Suspenseful with great character development
596782
This is a solidly good novel about surviving the zombie apocalypse.  I thought the characters were well developed and I enjoyed reading their totally plausible reactions to the undead.

 I'm knocking off one star for a few annoying grammatical errors (using they're/their and your/you're incorrectly).  But, all in all this was a great story.  I hope there is a sequel!
4692403
This is a suspenseful story about a young woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Cass (Cassandra) is happily married, has lots of friends with one BFF, Rachel. She works as a teacher and is very good at her job. Both her parents are dead, her mother from early onset dementia. Her husband Matthew does not know about her mother's death. Cass is driving home one night and she sees a car on a road that is used as a shortcut through the forested area. Although she stops to check on the driver, she leaves the scene.  The next day, she finds out that the driver of this car, "Jane", has been killed. Cass is riddled with guilt about not stopping. Could she have saved this woman from death if she had stopped? She starts to forget things, lose things, and can feel reality sinking away? She begins to fear that she is developing early onset dementia as well.

This is written in the first person, and you can feel Cass' fear and terror as she begins to realize that she may be going developing dementia or having a nervous breakdown. There is a lot of twists and turns in this story that keep you wondering what is going to happen next. The story takes a bit to develop but stick with it because everything comes together in an amazing conclusion. I loved this book, but it is scary to realize that you never know who your real friends are. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. The opinions expressed are my own.
1373770
Once Removed, by Michael Berrier, is a fun read. While some of the plot was predictable, much of it kept me engrossed enough to not want to put it down. The story is based on contemporary relationships that developed over time. Berrier uses flashbacks to reveal how their lives evolved. At the same time, he weaves in an external crisis that is resolved as the relationships are untangled. Once Removed is a great blend of a character driven plot with suspense.

I recommend this book. However, the beginning is somewhat slow as it starts with the characters as children. This plays into the character development but is slow to hook you. KEEP READING. Once you get to the suspenseful scenes, Once Removed is hard to put down.
12313
Great character development. Loved the characters in the story and enjoyed the tales of Melanie sniffing out leads and solving the murder. A real page turner mystery, I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.
2239183
This book kept my interest from beginning to end.  It is well-written and suspenseful, moves along at a good pace, and has an unusual foreshadowing technique.  The main characters are well-developed and believable, as is the story.  A good read!
2703836
This was a great suspense novel, featuring three young women who were bonded as best friends in childhood in the sleepy, rundown town of Miller's Falls. While Cecily has gone on to become a well-to-do attorney and lucky in love with a man who is kind and wishes to marry her if she would ever say yes, her other friends have not been as fortunate. Amelia hides her troubles by being an underachiever with little self-worth, working at a low paying job and sleeping with strangers. Hilary struggles with substance abuse and cannot stay sober, because then she will have to face what happened so many years ago. But now the person who ruined their lives when they were still young has possibly returned to town, and the women will no longer let their fear and self-loathing keep them from turning the tables and stalking him this time.
The author writes convincing dialogue and puts Cecily and her friends in enough near-misses with danger to keep you wanting to turn the pages. When the former detective who had handled the assault case when the friends were girls steps in to help them out, Cecily hopes their troubles are over. But the law must follow the rules and there isn't enough time to stop the predator from striking again. Despite the subject matter, there is no graphic violence or mature scenes that detract from the suspenseful tale of vigilantism. This story is well-written and will keep your interest all the way through to the surprising ending.
4407794
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nicely done mystery with a great cast of characters and a suspenseful plot that keeps the pages turning. The author gives enough background information so new readers won't feel lost and can jump right into the series with this one but may be compelled to go back and read the others after finishing this book. I loved not being able to figure out the killer's identity and being completely surprised by the outcome. If you're looking for a good mystery series, give this one a try.
1033099
Really enjoyed this book.  It didn't take long to get drawn into the story and soon it was hard to stop reading.  The suspense continues to build throughout the story and I found myself a little torn between needing to take a break from it and anxiously wanting to know what would happen next.  The forces of evil were described skillfully enough that it was a little creepy reading it late at night.
881794
Surviving Ice is the fourth book in the Burying Water series and it may be my favorite. It has a great mix of romance and suspense between two independent, fierce characters.

Ivy Lee is confident, and fiercely independent. As a wanderer without roots, she has few friends and few ties that keep her grounded. After making her way back to her uncles tattoo shop in San Francisco, she realizes she isn't feeling the usual need to pick up and move to a new location as she normally does. Mentally preparing to settle in for a long term stay in one place, her world is rocked when she witnesses a murder.

Sebastian Black works jobs that are off the grid and never recorded. He arrives just as Ivy is trying to sort out her next move with her uncles shop and house, but his arrival may not be the help she thinks it is, as he seems to know more than he should about her uncle and the threats that seem to be growing.

The timing for their meeting is tough on Ivy, as she is only days from losing her uncle, but it couldn't be better for that tension that builds between them as Sebastian uses whatever means necessary to get the information for which he is searching and yet finds himself trying to protect her from danger.

The suspense was great as Sebastian digs into his investigation, Ivy sorts through her uncles things and works to remember details that might help police find the killers. There were a lot of small details woven throughout the story that added to the mess they had to work through.

The storyline is fitting with current events and feels fresh and relevant. It was a story that as the details were revealed, those details explained so much about the characters and the way they related to others. Those details reveal so much about unsettled feelings and suspicions.

I am sad to see this series come to an end, but it feels like a natural place for it to leave off. I love that Ivy is the one to conclude the series and am so glad that readers have the chance to see inside her head. Though this isn't the first time she appears in a Burying Water book, her prickly exterior and vagabond nature make for an interesting character study in this stress filled environment.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
2892079
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.

The downside for me was that I chose to download it just before a camping trip. I started reading it after we set up....in the middle of a forest.....in dense fog. The first night I was up until 3 a.m. because I had to know what happened next. I finished it the next afternoon--no more night reading for me!

There was just enough suspense to make me want to read on, and the character development was sufficient that I cared about what happened to the main characters. There were a few of the "extra" characters that I found hard to keep track of, but their part of the story was essential to the development.

Great read, and I'm looking forward to more from this author.
985326
This novel will really keep you guessing on who the real murderer is. The book really gives insight on Mercy's struggle to fit in back in her home community, after years of military service and dangerous missions. Clearly Mercy is involved with danger and violence regardless of her location on the world-wide globe. Great character development and suspenseful plot.
2246452
I very much enjoyed reading this book.  It was suspenseful with twists and turns to keep it interesting.  The characters were well developed.  I look forward to his next book.
2306586
Good character development and well written!
I enjoyed the plot and the suspense the author created. Can't wait to read her next book!
1892512
I really enjoyed this book.  The suspense and the mystery was first rate, and the interaction between the characters evolved along with the story line, affecting their relationships as well as the investigation. Although there were characters I definitely disliked, I appreciated that as the story progressed to its conclusion, there were no truly clear cut good or bad guys, allowing us to see what caused them to make their tragic choices.  I am so ready for the next book!
998044
I really liked the characters and all the action, but it was the suspense that drew me in from one chapter to the next. I'm a sucker for romance, and this turned out to be a lot more than that. It was intrigue and adventure, and takes you places that lead down a path where it's hard to predict the outcome. It's a good read for anyone, and doesn't disappoint.
3845598
This is a very good suspenseful novel with quirky but fascinating characters. There were moments when I hoped the 406 page book would move faster, but this was probably due to my interest in finding out what happens next. There are essentially three plots.
Lucas finds out that one or more people want to kill the woman who is running for president. We readers know who this is and why, and it is interesting to read how Lucas goes about trying to find out what we already know and how he some few times just misses what would solve the case.
Suspicion falls on someone involved in a group of flaky people who are against the government. This brings up the second plot. Who set a bomb that killed people some years back?
The third plot is Lucas himself. he is no longer a policeman, but the governor, knowing his skill, wants him to find who wants to kill the woman running for president. He, the governor, is hoping she will select him as VP. Since Lucas is not a policeman, it is hard for him to investigate and talk to people who do not want to talk to him.
1070576
I loved this book.  Although I had several strong suspicions at various stages of the story, I never guessed who the culprit was.  The story is loaded with lots of good detail and has excellent character and plot  development.  While I found the early love scenes to be irritatingly  frustrating, it was definitely worth it to keep reading.
The cover image  is excellent of him, but not of her, whom the story describes as having  always-mussed waist-length hair and wearing no makeup.