Review: A Desperate Place

Let me start by saying that there are a lot of positive things about this book. The cover is lovely, the title is compelling, and I really liked the premise of A Desperate Place. There are only so many ways and reasons a person can die in crime fiction, so the plot around teratomas was really fresh and interesting. I also appreciated that Greer used a light hand on the gratuity. Although that sort of thing doesn't necessarily bother me, sometimes this genre can get really gory for shock value. But there's none of that here, and it was refreshing. Though I really regret Googling "teratoma!" It's an utterly fascinating medical phenomenon, but not for the faint of heart...

I also like the friendship between Riggs and McKenna and the fact that A Desperate Place is suggested for Rizzoli and Isles fans. I love Tess Gerritsen. And though I didn't have the instant connection that I did when I read the first Rizzoli and Isles book, I'd read Greer's next to see how their professional relationship progresses.

There were, of course, a few things that made me pause. Several typos (which I would guess would be gone in the final copy) and "hey there Bob" dialogue were distracting and took me out of the story. This also felt overly long. I skimmed over many passages (I could only take Whit's ruminations on being a war reporter so many times) of somewhat repetitive and unnecessary narrative just to get to dialogue that advanced the plot.

I also missed emotional emotional connections to the characters. It's not until almost a quarter of the way in that we find out Whit has children and it made me think, what the heck were both she and her husband getting kidnapped in Afghanistan for when they have two young girls at home? at that point. And I'll be honest, when the killer is revealed, instead of the "oh my gosh!" reaction I like with these sort of books, I couldn't even remember who the character was.

But overall, I enjoyed the book for the most part and would definitely give the second book a chance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.