"A very twisted small-town mystery..."
Reviewed by Annetta Sweetko
Posted February 1, 2019
Mystery | Suspense | Thriller
In the small town of Curry, Oklahoma, the beautiful early spring days
are about to get killer cold. She could have been a big-time lawyer, but
something drew Ellie Guthrie back to Curry, a town she remembered
fondly as a child. She has her own beginnings of a following and enjoys
small-town life. How was she to believe that someone out there is
saying YOU WILL SUFFER to her
and others in the town? Nate Marcel is a neighbor and former F.B.I. agent who is drawn to Ellie
and hopes to get her to go out with him. Then her tires are slashed and
he knows enough to know it was not a teen prank. Soon he and Ellie are
being led down a dangerous path that has them only trusting each
other. Someone is out to punish people in this town and they have to
find out who and it would really help to know why. YOU WILL SUFFER is a brilliantly
executed murder mystery. The characters are well fleshed out to the
point that there is at least something about everyone that readers will
recognize in their own lives. And that in itself is rather scary. Ellie and
Nate are not quite polar opposites, but you can sense the intrigue they
both feel, though Ellie tries hard to put up a wall, while Nate patiently
pulls it back down. After the tire slashing, he is not about to let her out
of his sight and after a while, she becomes honest with herself and we
have the start of a sweet yet very steamy romance. The twist and turns in this book have twists and turns. Just when you
figure you know what's going on, author Alexandra Ivy sends you
somewhere else. As a mystery reader I love to try to solve the case
before the big reveal, but in this case, I was totally down the wrong
road. YOU WILL SUFFER is a well
written, very twisted (and with this I also mean in the minds of the
original "bad guys") story with amazing characters that you will either
love, dislike or downright hate. This is the third of Ms. Ivy's "The
Agency" series and I hope she plans for many more.
SUMMARY
EVERY SMALL TOWN HAS A SECRET
The rolling fields outside Curry, Oklahoma, are a beautiful
spot to
ramble on an early spring day . . . and a lonely place to
die. Among the
prairie grass and wildflowers, a killer kneels beside a
curled-up figure,
plunging a syringe beneath skin to deliver the fatal dose.
And as the
victim’s last breath mingles with the air, it sends a
warning out to the
world: This is just the beginning. AND THIS ONE
Rejecting her judge father’s prestigious connections, Ellie
Guthrie
opened her own law firm in Curry. But something strange is
going on.
Ellie’s tires are slashed. Dead rats are dumped on her
patio. Her
neighbor, former FBI agent Nate Marcel, insists on watching
out for her.
And then bodies begin turning up—supposed overdoses that
Nate
suspects are something much more sinister. IS WORTH KILLING FOR
There’s a killer in town, toying with her, drawing both
Ellie and Nate into
a web of murder and vengeance. To find answers, she’ll have
to
unearth this small community’s dark and twisted past . . .
before it’s her
turn to die.
ExcerptPrologueOnce upon a time, the solid brick building on the corner of
Main Street and First Street had been the proud
headquarters of the local Masonic Lodge. The men of means
and stature in the community would gather behind locked
doors and discuss their secret business. In other words,
they shared the latest gossip while they ate dinner and
enjoyed the barrels of moonshine they kept hidden in the
cellar. As the years had passed, however, the small town of Curry,
Oklahoma dwindled in population. The younger folks moved
fifty miles west to Oklahoma City in the hopes of better
jobs, and there was nothing in the area to attract new
blood. The Masons lost interest in their club and the
building had threatened to become yet another empty shell. Thankfully, the building had been purchased by Harry
Massie, a local rancher who’d had the brilliant idea to
turn it into a tavern. Gutting the main floor, he’d spent
the bare minimum on ensuring the ceiling didn’t cave in on
his customers, and that it was relatively clean. He was
also smart enough not to bother to name his new
establishment. It would always be ‘the Lodge’ in the minds
of the locals. Now it was a dark, dingy place that had worn brick walls
with the obligatory neon beer signs. Along one side of the
cavernous room was a line of booths and in the middle, was
a handful of tables. At the very back was a dancefloor with
a small stage. Harry insisted that the warped wooden floors and bare
lightbulbs that hung from electrical wires gave the place
atmosphere, but the truth was that the building should have
been condemned years ago. The locals didn’t care. They just
wanted someplace they could occasionally get together and
have a drink. Of course, there were some locals who did more than come in
occasionally for a drink. There was a dozen or so customers
who could be found in the dark interior on a nightly basis. One of those customers was Daniel Perry. Seated in the corner booth, he was nursing his beer and
ruefully glancing toward the woman that Harry had hired to
manage the place. Paula Raye was a hard-ass who claimed to
have come from Oklahoma City, but Daniel suspected she was
fresh out of jail. He knew enough men who rotated in and
out of the penitentiary system to recognize an ex-con. She was a squat woman with brown hair that was chopped
short and ugly tats that covered her arms and crawled up
her thick neck. She’d arrived in town six months ago and
had promptly taken firm control of the Lodge. Including
putting an end to Daniel’s habit of charging his drinks to
his tab. Bitch. Daniel returned his gaze to his beer, wishing he was
anyplace but here. Although he was still in his mid-twenties, he looked at
least a decade older. His narrow face was sallow and
already lined with wrinkles. And his once broad frame was
now to the point of being gaunt. Years of substance abuse had taken their toll. Taking another sip, he ran his fingers through the long,
tangled strands of his dark hair. His father had bitched
for an hour this morning that it needed to be cut, but
Daniel had ignored the old man. Walter Perry had once been
the sheriff of this god forsaken county. The illusion of
power had gone to his head, making him think he could bully
everyone into obeying his commands. Including his own son. Lost in daydreams of the moment he could afford to walk
away from Curry and never look back, Daniel didn’t notice
the two men who strolled into the tavern and headed
directly toward his booth. It wasn’t until the floorboards
squeaked that he belatedly glanced up to watch as the men
slid into the bench seat across the table from him. Bert and Larry Harper.
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