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| From Amazon |
Description (From Amazon):
“Break up with Chase Dexter,
or I’ll kill him.” Holly Anna Paladin never expected such a gut-wrenching
ultimatum. But the man threatening her makes it clear he’s dead serious. With
home invasions, hidden cameras, and bombs threats, Holly must make some serious
choices. Whatever Holly decides, the consequences will either break her heart
or break her soul. She tries to match wits with the masked man, but he’s always
a step ahead of her. The more she fights, the deeper she’s drawn into the
perilous situation. Dealing with the ultimatum, her sister’s wedding problems,
and riots that have broken out in the city, Holly’s nearly at her breaking
point. She must discover the identity of this mystery man before someone she
loves dies. But the deceit is threatening to pull her under . . . six feet under.
My Thoughts:
Random Acts of Deceit is the second
book in the Holly Anna Paladin’s series. The first book is entitled Random Acts of Murder. I enjoyed
following Holly around in the first book. It wasn’t’ the first time fans of
Holly met her; she actually made an appearance in one of Barritt’s other book, Mucky Streak. Barritt does a good job at
creating action that grips the hard-core mystery fans with realistic
characters, and a formulaic who done it mystery.
The
writing is spot on. The dialogue hustles the action along while deepening the
story with the prose showing the internal struggles and thoughts of Holly. All
of Christy Barritt’s books, besides the Love Inspired Suspense books, are
written in the first person point of view, so I develop quite a relationship
with each character as the series progress. The dialogue and prose make me feel
like I’m listening to a close friend who is spilling their deepest, darkest
secrets. One problem I did have was that all of Barritt’s first-person
characters are starting to sound like the same person. Yes, they have different
personalities and are solving different crimes, but for some reason, in this book,
Holly didn’t sound any different than Gabby St. Clair from her Squeaky Clean
Mysteries. Not that this affecting my enjoyment of the book. I really liked the
mystery.
The
pace of the novel is just right for a cozy mystery. There is incident after incident,
all threatening Holly and giving her no choice but no comply with the Shadow
Man, as Holly nicknamed the man who is ruining her life.
I
really enjoy returning to familiar characters like Holly and Chase. That is
what is so great about Barritt’s writing, besides her ability to create a new
page-turning mystery with every book, I really like following the same
characters around and watch their lives change and grow. In Random Acts of
Deceit, Holly has moved in with her mother and has a good relationship with
Chase. Holly is strong, loves her family, and is willing to follow her heart,
even when others tell her not to. On the other hand, Chase, her boyfriend, is a
good detective who wears his heart on his sleeve for Holly. He isn’t afraid to
get to the bottom of a case or his relationship with Holly. I think Barritt’s
greatest character strength is creating heroes I truly enjoy.
The
conflict stems from threats from Shadow Man and how he affects Holly’s life. He
sneaks into her mother’s house on a number of different occasions, demanding
Holly to do things that cause her to struggle internally. To be relevant for
today, Barritt includes the riots that have happened in the news to occur in
the small town where Holly lives and works. While the external conflict affects
her outwardly, the romantic tension the Shadow Man makes her create between her
and Chase rips her apart. Holly really likes Chase, but in order to save
everyone in her family, including Chase, she must do what the Shadow Man
requested.
This
is an original and unpredictable cozy mystery that I couldn’t wait to turn the
pages to find out who the bad guy was. There is no questionable content, so
anyone could read Barritt’s books. Fans of Barritt’s other books will really
enjoy returning to familiar characters in a familiar setting. I couldn’t figure
out who the bad guy was. She threw me for a loop.
Always
thrilling, Christy Barritt does it again with Random Acts of Deceit. The mystery is thrown in with incident after
incident for Holly’s life. I enjoy returning to recognizable characters in a
well-known setting. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series or any
book that Christy Barritt writes.
I received a complimentary copy of Random Acts of Deceit from Christy Barritt and the opinions stated are all my own.
My
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars (Very Good)
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