Books & Spoons Review FLAWLESS by Heather Graham

24/3/2016

Everyone goes to Finnegan's…

It's a pub in lower Manhattan, run by the Finnegan family for generations and now owned by Kieran and her three brothers. Kieran Finnegan, who still works there whenever she can, has become a criminal psychologist—a fitting reaction, perhaps, to her less-than-lawful past.

Meanwhile, New York's Diamond District has been hit by a rash of thefts. No one's been killed—until now. FBI agent Craig Frasier is brought in to investigate; he and Kieran meet at a jewelry store in the middle of a heist. She's there to "unsteal" a flawless stone taken by her light-fingered youngest brother as an act of vengeance. He's there to stop the gang.

But the police and FBI soon discover that there are two gangs of diamond thieves, the original and a copycat group of killers. And the second group seems to think their scheme is as flawless as the stones they steal.

Thrown together by circumstance, drawn together by attraction, Kieran and Craig both end up working on the case. Unfortunately, there's more and more evidence that, somehow, the pub is involved. Because everyone goes to Finnegan's…

An Irish family owned pub in the middle of New York City, seems to be the center stage on a series of crimes happening around the diamond district. Is the family involved?
The mystery and suspense have a lot of different theories and possibilities, making it sound chaotic and messy. There are as many different levels of law enforcement involved, and somehow the Finnegan family seems guilty, and Kieran is the center of the attention again and again, against her wishes.
The beginning of the mystery was a mess, the mayhem around everything that was happening just seems chaotic. And just as it starts to look like things are getting under control, and there is some logic in the crimes happening around them, the end solution comes from the left, and is just, well, it doesn't feel right, and it sounds like hurried solution.
The attraction between Kieran and Craig is the insta kind. And they act upon it fast with furious passion, and no thought about the consequences. Something that seems out of character for both of them. Also, if you write a very detailed sex scene, make sure to include some kind of information about contraception, or it will seem that it wasn't considered at all. Craig and Kieran have a connection, they are attracted to each other, but I didn't really get that they had any kind of deeper feelings for each other. Craig seemed suspicious of her, she had some serious issues with paranoid behavior, that were very prominent at the beginning, and suddenly just vanished all together.
I would have wanted to get a little deeper into the characters, get to know them better, see them develop, grow as a person and in the relationship. Of course, when there are as many characters as in this novel, it can be difficult to achieve.
With the disarray of the investigation, the mystery will most likely stay that way to the reader, until the end revelation, the romance has a steamy, detailed scenes of love making, and a possibility of future romance for Craig and Kieran. I just felt the story was a bit dry, or lacking of juice, and too much spread out, and lost a lot of intensity and energy in the process
~ Three Spoons