verified Purchase ~ September 2017 *
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Twenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace. The haunted child who was the only surviving victim of his rampage is now wanted by the FBI for brutal crimes of her own, and Special Agent Matthew Roarke is on an interstate manhunt for her, despite his conflicted sympathies for her history and motives. But when his search for her unearths evidence of new family slayings, the dangerous woman Roarke seeks - and wants - may be his only hope of preventing another bloodbath. It is highly recommended that you read Book 1 of the series, Huntress Moon, first.
5 out of 5 (exceptional)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
This is book two in this series, and you really REALLY should read book one before you read this one. I STRONGLY urge you to read that book anyway, because Huntress Moon was a 5 star read.
And so is this one!!
Cara is at large, but they don't think she is a danger to anyone who isn't classed as the lowest of all pond scum: drug dealers, traffickers, prostitution ring leaders. Then the body count goes up, and it appears there is a copycat killing in the same way that The Reaper killed Cara's family. And Roarke might need Cara's help to catch him.
Told again in the past for Roarke and present tense for Cara, it again gripped me and pulled me along at rocket speed in places! It meant that I had to slow down my reading, because I had to concentrate, and that's always a good thing in my opinion!
Cara is still saving and taking lives as she sees fit. Roarke is now chasing both Cara and The Reaper. I loved the part that Cara played in helping Roarke's investigation.
I can't word, not properly, what I feel about this book, indeed, this series, even at two books in, and you know how much that PAINS me, but I know this much: these books are pushing my reading way beyond my usual habits, and I am loving them!!
I'm not totally convinced that Cara and Roarke's story is finished, even if it ended as it did. I still think there is a deeper connection for these two people that hasn't fully manifested itself yet. I might be wrong, but this is what I'm feeling and you know how I love to share what I feel!
Not quite read in one sitting, that darn dayjob got in the way, but still a ...
5 star read!
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
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The hunt for mass murderer Cara Lindstrom is over. FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke has been working for this moment: the capture of a killer who savagely hunts the worst of humanity. But Roarke remains traumatized by his own near-death at the hands of the serial killer who slaughtered Cara’s family…and haunted by the enigmatic woman who saved his life. Then the sixteen-year-old prostitute who witnessed Cara4’s most recent murder goes missing, and suddenly pimps are turning up dead on the streets of San Francisco, killed with an MO eerily similar to Cara’s handiwork. Is a new killer on the loose with a mission even more deadly than hers? In the pulse-pounding third Huntress/FBI Thrillers book, Roarke will have to go on the hunt…and every woman he meets, even those closest to him, may prove deadly
4 out of 5 (very good)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
This is book three in this series, and you SHOULD read books one and two, Huntress Moon and Blood Moon before this one. It will give you a much better view of Cara and Roarke and what happened between them, and to each other in those books. Not all is recapped here AND because they are both 5 star reads!
This one, though? Not so much. Oh don't get me wrong, its still a powerful, really good read, it just doesn't have the same impact those two books did, on me, at least.
Cara is, at least in the beginning, in jail and although they KNOW she killed more men, it comes down to one, single case. THEN, pimps turn up dead, killed with the same blade that killed the victim they want to prosecute Cara for and she is released. Then more turn up dead, and Roarke is left wondering if Cara is to blame, or the teenager who witnessed Cara's last kill. Cara's cousin is missing, and Cara herself is in the wind.
Roarke continues to question himself and his career choice. He constantly questions WHY he is doing this, WHY Cara is so deep in his mind, and WHY doesn't he just, like she does, disappear. And I LOVE that. Because you never know which way he is going to go, and you are kept on your toes the whole way through.
Told again from Roarke in the past tense and Cara in the present, it grabbed me, but didn't quite pull me along kicking and screaming as books one and two did.
I STILL think there is that deeper connection for Roarke and Cara, and I STILL want to see how this pans out. It really is great being kept on my toes for that!
A solid, 4 star read.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
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FBI agent Matthew Roarke has been on leave, and in seclusion, since the capture of mass killer Cara Lindstrom—the victim turned avenger who preys on predators. Torn between devotion to the law and a powerful attraction to Cara and her lethal brand of justice, Roarke has retreated from both to search his soul. But Cara’s escape from custody and a police detective’s cryptic challenge soon draw him out of exile—into the California desert and deep into Cara’s past—to probe an unsolved murder that could be the key to her long and deadly career. Following young Cara’s trail, Roarke uncovers a horrifying attack on a schoolgirl, the shocking suicide of another, and a human monster stalking Cara’s old high school. Separated by sixteen years, crossing paths in the present and past, Roarke and fourteen-year-old Cara must race to find and stop the sadistic sexual predator before more young women are brutalized.
5 out of 5 (exceptional)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
And just like that! Back up to five full stars!
This is book 4 in the Huntress series, and I would STRONGLY recommend you read books one, Huntress Moon, book two, Blood Moon and book three, Cold Moon before you embark on this one. It will give you a much better understanding of Roarke, and of Cara and of what happened between them.
Roarke is on self imposed leave, and Cara is in the wind, on the run from the FBI. A phone call draws him out of that leave and on to a path Cara walked as a 14 year old.
And that path is dark! The book centres around the two weeks that Cara spent in Las Piedros High School and the death of two students in that time. It sets the road that Cara will walk that puts her into the FBI sights, those few short months ago. There are also similarities between cases of abducted and raped school girls that have been unsolved. And all the roads lead Roarke straight back to Las Piedros and the trail of a 14 year old murdress.
This is a much darker read than the other three books. I mean, THEY are no picnic but this book revolves around the abduction, rape and torture of school girls. It goes into some detail too. Some readers may find it difficult reading and some may have triggers. I struggled in places, and I have no such triggers.
It is, however, extraordinarily well written. We get Roarke in his usual third person/past tense and we get Cara in her third person/present tense. But its not until Roarke says he knows where Cara is, that I clicked. Cara here is not the PRESENT Cara. It's told from the 14 year old version of Cara, as she gives into the pull of the moons and she sets herself down her path.
I still have no idea, no clue how this is all going to end. I don't know if Roarke will walk away from the FBI, if he will catch Cara and bring her in. If Cara will stay on the run, if she will give herself up, or whatever she will do. Not a single flipping clue! And its frustrating, like insanely frustrating, not being able to see where this is going, its bloody amazing that Ive already been kept on my toes for 4 full length books and I still am none the wiser.
Book 5 is out soon and I hope I get to read that too.
5 full stars.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
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Revenge has no limits.
Special Agent Matthew Roarke has abandoned his rogue search for serial killer Cara Lindstrom. He’s returned to the FBI to head a task force with one mission: to rid society of its worst predators. But as the skeletal symbols of Santa Muerte, “Lady Death,” mysteriously appear at universities nationwide, threatening death to rapists, Roarke’s team is pressured to investigate. When a frat boy goes missing in Santa Barbara, Roarke realizes a bloodbath is coming—desperate teenagers are about to mete out personal, cold-blooded justice.
Hiding from the law, avenging angel Cara Lindstrom is on her own ruthless quest. She plans to stay as far away from Roarke as possible—until an old enemy comes after both her and the FBI, forcing her back into Roarke’s orbit. This time, the huntress has become the hunted . . .
3 out of 5 (good)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
This is book 5 in The Huntress/FBI Thrillers series, and it would really help to read those other four books before you read this one. HELP, but not totally necessary.
Because this one goes off in a totally different direction than the other four, and it's almost two stories in one: the rapist protesting and Cara Lindstrom's story, about hunting those hunting her.
This book is HEAVY on the rapist issue in colleges and universities across America, and HEAVY on the political impact of the new administration. Now, no names are mentioned, but, even being a UK resident, I am fully aware of who that talks about, and the impact his actions and those close to him is having across all walks of American life. I am aware of the small and (in my humble opinion) downright pitiful sentences dished out to young college men who are convicted of this crime. This book deals with an underground movement out to right those wrongs, and if someone dies for their crime, so be it.
I'm not saying they are right or wrong, but this book is, as I said HEAVY on that issue. And for me, the weakest of all five books.
Cara is in hiding and doing her thing, in that she is killing those she deems unworthy, and she is being hunted by an old adversary. Roarke's team is monitoring that hunt, and manages to alert Cara to what she may be facing. While not condoning what she does, at least she has closure there.
Roarke seems almost a different person here, and I don't know why.
We get Roarke, and Cara, and some other characters get a say, so we get to hear from everyone we need to.
I just can't put my finger on WHY I did not enjoy this one as much as the other books. And you know how that frustrates me so!
There were two scenes, though, that I am almost CERTAIN I have read elsewhere. Whether previously in this series, or somewhere else entirely, but as I was reading, my brain is almost writing the scenes word for word. It's driving me freaking NUTS that I cannot figure out where I read those two scenes before. I may never be able to place them. I just needed to mention it.
Are there more planned, does anyone know?? I still think that Cara and Roarke have more to come, and I need some sort of closure for them, whichever way it goes down.
3 stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
I'm the Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of the Amazon bestselling crime and supernatural thrillers The Harrowing, The Price, Book of Shadows, The Unseen, The Space Between, and the new Thriller Award- nominated Huntress/FBI thriller series: Huntress Moon, Blood Moon, Cold Moon. Bitter Moon, Hunger Moon. The New York Times Book Review has called me "a daughter of Mary Shelley" and my novels "some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre." I'm a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where I majored in theater and minored in everything that Berkeley has a reputation for. After college I moved to Los Angeles, where I've made an interesting living doing novel adaptations and selling original thriller scripts to various Hollywood studios. In my stories I like to cross the possibility of the supernatural with very real life explanations for any strangeness going on, and base the action squarely in fact. THE UNSEEN is based on real paranormal research conducted at the Duke University parapsychology lab, and BOOK OF SHADOWS teams a Boston homicide detective and a practicing Salem witch in a race to solve what may be a Satanic killing. THE SPACE BETWEEN, is an edgy supernatural YA about a troubled high school girl who is having dreams of a terrible massacre at her school, and becomes convinced that she can prevent the shooting if she can unravel the dream. I also have written paranormal romance (THE SHIFTERS, KEEPER OF THE SHADOWS) and the non-fiction workbooks SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS and WRITING LOVE, based on my internationally acclaimed workshops and blog (http://screenwritingtricks.com) I live in Los Angeles and in Scotland, with Scottish crime author Craig Robertson. When I'm not writing I dance: jazz, ballet, salsa, Lindy, swing - I do it all, every chance I get.