The serial killer who slaughtered Winter’s parents has come out of retirement, leaving bloody victims in his wake. Special Agent Winter Black has spent her entire life preparing for this moment, and she intends to end the man who took everything from her and solve the disappearance of her little brother—no matter the cost.

Though she’s taken off the case, it doesn’t take Winter long to discover that The Preacher isn’t after just another victim.

He’s after her.

In his mind, he’s killing Winter over and over. And with each new murder, he’s leaving a message, one that is holy in the most chilling way.

When the madman kidnaps a fellow agent, Winter is desperate to find him before he kills another person she cares about.

When I started reading this book I was enjoying my bank holiday. By the end of the read I was stressed, anxious, and in a lot of pain. I’d begun contemplating life from a depressive viewpoint. Sometimes life really sucks!!!

As I mentioned in my first review of this series I questioned how long the plot between Winter and The Preacher would last. It’s always a worry when a lead has history with a killer as there is – in my opinion – a very fine line in getting it done well.

What I enjoyed about this book that I found unusual was how self-involved and vendetta-orientated each character was. This was picked up by the characters themselves later in the book.

We start with Winter blinded by revenge. Noah blinded by his feelings for Winter. Aiden blinded by his need to be superior and career advance. Then you have Bree who quite honestly seems to be questioning the sanity of the people she is with!

Winter as a character goes through a lot in the book but I enjoyed that this hardship also showed in her physical appearance. I think too often FMC’s in crime novels seem to be able to survive a ton of trauma that only seems to mentally affect that. Bringing Winter’s hardships to reflect through her physical self as well as mentally gave more connection to the read.

We are still on the merry-go-round with Winter, Noah, and Aiden. Honestly, I don’t know what direction the author will go in or which choice would be correct for Winter’s character. I still hold out hope for a Winter/Noah pairing.

Sun Ming, prominent in Book 2, wasn’t prevalent in this book and I didn’t miss her. I much preferred getting to know Bree whose character is much easier to connect to and understand. Honestly, Sun Ming was way too flammable to be in an already super charged group. Bree’s unflappable and calm nature is far more suited to the group.

Aiden is still a dick. In fact, he’s a much bigger dick than before, for a character that I assume will be in much of the series, I don’t feel adhered to him at all. Even having bits of the story in his P.O.V didn’t warm me up to him. Honestly think I might have the ick with him. If, at some point in this series he gets together with Winter – I might vomit!!

As for The Preacher. In all three books thus far, we have had little P.O.V snippets. As a character, The Preacher is interesting because he doesn’t present as what we would stereotypically think of as a killer. In many ways he challenges the view of what it means. He reminded me a lot of some of the ‘unsubs’ featured in ‘Criminal Minds’.

Crime shows as we know, can be graphic and dark or predictable and boring. I could clearly see the story as it played out – on a detailed level and I don’t get the complete 100% picture often.

As opposed to other crime books I’ve read, I didn’t have the adrenaline running as I read this – nice surprise! – but I was fully captivated while reading and transported into Winter’s world.

I give this book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐