Aussie Book Review: Covet by Tara Moss (Makedde Vanderwall #3)

Book reviews

28 Nov

Covet by Tara Moss (Makedde Vanderwall #3)Audio bookBorrowed from my library Synopsis- Two and a half years after her ordeal at the hands of the 'Stiletto Murderer', Ed Brown, Makedde Vanderwall must face her demons once again as she flies into Sydney for Brown's trial - and faces her one-time lover, the jaded Sydney detective Andy Flynn. But days before the trial is set to commence, the unthinkable happens - Ed Brown makes a daring escape, aided and abetted by one of his warders. Review- This was the first book I managed to complete in two months and it wasn’t even in print- it was an audio book. I travelled from Sydney down to Canberra for a work conference a few weeks back and the mileage made it easy to whip through the majority of this book in a weekend, and finish it off a week or so later.Narrated by Tara Moss, Covet translates into a 10 disc audio book, which at times completely gripped me and at other times left me feeling quite restless and wishing I could flip ahead a few pages. I’ve quite enjoyed reading the Makedde Vanderwall series and was interested to see what challenges Makedde and on-again-off-again boyfriend and Australian Detective Andy would be up for in the third instalment of this series.Makedde heads back over to Sydney (from Canada) to participate in the trial against Ed Brown, the serial killer who murdered her best friend Catherine (in the first book) and tried to kill Makedde too. There’s some trouble in the waters for Makedde and Andy who’d decided to end their relationship during the six months that Andy had been back in Sydney. In typical Makedde and Andy style they tend to avoid talking about their issues, even though they really want to and just end up misunderstanding each other further. An overnight fling brings them back together until another misunderstanding (that they don’t talk about) drives them apart. Gosh these two are so frustrating!! They are both so well defended that their fear of taking risks (in intimate relationships) ends up making them miserable! It did strike me at how lonely both Makedde and Andy are. They have only one or two close friends and for the most part they put on a strong persona and try to deal with everything on their own. This usually gets them into more trouble.Anyway, Covet isn’t all about Makedde and Andy’s romantic troubles (though it does underpin the entire novel) it’s about Ed Brown who escapes from custody and is on the loose! So, in Makedde’s attempt to protect herself she flies to Hong Kong for a modelling gig, only to be followed there by the serial killer who wants to finish off the job he started.Moss’s take on the serial killer Ed and his partner-in-crime, Suzie who is a corrections officer is certainly interesting. It’s a bit creepy and strange but it provides a good insight into what is happening behind the scenes in the lead up to the climatic ending. Even though Makedde and Andy really irritated me at times during this book, I did enjoy the slow-building suspense. I’ll probably try and borrow the next book in the series as an audio book from my library and see what happens next!