“For me this book didn’t really work as a standalone.”
~ Under the Covers
A child is the only witness to her mother’s murder, only she isn’t talking. Until Taylor Dawson, an intern at her therapy centre. But, when the murderer finds out there was a witness it puts Taylor and everyone around her in danger. But Taylor her her own secrets and her reasons for interning at the therapy aren’t quite what they seem.
Before I dive into what I thought about this book, I need to caveat that I haven’t read any of the previous books in this series. This didn’t effect my understanding of the story line of Monster in the Closet but I think it would have added to the experience. Many of the characters around Taylor have already had a book in this series, so I believe they will be familiar to those of you who follow the series. Unlike me who dived in at book 5. It didn’t directly affect my enjoyment…but I think I would have rated this slightly higher if I had been following the series and experienced that feeling of familiarity and home coming when you get to check in with past characters.
This book started out fantastically, I was literally on the edge of my seat as the poor little girl witnesses what happened to her mother. I also really liked the action packed end of the book. However, I thought this book lost a lot of momentum during the middle. It seemed to veer away from the main story line and instead check in with some of the past characters, more than what was necessary for the story. Which, is probably why I would have liked this book more if I had read the previous books. It took away the tension created at the beginning of the book and made the middle of the book a bit of a slog.
For me this book didn’t really work as a standalone. Not in regard to the story but there were too many characters, all with unique relationships with other characters which I wasn’t really aware of and there was too much dialogue and sitting around talking about things and not enough actual doing of things. In conclusion, it started out fantastically but didn’t really follow through.
READING ORDER & BUY LINKS
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[about-author author=”Karen Rose”]
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I read a few Karen Rose books about 10 years ago. I remember having a hard time putting them down, but wow were they dark. I can’t really handle the darkness so much these days, but I am thinking I should pick up another one of hers. I will remember to read this series in order. Although, something I love about romance is that there is usually a lot of freedom in reading series out of order.
Hmmm…these sound good but if they’re too dark I’ll have to pass.
Great review Suzanne!! On my gr list! Shared on my socials!!
I was nodding my head in agreement right along with you all through your review. I read the three in the Cincinnati series and then spotted this one. I thought I could just jump right in to the Baltimore series since a couple crossover characters from Baltimore were in the Cincy series. It didn’t work for me. Like you, the big reunion section was so-so b/c it wasn’t a reunion to me. But I definitely love her books and will go back for the backlist. 🙂
Thanks for the review.
Thanks for the review Suzanne