Books & Spoons Review: Be Afraid by Mary Burton

The Fear Is Terrifying

When police rescue five-year-old Jenna Thompson from the dark closet where she's been held captive for days, they tell her she's a lucky girl. Compared to the rest of her family, it's true. But even with their killer dead of an overdose, Jenna is still trying to find peace twenty-five years later.

But The Truth

On leave from her forensic artist job, Jenna returns to Nashville, the city where she lost so much. Instead of closure, she finds a new horror. Detective Rick Morgan needs Jenna's expertise in identifying the skeletal remains of a young child. The case jogs hazy half-buried memories--and a nagging dread that Jenna's ordeal hasn't ended.

Is Even Worse

Now other women are dying. And as the links between these brutal killings and Jenna's past becomes clear, she knows this time, a madman will leave no survivors. . .

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Review

Very intense, dark and edgy suspense, multiple murders, and many mysteries to be solved, with a touch of romance on the side.
From the beginning you can feel the crazy in the villain, his multiple personality disorder is clear, present, and accounted for. It is creepy kind of scary story telling, that will make you check that your doors are locked and windows sealed.
The mysteries are piling up, as the murder cases end up on the desk of the homicide detective Rick Morgan and his partner. From the beginning, it is clear Rick is not the favorite member of the team, and the conflict between the partners is constantly present but never solved. Setting up the stage for the story takes a long time, with the multiple characters all being involved, and their secrets from the past introduced, the shadows of their history somehow being involved in the grand scheme of the events. The story picks up speed and interest after halfway through, when the stage is finally set, and all the players introduced. It was fascinating to read about their efforts to solve all the cases, using their education, talents, skills, and pure perseverance and stubbornness, when all else failed.
The story is heavy on the murder mysteries, and very light on the romance side. The connection between Rick and Jenna is more professional, and the romance part does fall a bit flat after so much built up.
This is a second book in the series, and there are so many remarks about the past, without explanation, and events that clearly were just cleaning up events from the past book, that I recommend to read it first, to better understand this story. Also in this book, several things were left without full closer, that I hope will be wrapped up in the next book in the series.
Overall, fierce, intimidating, and addictive suspense, with an inkling of great romance that was happening on the side. Many twists, turns, and surprises in the plot keeps the story going, giving it several peaks, and making the score up to
~ Four Spoons