It is determined that this is an attack by NINA (Nihilists in Anarchy), who have been behind two previous incidents in Seagrove Village, Florida (I assume these were the subject of the earlier books in the series). It is then discovered that Robert Trayton has been kidnapped, and when his wife, Sara, is admitted to hospital it falls to her business partner, Beth, to assist the police and come up with the ransom money.
The first chapter is from the point of view of Jeff Meyers, and the second from the viewpoint of two policemen, who find a blood-soaked mattress in an abandoned house that was previously used by NINA in their criminal activities. The third chapter then introduces us to Beth, Sara, and everyone else of any importance to the plot. There were a lot of characters, with confusing relationships, and it took several chapters to actually work out who and what the story was about (it turned out that Jeff and the blood-soaked mattress are both sub-plots, despite the fact that most novels open with the main characters and main plot).
This, frankly, seemed strange. Most modern novels make an effort to introduce the main character in the opening pages, and, where there is a romantic subplot, to introduce the hero quickly as well (we meet Joe in Chapter Four), but Joe and Beth don’t actually see each other in person until well into the story, which makes it difficult to for the author to develop a convincing romantic interest. I liked Beth, I liked Joe (and I particularly liked his Cajun pet name for Beth), and I liked the idea of Beth and Joe, but their romance could have been better.
I did enjoy Not This Time
Thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah and BloggingforBooks for providing a free ebook for review.
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