Friday, October 14

Book Review: Without Mercy by Ava Strong




Author: Ava Strong
Title: Without Mercy
Series: Dakota Steele FBI Suspense Thrillers #1
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Format: ebook
Pages: 233
Published: June 14th 2022
Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon)

Summary: 
MMA champ-turned-FBI Special Agent and BAU specialist Dakota Steele is as tough as they come—and as brilliant, too, able to crack serial killers that no one else can. But this new case is unlike anything she’s seen, and Dakota, weighed down by the demons of her own past, may have just reached her breaking point.

Dakota’s last case broke her, driving her to quit the FBI and return to the hard streets of her South Dakota hometown. She is weighed down by a lifetime of fighting, and by the demons of her dark past: her missing sister who vanished when Dakota was a teenager. Her estranged father, who she still can’t bring herself to speak to.

The killer she let get away.

Dakota has hit her low point.

Only the most desperate case—and the tough love of her partner—can lure her back.

Victims are disappearing along empty stretches of desert highway, with no witnesses. The landscape is desolate, the people tough and dangerous. And the police are stumped.

Time is running out before the next victim is taken, and it’s up to Dakota to connect the dots.

Can Dakota stop him in time?

Or will her own demons take her for good?


Review:
Randomly stumbled upon this on Amazon. I've been itching for a good thriller and mystery for the spooky season! 

Here we follow Dakota. MMA champ-turned-FBI Special Agent and BAU specialist. Her last case broke her and she had to quit. The killer got away. This last case brought back the demons of her lifetime of fighting and her sister who vanished when she was a teen. Only the most desperate case and the tough love of her partner will bring her back. People are disappearing along the empty stretches of a desert highway. No witnesses and everyone is stumped. Time is running out and it is up to Dakota and her partner to connect the dots.

Dakota has a lot of issues. That last case certainly broke her. I can see why. It would've probably broken the toughest cookie. They couldn't find the killer. But I liked her a lot and I adored her partner. 

I hope the next book has more character-building. I feel like we got to know Dakota a little bit but I want more. Also, I want to learn more about Marcus. I feel like there is a lot under the surface for both of them. I hope we get to meet more characters along the way! 

The mystery was good and I had no idea who and how.

I enjoyed this and that ending left me wanting more. The last couple of pages had me all "WHAT?!" There is something at play here and it may shake all of the FBI to its core. Can't say what, but I feel there is something coming. Now I need to read on. 

This was pretty short but it worked. That ending and the characters have me wanting to read the next one! The mystery was good! I had zero ideas on the who and how. I couldn't stop reading because I had to know! In the end, I recommend this if you like mysteries and thrillers. I'll give this 4 stars. 




3 comments:

Mary Kirkland said...

The people who look for killers in real life are heroes for sure. I could never do that line of work. This sounds really good.

Blodeuedd said...

You always managed to find them

Carole Rae said...

Mary, for real. JP and I have been watching Criminal Minds and I can't imagine.

B, :D sometimes I get lucky