Crush by Alan Jacobson

Have I mentioned how much I love my new nook?  Yes, I said new nook.  And yes, that makes nook number three in one year.  I love to read and my husband loves to buy things that plug in and look fancy, so voila!  I have a new nook. It also means that he got to have my nook color so really, it was a win/win.  At least that's what he's telling himself.

My first objective with my new nook was to clear off some of the books that had just been laying around on my home screen not getting read.  Crush was first on the list.  Had I known it would was so suspenseful, I would have read it much sooner.  When I first downloaded it, I remember having reading a quote from
James Patterson that said, "Karen Vail is as compelling a character as any created by Patricia Cornwell, or yours truly."  High praise.  Patricia Cornwell's character Kay Scarpetta is my all-time favorite female character so I just had to read this for myself to find out!

I wouldn't go so far as to say Karen Vail is as compelling as my girl Kay, but she is a close second.  As an FBI profiler, mom and all around down-to-earth chick, Karen Vail is pretty much who I want to be when I grow up.  In this particular novel, she finds herself thrown into the middle of a brutal murder while on a mandatory vacation.  It turns out her last case (I didn't know this was part of a series or I would have started with the first one...my mom would be wagging her finger at me if she ever found out) was especially wicked, messed her up a little in the head and the department ordered her to take some time off.  In Napa.  With her handsome police boyfriend.  Without her kid. I was starting to get a little jealous of Karen until she rolled up on a dead body during a tour of a winery. Bummer.

Karen's nature dictates that she cannot just go about her way and finish her vacation.  This murder has all the markings of a serial killer and catching a serial killer is what she does best.  Thanks to her understanding boyfriend and a local police force that eventually recognizes her expertise, Karen stays on to help.  She races against the clock to outsmart the killer and prevent the bodies from piling up.  What she didn't count on was the killer using the safety of her son (who stayed back in Virgina) to get to her as a way of trying to derail her from the case.  As a professional, Karen is cool under pressure.  But as a mom, she is human.  This case shakes her to her core and causes her to question her career choice on more than one occasion.

 I liked the suspense element of this book...A LOT.  I haven't read a page turner like this in quite some time.  The plot takes some pretty sharp turns and has a surprise ending that I did not see coming.  I love that quality in a book.  I will admit that I feel hoodwinked and naive for a little bit, but then I get over it and dive right into the next book.  I also thought the author did an a thorough and informed job weaving the intricacies of the wine country/industry into his book.  It was evident that he did his research and he did it well.  Reading it made me want to visit Napa and all of those fabulous wineries! 


If this had been a stand alone work and not one in a series it would have been a perfect pick for me.  Alas, I will be spending some time backtracking and reading the rest of the Karen Vail series...just not in order.  Please don't tell my mom.