Review - - Strangers She Knows

Strangers She Knows
by Christina Dodd
Cape Charade - Book 3
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: September 17, 2019
Reviewed by PJ
    

I have three deadly problems:

1. I've seriously offended a maniacal killer.

2. I just had a bullet removed from my brain.

3. My new daughter is growing up too fast--and she's in the line of fire.

Living on an obscure, technology-free island off California means safety from the murderer who hunts Kellen Adams and her new family.... Or does it? Family time becomes terror-time, and at last, alone, Kellen faces a killer playing a cruel game. Only one can survive, and Kellen knows who must win...and who must die.

My thoughts:

Christina Dodd brings readers another compelling page-turner in this thrilling conclusion to her immensely satisfying Cape Charade series. Throughout this series, Dodd has excelled at creating vividly portrayed, complex characters who take center stage amidst the suspense, danger, and action of the surrounding plot. In Strangers She Knows, with Kellen still slowly recovering from life-saving brain surgery, and danger stalking her family, Dodd moves the story from their resort in Cape Charade, Washington to a remote island inhabited by only three people: a university environmental intern, her weird husband, and a temperamental housekeeper/cook for the old mansion where Kellen, Max, and Rae will be staying. It's the only location where Max is certain he'll be able to protect Kellen and Rae from the danger that lurks. But is it safe enough?

I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire series and the main characters are some of my all-time Dodd favorites. I so admire Kellen's strength in overcoming all of the obstacles life has placed in her path. What she has survived in her still young life is almost inconceivable and yet she continues to fight for her family and herself. But I also enjoy her vulnerability, especially as she grapples with motherhood and gradually learns to accept the fears and emotions that accompany it.

Max is a hero for the ages. I adore this man! I love his tenacity, his steadfast loyalty to those he loves, his determination to protect them at all costs. If you want a hero who continues to step up to the plate and prove his love day after day, month after month, year after year, in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, Max di Luca is your man. 

And then there's Rae. Smart, sassy, filled with boundless energy and curiosity, staunchly devoted to her family, but caught in the hormonal throes of pre-adolescence that keep her mother's head spinning, and the catalyst for much of Dodd's humor; this kid steals every scene she's in. After "meeting" Rae, you will be left with no doubt that Dodd has, at some point in her life, lived with pre-adolescent girls. Like her parents, she's so vividly, and realistically, portrayed, that it would not take a leap of faith to convince myself these characters actually exist. 

Within the action and suspense of the main story, Dodd has also interwoven a fascinating, secondary, WWII story, as told through the entries in a diary that's found in the island mansion. It adds another layer of emotion and mystery, as well as a very interesting twist.   

While the books in this series are primarily suspense thrillers, not traditional romances, along with the action and danger, Dodd includes the emotional journey necessary for this reader to fully embrace Kellen, Max, and Rae's relationship and their well-deserved, and very hard-earned, happily ever after. In order to appreciate that journey to its fullest, I strongly recommend reading the books in this series in order. They are Dead Girl Running, What Doesn't Kill Her, and Strangers She Knows. The series also includes three short stories: Hard to Kill, Families and Other Enemies, and Hidden Truths. 


Do you enjoy suspense thrillers?

Are you reading the Cape Charade series?

Review - - What Doesn't Kill Her

What Doesn't Kill Her
by Christina Dodd
Cape Charade - Book 2
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: January 29, 2019
Reviewed by PJ

One secret, one nightmare, one lie. You guess which is which.

1. I have the scar of a gunshot on my forehead.

2. I have willfully misrepresented my identity to the US military.

3. I'm the new mother of a seven-year-old girl.

Kellen Adams suffers from a yearlong gap in her memory. A bullet to the brain will cause that. But she's discovering the truth, and what she learns changes her life, her confidence, her very self. She finds herself in the wilderness, on the run, unprepared, her enemies unknown--and she is carrying a priceless burden she must protect at all costs. The consequences of failure would break her. And Kellen Adams does not break.

What doesn't kill her...had better start running.

My thoughts:

I've been eagerly waiting for this book since turning the final page of Dead Girl Running and it did not disappoint. Picking up shortly after the end of the first book, What Doesn't Kill Her continues the journey of Kellen Adams with more action, emotion, mystery, and well-placed Dodd humor...sometimes in the middle of terror. 

Let me start out by saying how much I adore Max Di Luca. I'm so glad Dodd delves deeper into his relationship with Kellen in this book as well as revealing more of their shared backstory. I love his patience, his kindness, and his protective instincts. He's a wonderful father and I hope he'll have the opportunity to be a wonderful husband.

I appreciate the difficulties Kellen is experiencing as she, Max, and Rae try to find their new normal. Dodd allows the transition to occur realistically, with advances and retreats, as Kellen, clearly out of her comfort zone, struggles to come to terms with everything that happened during the year she was in a coma, as well as finally facing the events from before and after.

And then there's Rae, the precocious seven-year-old daughter Kellen never knew she had and doesn't quite know what to do with. I love this kid! The evolving relationship between these two is both heart-wrenching and hilarious, a combination Dodd pulls off flawlessly.

All of these relationship threads are being woven at the same time Kellen, and her stowaway daughter, are running for their lives from men determined to steal a precious artifact Kellen's been hired to deliver. But that's only the beginning of the danger that's stalking them. 

With edge-of-your-seat suspense, emotional depth, and unexpected humor, What Doesn't Kill Her is a story that lures the reader in and refuses to let go. It can be read as a standalone but for a complete understanding of the characters and the events that have led them to this point in their journey, I strongly encourage readers to read Dead Girl Running first.  



Are you reading this series?

What's the last book you couldn't put down?