BOOK TOUR; Power Struggle ( Detective Madison Knight Series #8) - Carolyn Arnold

Synopsis:

One hit man who’s back for revenge.
One detective who’s not going down without a fight.

It’s been ten months since Detective Madison Knight almost died at the hands of Russian Mafia hit man Constantine Romanov. She hasn’t seen hide nor hair of him since he escaped police custody and fled to Russia soon after his arrest, except now her latest murder investigation gives her reason to believe he’s back in town. Seeing as the victim is the man who killed her grandfather, her perspective may be a little skewed, but with the MO smacking of Constantine and the victim’s connections to the mob, she finds it hard to be objective. Still, she’s doing her best to consider all the evidence.

When she receives a threatening letter from Constantine, however, her suspicions are confirmed. And he’s made it abundantly clear that not only does he plan to finish what he started but he has her family and loved ones in the crosshairs, too. Madison vows to do whatever it takes to save them, but as the hours race by, the body count rises. And the stakes only get higher when Madison’s sister, Chelsea, goes missing.

Now, Madison’s only play is to take Chelsea’s disappearance for what it really means: Constantine is calling Madison out for one final showdown. And they won’t both survive…

Review:

10 months previous to where this story begins, Madison Knight was almost killed by a Russian mob hit man by the name of Constantine Romanov and she is just about managing to pull herself back together. With the help of her therapist and the love from her boyfriend she is managing to get better. But suddenly Romanov is back and he wants to finish what he started. 

He announces his arrival to Madison via a letter, in which he threatens to kill her family and all those that she loves. The whole police department and Madison are out looking for him but when Madison's sister, Chelsea goes missing Knight knows that the end is coming.

Having not read this series before now, as it makes a great stand alone I can only assume that this instalment is a brilliant addition to the series. The characters are well defined and I just wished I had read the other books in the series to watch the characters grow and more particularly see Madison tested in her personal and work life. I feel as though if I had read more than one of these books that I would have formed a stronger bond with the characters although this time I felt I had a strong bond with Madison anyway

Although I read this book as a stand alone, and it worked really well, I would recommend starting at the beginning so those things that make a good series aren't missed. 

It's hard not to love a book with a cold hearted villain so with that point alone the book is a high recommendation from me but it's exciting and put me on edge ever so slightly, bodies fall and there's just a great book to be read right there and I can't give it any less than a 5/5. One day maybe I'll go back and read this series from the start. Only having read one book from Carolyn in the past, from her Brandon Fisher FBI series, it's easy to see that Carolyn has a way with words and creates such wonderful and enjoyable books.  Any of Carolyn' work is an easy recommendation to anyone wanting to dip their toes into reading crime or to anyone who already loves reading crime novels and wants to add another book or indeed another 3 series of them to their book shelves. 

Remnants (Brandon Fisher FBI Series Book 6) - Carolyn Arnold

Synopsis:

All that remains are whispers of the past…When multiple body parts are recovered from the Little Ogeechee River in Savannah, Georgia, local law enforcement calls in FBI agent and profiler Brandon Fisher and his team to investigate. But with the remains pointing to three separate victims, this isn’t proving to be an open-and-shut case.

With no quick means of identifying the deceased, building a profile of this serial killer is more challenging than usual. How are these targets being selected? Why are their limbs being severed and their bodies mutilated? And what is it about them that is triggering this person to murder?

The questions compound as the body count continues to rise, and when a torso painted blue and missing its heart is found, the case takes an even darker turn. But this is only the beginning, and these new leads draw the FBI into a creepy psychological nightmare. One thing is clear, though: The killing isn’t going to stop until they figure it all out. And they are running out of time…



Review:

What's really great about this book is that it is part of a series, in fact it is the 6th book of the said series but like a little glorious present, stands alone and its such a great way to be so that the reader doesn't feel like they've missed out on anything if they haven't read any of the series up until this point.

Carolyn created a nightmare that could turn and empty the stomachs of anyone. The Little Ogeechee River is washing up body parts and FBI profiler Brandon Fisher and his team are called in to investigate. It gets even worse, these parts belong to more than one victim. Brandon definitely has his hands full profiling this killer. The bodies are unidentified, there are no clues and by the hour, the body count continues to rise and the mutilation becomes even more disturbing.

The story switches between Points Of View, this only deepens the hold on you as a reader, you burn just to know who's world you're seeing this all from, you just cant put the book down until you know for sure. I didn't feel 100% connected to any of the characters, I was just enough to want them to be safe and on guard and that was satisfying for me,. The POV changes from Paige who is a member of the team, Brendon himself and a 3rd person who you soon find out to be part of the crimes. I felt that in this book/ series it was a good thing to not get 100% attached to characters just because its much easier that way so the changes in POV don't annoy you and keeps me as a reader intrigued and maintains the mystery.

What I did like about our MC Brandon Fisher is that he is not the typical hero you're used to, he doubts himself and often wonders about his personal life and  comes to questions his decisions as well as worrying about his partners and his boss. Unlike most heroes you see in his position, he has a weak stomach and gets queasy at the scene of violent crimes. He has times at which he can can be reckless but he has a sense of humour and is great at convincing people and has a great ability to read people and gain their trust. Its just great to see because although he's a main character, a man who had a whole series to his name, he isn't strong 100% of the time, he has flaws and makes mistakes. I just wish I had read the previous books in the series just to get more background on the characters etc. just because if I had, I might have connected to them more.

I found that Carolyn's writing was not only engaging, but easily painted a picture for the reader. There was never a time that I felt as though she was talking about things that were over my head, the use of the proper terminology when it came to forensics etc. just made it that more real and believable.
I loved how the plot unravelled and how the relationships between the team were shown, it's actually quite nice and to have seen the dynamics of the small group for a change instead of seeing nothing at all. I thought at several points that I had it all worked out, that I truly knew who the murderer was but in the end I was off by miles because I definitely didn't see the twists and turns coming. You're constantly on edge wondering what's next Its full of grit and gore and the end will satisfy you.

An easy 5/5 from me and I look forward to picking up and seeing more of Carolyn's work and I'll definitely be watching out for her name on the top list of the Crime/Thriller/Mystery list in the near future.

Thank you to George who is a book Publicist at Hibbert & Stiles Publishing Inc who provided me with a copy which I was to write an honest review.