FBI profiler Laurel Snow and her team havenβt quite finished wrapping up their last serial killer case when the next one hits, this time very close to home. Laurelβs office managerβs daughter found her father stabbed to death in a purple tent with heart-shaped candies shoved in his mouth. As Laurel's manager Kate quickly becomes the likely suspect in her ex-husbandβs murder, Laurel is determined to prove Kateβs innocence. Then more bodies drop, and their proximity to local churches is just as bewildering as the candies left at the crime scenes.
Complicating matters in both this case and her previous one is Laurelβs psychotic, and quite possibly murderous, half-sister Abigail who keeps popping up in places she shouldnβt be. When the townβs ex-pastor and Laurelβs father, Zeke, returns, Laurel sees it as her chance to get some justice for her mother, but heβs attacked before she can talk to him. With the "Broken Hearts Killer" victim count rising, Laurel is going to need all the help she can get, especially since her people keep getting injured. Β Thankfully Capt. Huck Rivers from the Washing Department of Fish and Wildlife is there to lend a helping hand.
Rebecca Zanetti brings back one of my favorite characters, Laurel Snow, in YOU CAN DIE. Sheβs a weird, quirky genius, who uses computer programs to help her read facial expressions and social cues. Her relationship with Huck Rivers is progressing along and I love their interactions. The serial killer storyline is intriguing as you get sucked deeper into it, trying to figure out what all the clues mean. I find Dr. Abigail Caineβs character absolutely fascinating. She goes from cold-blooded psycho to protective big sister in the blink of an eye. Iβm looking forward to her and Laurelβs future battles.
An earlier blurb for YOU CAN DIE suggested Zeke was a victim of the Broken Hearts Killer. I was happy to see that doesnβt happen and the blurb has been revised to reflect that. Even though readers and Laurel donβt meet Zeke until this book, heβs been established as an evil, influential character and a menacing presence in Laurelβs life and I really want Zanetti to dive into that. I canβt wait for future interactions between the two and the level of manipulation that will be attempted on Zekeβs part. YOU CAN DIE is an exciting thrill ride full of twists and red herrings thatβll keep your adrenaline pumping until the end. Future installments canβt come fast enough.
Men are dying in the Pacific Northwest, their bodies found near churches, charities, and counselling centers—each with valentine candy hearts shoved down their throats. They’re good men with families and community ties—or so they seem until Laurel Snow and her team begin to investigate. Then the case takes a shockingly personal turn when the father she’s never met, a former pastor, is attacked in exactly the same way.
Now, besides solving the case, Laurel is on the hunt to discover where her father has been. Complicating things is Laurel’s troubled half-sister, Abigail, a brilliant sociopath determined to prove that they’ve both inherited their father’s malignant narcissism.
Assisting Laurel is Washington Fish and Wildlife Captain Huck Rivers, a dangerous loner whose reliance on gut instinct puts him at odds with Laurel’s coolly analytic approach. But the choice may be moot when the killer hones in on Huck’s own dark secrets—putting him and Laurel squarely in the crosshairs.
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