When the body of a young woman is found, tied to her bed and the victim of a brutal attack in her own home, Detective Morgan Brookes is sickened by what she finds as she searches the house. And unprepared for the nightmares it inspires about her childhood.

When the DNA collected gives a positive ID, Morgan can’t wait to put the attacker behind bars. But the person it matches to is already in prison. How could the DNA of someone who has been locked up for over twenty years have shown up in Morgan’s crime scene? And then they make another close match. To Morgan herself.

Faced with the impossible proof that she is somehow connected to this case, Morgan delves deep into the crimes of a killer who stalked the Lake District two decades ago. But distracted by the old case, she misses the signs that he has found a new victim. And when he strikes close to home, Morgan finally realises that she has been living on borrowed time. To find this killer, it’s clear she must confront the nightmares in her past…

I really need to start buying Phifer’s books in paperback. Behind Lisa Regan, she is the 2^nd author I fell in love with on Kindle.

So I kind of read half of this and then forgot about it. I read the rest of it today. I was stuffing envelopes at work, and it seemed like the perfect time to multitask. Picking up from the end of book one, the beginning of this book felt a little slow to me but that might have just been pulling back from the intensity I’d felt at the end of book 1.

Morgan Brookes is a character that I just easily connect to. I find her fiery and passionate. I suppose it could be argued that her ‘magnet for trouble’ attitude is a bit cliché, but honestly, I think we all carry around a titled attitude, regardless of what it’s called. What I liked about this book is that the characters, in their relationships take things slow. Friendships move along steadily; any possible relationships or feelings move similarly. It is comforting to see things develop slowly like they would in real life and not how you see them on TV and in films.

Let me tell you, the twist in this story. I WAS NOT READY FOR IT!!!

Seriously, it hit me like a sucker punch. It’s as juicy and explosive as you’re thinking!

I’m not going to get into that AT ALL because any point around that could potentially give the game away.

Relationship wise, whatever might or might not be blossoming between Morgan and Ben is something I hope will continue. As characters they meld together very well but there is still room for exploration and growth. I can see their different attitudes and actions, and while they work well together, I can clearly see them as two separate people.

The pace was good. There is a good blend of information versus high action and adrenaline. I will pretty much always enjoy getting an adrenaline rush from reading a good crime book. No exception here.

This was also a book that I got to ruminate upon after. There was a little traffic when I was driving home from work, so I got the time to pause and think of the plot and the ending and what that might mean for the characters moving forward.

I already have book 3 in my kindle library, so I know for a fact I’ll be diving into that asap!

I usually have something (I know!) some niggling little irritation, but I really didn’t. This excited me and captivated me, and I was so consumed in what I was reading that I didn’t see the time flying past.

I give this book 5 stars.