ARC Review: When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz

When All the Girls Have Gone
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Publication: Berkley (November 29, 2016)

Description: Jayne Ann Krentz, the New York Times bestselling author of Secret Sisters, delivers a thrilling novel of the deceptions we hide behind, the passions we surrender to and the lengths we’ll go to for the truth...

When Charlotte Sawyer is unable to contact her stepsister, Jocelyn, to tell her that one of her closest friends was found dead, she discovers that Jocelyn has vanished. 

Beautiful, brilliant—and reckless—Jocelyn has gone off the grid before, but never like this. In a desperate effort to find her, Charlotte joins forces with Max Cutler, a struggling PI who recently moved to Seattle after his previous career as a criminal profiler went down in flames—literally. Burned out, divorced and almost broke, Max needs the job.  

After surviving a near-fatal attack, Charlotte and Max turn to Jocelyn’s closest friends, women in a Seattle-based online investment club, for answers. But what they find is chilling…

When her uneasy alliance with Max turns into a full-blown affair, Charlotte has no choice but to trust him with her life. For the shadows of Jocelyn’s past are threatening to consume her—and anyone else who gets in their way...

My Thoughts: Krentz's latest romantic suspense title pairs a struggling PI named Max Cutler and a woman who works in a retirement community. Charlotte has recently been jilted by her fiance five days before their scheduled wedding.

They meet when Charlotte picks up her vacationing stepsister Jocelyn's mail and finds a note from her sister's best friend and fellow member of their investment club. When Charlotte tries to contact the friend, she learns that she has died, the apparent victim of a drug overdose. Charlotte decides to go to the friend's - Louise's - home to pick up some papers that she wanted Jocelyn to have.

Max Cutler has been hired by Louise's cousin who doesn't believe that his cousin was using drugs. Max has relocated to the West Coast after some issues with his previous job as a profiler. He is obsessed with trying to find a villain from his childhood. His mother got involved in a cult and, when the cult fell apart, the leader set off a series of explosions. His mother died but he and eight other children were rescued by a local police officer. Most of the kids were reunited with relatives but Max and two other boys were orphans. They were raised by the cop who became their foster father. The question of what became of the cult leader has haunted Max ever since.

When Charlotte and Max try to contact her sister Jocelyn, they learn that she is not where she said she would be. Max and Charlotte partner up to try to find her. Meanwhile, the other members of her sister's investment club are also receiving threats. Max and Charlotte also find themselves barely surviving an attempted murder.

I enjoyed this story. I liked that both Max and Charlotte had similar characters. Neither is looking for a new relationship but something just clicks when they meet. She has an unwavering faith in him and an innate understanding of him. He also feels comfortable sharing things about his past with her that he hasn't shared before.

This is a great story with a couple of nice twists along the way.

Favorite Quote:

His dark hair was cut short with military‑style precision. The style suited the rock‑hard planes and angles of his face. It was impossible to read his gold‑and‑brown eyes.

Not the handsomest man in Seattle—not by a long stretch, she thought. But probably the one most likely to survive if he went into the gladiators’ ring to confront the  best‑looking guy.

I got this one in exchange for an honest review from Penguin's First to Read program. You can buy your copy here.