Tamara Tilley

TOO CLOSE TO HOME by Lynette Eason was a riveting, fast-paced novel that kept my interest throughout.

Special Agent Samantha Cash is called in to assist the SLED - South Carolina Law enforcement division- in the unexplained disappearance and deaths of local teen girls. With her expertise in computer forensics, she hopes she is able to dig deep enough to find what the other task forces have missed in solving this case.

Homicide detective Connor Wolfe is being pulled in two directions. He knows he needs to spend time mending his strained relationship with Jenna, his defiant teenage daughter, but with a killer on the loose, he devotes his time and energy to the case at hand, causing Jenna to rebel even further.

There is immediate chemistry between Samantha and Connor, but for the sake of the case and their race against time, they put personal feelings aside and concentrate on the killer that continues to slip from their grasp. When the killer decides to make his game personal, both Samantha and Connor realize how much they stand to lose as time continues to tick away.

I'm hooked! A long time Dee Henderson fan, I've now found another author that compels me to turn page after page. Sure, maybe all of the protocols and procedures weren't exactly on point as other reviewers stated, but Eason's writing technique and ability to captivate an audience far out-shined those minor flaws. I am all for realism, but for me, escapism is the name of the game and while reading this novel, I definitely felt as if I was running alongside Samantha and Connor in their race against time.

My only negative regarding TOO CLOSE TO HOME is the fact that I didn't really get to see Connor and Samantha explore their feelings for each other until the end of the book. I am not a fan of keeping the hero and heroine at arm's length until the last few pages. But overall, a great suspenseful read.