Scan barcode
A review by ncrabb
Cover-up by Michele Martinez
4.0
Suzanne Shepard spent her working life revealing dirty little secrets about others on television as a high-profile reporter. When New York City cops get an anonymous call, the caller directs them to a ravine that reveals the ghastliest secret of all. Suzanne Shepard is dead, and someone has sliced and diced her in brutal ways, carving the word “bitch” on her stomach. And that doesn’t include the sexual assault stuff she endured.
FBI Special Agent Dan O’Reilly gets the nod to investigate the murder, and he calls his girlfriend, federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas, who reluctantly agrees to accompany him to the crime scene. A representative from the local district attorney’s office had already been there and fled vomiting because of the brutality of the murder.
Because Shepard was in the enemy-making business, Melanie has a list of suspects longer than a polygamist’s clothesline to plow through. Finding Shepard’s killer won’t be easy; normally Vargas can narrow suspect lists down quickly. But not so this time. Some of the people on the list trouble Vargas. One suspect is the father of a young and promising intern in Vargas’s office. He’s a mayoral candidate, and he and his assistant are extremely hostile to Vargas.
Then the emails start pinging into Melanie’s box. The writer references Melanie’s body, commending her for it and yearning to do unthinkable things to it. More troubling still is the fact that the writer has specific information about the Shepard murder that police never released to the media.
It’s a race against time and a stalker as the killer wounds one suspect, and another one dies near the end of the book. Melanie could find herself among the dead if she can’t find a solution.
I chose this as one of my early-morning walk books. I need a title whose plot keeps me so involved I can’t fixate on how much farther I must walk. Something that provides the occasional adrenaline shot to the ticker is a must, and this book fills that bill nicely.
FBI Special Agent Dan O’Reilly gets the nod to investigate the murder, and he calls his girlfriend, federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas, who reluctantly agrees to accompany him to the crime scene. A representative from the local district attorney’s office had already been there and fled vomiting because of the brutality of the murder.
Because Shepard was in the enemy-making business, Melanie has a list of suspects longer than a polygamist’s clothesline to plow through. Finding Shepard’s killer won’t be easy; normally Vargas can narrow suspect lists down quickly. But not so this time. Some of the people on the list trouble Vargas. One suspect is the father of a young and promising intern in Vargas’s office. He’s a mayoral candidate, and he and his assistant are extremely hostile to Vargas.
Then the emails start pinging into Melanie’s box. The writer references Melanie’s body, commending her for it and yearning to do unthinkable things to it. More troubling still is the fact that the writer has specific information about the Shepard murder that police never released to the media.
It’s a race against time and a stalker as the killer wounds one suspect, and another one dies near the end of the book. Melanie could find herself among the dead if she can’t find a solution.
I chose this as one of my early-morning walk books. I need a title whose plot keeps me so involved I can’t fixate on how much farther I must walk. Something that provides the occasional adrenaline shot to the ticker is a must, and this book fills that bill nicely.