Reviews

Don't Say a Word by Beverly Barton

belle505's review against another edition

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4.0

So far, not disappointed in her writing. Liked this one a lot too.

gsteinbacher's review against another edition

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3.0

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Don't Cry but I would still recommend both. looks. Start with Don't Cry though.

soulwinds's review against another edition

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2.0

2 stars

<>u>Thought and Plot


I sorta liked it...but once again I seem to be able to see through the misdirection the author was trying to create. She was screaming IT'S THAT GUY!!!! LOOK AT THAT GUY!!!!! IT's HIM!!!! I and went...$20 says it's that guy over there. I feel like it's that guy.

It was totally the guy I suspected.

Sigh...I just want a decently written romantic suspense/ romantic mystery that blindsides me with who the killer is. That too much to ask? Oh and some decent sex scenes. This book pretty much gave each encounter a one paragraph, non-descriptive glance over, or less. You just spent 72% of the book telling me how hot he is, but glance over the naughty bits? ooookkkkaaaayyyyy....maybe the mystery part will make up for it. Nope. How about all the dramatic back story??? Nope. What about the love rival. Nope, he's just a convenient means to move the plot forward and then completely disappears. The more I think about it, the more unimpressed I am. I may have to lower my rating to 2 stars before I post.

Anyhow, at a glance the plot goes something like this. Julia moves into town to be closer to her family after her partner (and secret boyfriend) was shot and killed in front of her while they were responding to a domestic violence call. Julia held him in her arms when he was dying and that's why she's super twitchy and hates surprises. That's her tragic back story.

Upon arriving Julia is picked up by Will, a TBI special agent, when her brother can't get out of sitting through a court case. Will gets a call that there has been a murder and takes Julia along because she's now a Homicide Detective for the local police. Will and Julia end up working together with Will as lead investigator for TBI and Julia as his police liaison.

Turns out it's a serial killer who is rapidly taking down his victims. Will and Julia try to identify the killer before he strikes again, while trying to ignore their going attraction towards each other, which is not "professional." Obviously they end up getting it on anyways. lol

Things I wasn't really feeling:
Will, sigh. I like Will, but Will's backstory elicited no emotional response from me. I quite literally went "seriously? That's why he's a secretive b*stard?" Will doesn't let anyone get close to him. Even after 10 years of being with the TBI . He's a great cop and apparently can do just about everything and do it well. But the reason he's so recluse doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, how does that protect people if they don't know??? But whatever.

I also didn't like the Julia is constantly being praised as this awesome dog handler, with a trained bloodhound who's won all these awards....or the fact that she has trophies for shooting...yet we don't really get to see any of that. I thought "Oh yay, the dog is going to play a part in this story!" Not actually, he's just there to serve a plot purpose.Julia's a expert marksman, not important! Guh...then why repeatedly tell me how awesome she is at these things???

Things I did like:
I enjoyed the actual visiting of the crimes scenes and the interviewing of people. Reminded me of a tv crime drama. I thoroughly enjoyed the switching of perspectives from Julia, to the prep, to a friend, etc. I am always down for multiple different perspectives, particularly when all the people obviously have such distinct identities.

In Conclusion

I would have given this book a higher rating if I hadn't figured out who the killer was so early in the book. Finding out I was right was really disappointing. I also think if Will's background story had been done a little better I would have felt more sympathy, and therefore, a better connection to him, which would have helped boost the rating. Also the repeat of history part was a bit annoying as well...

It was okay. Decently written. I just found it predictable, a little disappointing, and a tad cliche.

emmaturningpages's review against another edition

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3.0

Although its an enjoyable enough read, I found Don't Say A Word a little too predictable and far too clichéd. With characters names straight out of a 70s cop drama (Max Hazard, really?) and a dialogue to match, I unfortunately couldn't get my teeth into this one as much as I'd hoped. That said, the story itself is fast enough paced that I kept wanting to pick the book up to find out who the Tongue Slasher was, what the secrets were surrounding Will, and of course to see the romance between Will & Julia climax (pun intended). It's an easy read & enjoyable to a point, but don't expect anything ground-breaking or thought-provoking from this book.

emmaturningpages's review

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3.0

Although its an enjoyable enough read, I found Don't Say A Word a little too predictable and far too clichéd. With characters names straight out of a 70s cop drama (Max Hazard, really?) and a dialogue to match, I unfortunately couldn't get my teeth into this one as much as I'd hoped. That said, the story itself is fast enough paced that I kept wanting to pick the book up to find out who the Tongue Slasher was, what the secrets were surrounding Will, and of course to see the romance between Will & Julia climax (pun intended). It's an easy read & enjoyable to a point, but don't expect anything ground-breaking or thought-provoking from this book.
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