Wounded Earth / Mary Anna Evans

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Thriller

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Availability
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Author:

Piano player, gardener, chemical engineer, and engineering physicist are just a few of the descriptions for Mary Anna Evans. The author of the award winning and traditionally published Faye Longchamp archeological mystery series, Evans also has several self-published books for the eReader of your choice. For more, visit Evan’s website.

Description:

Larabeth McLeod has it all. Beauty, money, smarts. As the CEO of a company specializing in environmental cleanup, you’d expect she should have good karma too. When an unknown man, who calls himself Babykiller, begins stalking Larabeth, she turns to ex-boyfriend and private detective J.D. Hatten for help.

Appraisal:

The common wisdom about thrillers is they are plot driven. To me, this implies that the characters don’t require as much development as other genres, so long as the plot is intense. Wounded Earth delivers on plot. Its nail-biting intensity will keep you up late in your eagerness to find out how it ends.

However, when evaluating what I liked most about Wounded Earth, it wasn’t the plot that came to mind. Historically, thrillers and suspense are my favorite genres; I’ve read hundreds, if not thousands. As long as they are executed competently, which this was, it is other things I notice.

For Wounded Earth, what stood out is the development of the main characters, especially the protagonist Larabeth. I’ve found I especially enjoy books with a strong female character. Larabeth is driven, not just towards success, but also to do good and what is right. It would be easy for a character like this who “has it all” to seem unreal. It is her difficult history, both with ex-boyfriend J.D. and skeletons in her closet, that makes Larabeth human and intriguing. It is also why, as a reader, I was pulling for her that much more.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars