Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not.
A sought-after expert in criminal pathology, Charlie regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. Obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes, Charlie desires little else from life—no doubt because when she was sixteen, she herself survived a serial killer’s bloodbath: A man butchered the family of Charlie’s best friend, Holly, then left the girl’s body on a seaside boardwalk one week later.
Because of the information Charlie gave police, the Boardwalk Killer went underground. She kept to herself her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing her contact with ghosts might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, Charlie tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world.
Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli is telling Charlie that a teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. Bartoli suspects that after fifteen years, the Boardwalk Killer—or a sick copycat with his M.O.—is back. Time is running short for an innocent, kidnapped girl, and Bartoli pleads for Charlie’s help.
This is the one case Charlie shouldn’t go near. But she also knows that she may be the one person in the world who can stop this vicious killer. For Charlie—whose good looks disguise a world of hurt, vulnerability, and potent psychic gifts—a frantic hunt for a madman soon becomes a complex test of cunning, passions, and secrets. Aiding Dr. Stone on her quest to catch a madman is a ghostly presence with bad intentions: the fiery spirit of seductive bad boy Michael Garland who refuses to be ignored, though in his cat and mouse game they may both lose their hearts.
Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. And she sees the Boardwalk Killer coming for her.
I have been trying to read this book for at least two weeks. I just kept putting it down and really wanted to be done with it. Finally finished it today and I swear three pages from the end, I just wanted to put it down and finish it later but I hung in there.
Charlie is a serial killer expert. She is also a survivor of a serial killer attack that happened when she was a teenager. Ordinarily this would be just the sort of book I would like. She is called in to consult with the FBI on a case similar to the one from her past. Handsome FBI agent involved of course. But funnily enough(or not)although he is interested in her, she totally falls for a ghost named Michael. Not only is he a ghost, but he supposedly brutally murdered seven women. Charlie had been studying him because of this when he is attacked by a fellow prison inmate and dies in her arms. Okay so I have read books where the hero is a ghost in the past. But never have I read a romantic thriller where the main character falls for who she thinks is a dead serial killer! Kind of a crazy premise for a book especially with Charlie’s previous brush with a serial killer that kills her best friend and her friends family.
I know that Karen Robards is a best selling author but I just have to say-What was she thinking? The murder case itself is interesting and some of the other characters are interesting. The romance just wasn’t believable and really where can it go? The fact that this is book 1 of a series involving Charlie and Michael just seems kind of strange. I do think that as the story moves forward, Michael may be exonerated-but as he’s a ghost what good does that do him? And more importantly for me, I will not be reading it. I give it 2.5 stars.
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Interesting….I hate it when that happens when you pick up the book then put it down then force yourself to finish it, I had that happen – in the end it just never changes my opinion of it. Great honest review, I have seen this book around, but I wasn’t sure if it should be on my TBR list anytime soon – I am still debating if I would really enjoy it.