Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Thriller
Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words
Availability
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Author:
“Raised in the Midwest,” DV Berkom “received
her BA in political science from the University of Minnesota and promptly moved
to Mexico to live on a sailboat. Many, many cross-country moves (and several
years) later, she now lives just outside of Seattle, Washington with the love
of her life, Mark, an ex-chef-turned contractor, and writes every chance she
gets.” She is the author of two thriller series.
For more,
visit her website.
Description:
“Former assassin
Leine Basso is hired by a wealthy Beverly Hills power couple to find their
missing daughter, Elise, last seen partying with her boyfriend at a club in
Tijuana. At first, police believe the two teenagers are the victims of a
carjacking. But when Leine finds their missing vehicle with the boyfriend’s
mutilated body inside, and the local cartel warns her away, she knows if Elise
isn’t already dead, she will be soon, or worse.
In the
lethal world of organized crime, there’s always a worse.
As Leine
races to uncover the reason behind Elise Bennett’s disappearance, she must also
battle the powerful interests fighting to keep her from the truth.”
Appraisal:
As I was
pondering what to say about The Body
Market beyond the obvious (fast paced, blah, blah, blah) I was comparing
and contrasting Leine Basso, the protagonist in this series, with Kate Jones,
the protagonist in DV Berkom’s other series. (This is the third in this series
while Kate Jones has seven volumes thus far.) Both can rightfully be described
as kick-butt females, able and willing to mix it up with the bad guys as much
as any man while still clearly being a member of the fairer sex. Each has a
past that creates issues for them. However, these issues are much different.
Kate Jones is the former lover of the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. Her ex
and those associated with him keep popping up, causing problems. Leine’s
situation as a retired assassin is much different, with her issues being
largely internal, primarily guilt associated with her past, not only the things
she did, but how it affected those around her.
However, in
this book Leine’s past seemed to be haunting her slightly less than in the
first two books. Maybe she’s working past that and, since what she is doing now
is definitely fighting evil, she’s feeling better about herself.
The plot of
The Body Market is easy to see as
plausible with two older teens stretching their wings beyond what is prudent
and having it backfire in a big way. When Leine tries to discover what
happened, it makes for a fast-paced story (yeah, I know), that the more it
developed, the more I wondered how it could ever come to a happy resolution.
FYI:
Some adult
language.
Although
the third book in the series, this book can be read as a standalone.
Format/Typo Issues:
My review
is based on an advance reader copy. I’m unable to judge the final product in
this area.
Rating: ***** Five Stars
1 comment:
Thanks, Al! What a great review :-)
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