Sophia Rose is here with a Prime first read, A Killer’s Wife by Victor Methos. This is the first in the Desert Plain crime thriller series. Grab a cup and see what she liked about this police procedural and courtroom thriller.

A Killer’s Wife
by Victor Methos
Series: Desert Plain #1
Genres: Crime Fiction
Source: Prime
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate

Rating:

From the bestselling author of The Neon Lawyer comes a gripping thriller about a prosecutor confronted with the darkest part of her past and the worst fears for her future…

Fourteen years ago, prosecutor Jessica Yardley’s husband went to prison for a series of brutal murders. She’s finally created a life with her daughter and is a well-respected attorney. She’s moving on. But when a new rash of homicides has her ex-husband, Eddie, written all over them—the nightmares of her past come back to life.

The FBI asks Jessica to get involved in the hunt for this copycat killer—which means visiting her ex and collaborating with the man who tore her life apart.

As the copycat’s motives become clearer, the new life Jessica created for herself gets darker. She must ask herself who she can trust and if she’s capable of stopping the killer—a man whose every crime is a bloody valentine from a twisted mastermind she’s afraid she may never escape.

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Sophia Rose’s Review

A Federal Prosecutor finds her painful past might be just what the FBI needs to bring down a serial killer.  I was eager to return to Victor Methos’ books after devouring the first in his Shepard and Gray series a few years back.  A Killer’s Wife provided the police procedural and courtroom drama paired with the personal story of the characters.  I loved the blend and read swiftly through particularly the last half when there were some delicious twists and turns to make me gasp.

A Killer’s Wife introduces Federal Prosecutor Yardley and FBI Agent Baldwin who are brought together to stop a vicious killer.  Jessica Yardley has worked hard to get to a place in her life when she’s known for being a good lawyer and responsible mom with a safe home and growing relationship with a kind man rather than the woman who was married for years to a serial killer and didn’t know it until his arrest.

Of course, that past with Eddie is just what is needed now when a seeming copycat is working.  Baldwin and Yardley have a friendly history so he knows what he’s asking her to do when he comes to her for help.  I appreciated how the author developed that side of the story as Jessica steeled herself to go to the prison and meet with Eddie and also revisit the chilling darkness of him to do what she must.  Jessica has studied the psyche of the worst killers over the course of her career and is a behavioral expert in her own right.  She tracks the killers cerebrally while Baldwin was more a man of action who sometimes let his need to get his man get him close to crossing lines which Jessica was there to keep him from doing.

The book was not just about them working the case.  Jessica must face ‘the good ol’ boy network in her office with her boss and his cronies right when Jessica knows she’s the best chance of prosecuting and putting the killer behind bars, but her case is given to another.  As a reader, I was biting my nails (figuratively) and angry because Jessica and her daughter will be in acute danger if the person gets off so she has a vested interest that her boss seemed to blow off because of his political ambitions.

Speaking of her daughter, Jessica is in a battle on the home front because Tara is determined to not see the truth about the guy she is dating and Jessica must show tough love to protect her which turns Tara mean.  He’s a petty criminal taking drugs and has used girls who fall for him.  Tara is her father’s daughter with an off the charts IQ.  Jessica refuses to put her in a school for the gifted even though she is bored and acting out at the local high school.

At the halfway point, I was stunned when it seemed the case was solved.  What else is going to fill the rest of the pages, I naively wondered.  Oh my, what indeed! I’d only worked out who the copycat was not long before Yardley and Baldwin, but knowing whodunit was only the beginning.  Now, the courtroom fireworks began along with a few more gasp-inducing twists.  Right up to the end, this book was loaded with surprises.

I am flawed enough to get grim satisfaction when Jessica got two particular triumphant moments to really stick it to certain people I thought really deserved it.  I liked Jessica, Baldwin, and eventually Tara.  I am intrigued to see what comes next in the series.

Those who like thrillers showcasing both police procedural and courtroom drama should definitely give this one a go.

Amazon | Audible

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