She watched him die. She won’t watch his killer live. Eighteen months ago, homicide detective Shirley Mordecai witnessed a bomb tear her husband apart, and her life is still in fragments. Panic attacks threaten her career. Bitterness alienates her friends. And her husband’s killer is about to stand trial, pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.
Mordecai’s poised to snap. But vengeance comes at a cost, and Mordecai still has a lot to lose. A series of murders has gripped the city, and Mordecai’s roommate and best friend is a lot closer to the investigation than she’d like. As the trial begins and Mordecai’s grief comes to a head, her obsession with revenge costs her everything she has left—including her best friend’s trust,
Alone, broken, and out of hope, it’s all Mordecai can do not to let the memory of the life she lost pull her under for good. But a knock on the door reminds her there’s another killer out there, and that her best friend’s still in the line of fire. …(condensed)
My Review: 3.5-Stars
This is the hardest review I’ve ever had to give. Along Came December by Jay Allisan held a lot of promise with the cover and the blurb, but this book needs an editor. The story is over 130k words long, and I feel it could be cut in half to rid it of all the repetitive and redundant writing.
Jay Allisan has a great passion for telling stories and it shows with her research skills. The dialog is fantastic, and I feel it is very well done to help bring the characters to life. To really make them shine and feel more like real people they needed emotions and feelings, maybe some internal thoughts and the 5 senses. The story has a lot of grief, sadness, killers, crime, friendship, and moments that should be filled with excitement, but the writer tells me these things in a list type of style.
I think the characters are good, and if you enjoy a long, slow read you will like this one. I do think a little too much time was spent on the main character’s mental issues, and I find it hard to believe she would still have a badge and a gun after some of her behavior.
However, I feel with some good editing this story will really shine brightly and be a great read with a good plot.
For more reviews on Along Came December, check out The Naked Reviewers.
Very Sherry Terry 