Today’s team review is from Noelle.
Noelle blogs here https://saylingaway.wordpress.com
Noelle has been reading Haloed by Sue Coletta.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author – the first was Pretty Evil New England and not part of the Grafton County series — so really my first foray into her murder/thriller stories. I have to admit, this author knows how to create tension and keep you turning the pages.
Eight years ago, a serial killer attacked Sage Quintano and she lived. The killer died that year. In present day Alexandria, New Hampshire, where Sage lives with her sheriff husband, a string of gruesome murders occurs with the traits of that serial killer: red and pink balloons and victims staged to resemble dead angels. The problem is, Sage can’t convince her husband that the serial killer really didn’t die and that he’s come back to get her – his only victim that he didn’t kill. Even when a red balloon appeared out of nowhere in her bedroom. Even when two pink balloons are tied to a tree in her yard. Even when she is framed for the latest killing and taken into custody by the state police.
Sage is now a writer and the stay-at-home mother of a toddler son, still guarded by the dog that was shot protecting her eight years before. She is also suffering from severe rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, which leaves her weakened and in pain much of the time. How will she find the strength to face the Romeo Killer, who is frightening her with these murders. Is this a lead-up to his enjoyment of killing her?
I appreciated the chapters that were devoted to the mind of the killer. They explain a lot of the why of what was happening and revealed what a sick individual he is, truly a loathsome individual!
The characters in the book are very well drawn and enjoyable with their quirks and contributions: Niko, Sage’s strong and loving husband; Frankie, his number one deputy and a hot tomato; even the dogs have great personalities. The dialogue is fun and believable, and Sage is the prototypical hero – smart, quick-thinking, determined and strong despite her physical weakness.
The author has done her research, which permeates the book, and the twists and turns are very creative and unanticipated. And the tension! I don’t think I’ve read another author in this genre who can maintain and ramp up tension like Sue Coletta.
If there was one drawback to this book, it was the occasional lengths of ‘telling’ about the forensics, Roman calendar and numerology. Even in conversations, these explanation seem very long and I wonder if this would detract for the usual reader.
Haloed was, nevertheless, an enjoyable and at-the-edge of your seat read, and I recommend it as the latest in the long line of Sue Coletta’s rich thrillers.
She may be paranoid, but is she right?
A string of gruesome murders rocks the small town of Alexandria, New Hampshire, with all the victims staged to resemble dead angels, and strange red and pink balloons appearing out of nowhere.
All the clues point to the Romeo Killer’s return. Except one: he died eight years ago.
Paranoid and on edge, Sage’s theory makes no sense. Dead serial killers don’t rise from the grave. Yet she swears he’s here, hungering for the only angel to slip through his grasp—Sage.
With only hours left to live, how can Sage convince her Sheriff husband before the sand in her hourglass runs out?
Rosie Amber 