Aussie Book Review: Deadly Obsession by Karen M. Davis
Deadly Obsession by Karen M. DavisPaperbackReview copy provided by publisherSimon & Schuster, August 2014 Synopsis- A young nurse’s body is found at Clovelly Beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Apart from a puncture wound in her neck, she is in perfect condition. But she’s also clutching a rose in her hands – and there’s an empty packet of prescription drugs in her pocket.Investigating the scene, Detective Lexie Rogers and her partner Brad Sommers know something is not right. It appears to be a staged suicide. And as they begin to dig deeper, Lexie discovers the case is too close to home.The dead girl was a work colleague of Lexie’s ex-husband, who is now a paramedic – and she was also a friend of the woman who broke up Lexie’s marriage. Struggling as she is with her breakup with Josh Harrison, who pushed her away after the suicide of his sister, and the numbing flashbacks of the violent attacks she’s suffered in the past, Lexie throws herself into the case. When she’s handed the lead on the investigation, Lexie sets out to solve the murder and prove she’s up to the job.
Review- Deadly Obsession is the crime fiction sequel to Karen M Davis’s first novel Sinister Intent and picks up about six months later. Protagonist Lexie Rogers is training as a detective and when a young woman’s body is discovered in Clovelly, her partner lets her take the lead of the investigation. She’s pretty keen to throw herself into her work and forget about the fact that her grieving ex-boyfriend Josh Harrison has abandoned her for a trip in Bali and has been out of touch for one month.
With Davis’s knack for plot twists and turns, it soon becomes clear that there are numerous suspects; some more obvious than others and somehow the murderer’s path of destruction finds their way to Lexie’s doorstep. With fears that her boss will think she attracts psycho murderers (Sinister Intent is evidence of this) she keeps it from her boss and tries to get to the bottom of the mystery before she becomes a victim.
While Josh’s viewpoint is interspersed throughout the novel, he is physically MIA from Sydney for the first 100+ pages and doesn’t share a scene with Lexie until about page 150 or even more. With the introduction of Lexie’s ex-husband Zac as a murder suspect and her colleague Batman who has the hots for her… there were moments in the story when I wasn’t quite sure what the authors plans were for Lexie in the romance department. Josh was plenty irritating throughout the story given he pushed Lexie away and has a bit of a drinking problem. But I was pretty pleased with where it ended up and I’d be interested to know what would be next for Lexie in Josh if a third book were to be in the works.
Undercover cop bikie Rex makes an appearance in this story too, with his connection to Lexie still under wraps they manage to work together on parallel investigations by sharing information and alerting to danger when needed.
Overall, I really enjoyed Deadly Obsession. There are plenty of plot twists, interesting characters, it’s in a familiar city and there’s just enough romantic sparks to keep me invested in the story. I’m really interested to see whether Davis intends to continue the series with Lexie as protagonist…and if so I’d definitely pick up the next book to find out what adventures (or psychos) are in store for her next.
Overall Rating
4/5
"I loved this book!"
4.5/5
"Fantastic!"
Deadly Obsession can be purchased from Fishpond and other leading book retailers
This book was read as part of the AWW2014 challenge: