Author: Allison Brennan
Series: Predator Trilogy (Book 1)
Publication: Ballantine Books (December 27, 2005)
Description: First, she imagined it. Then a killer made it real.
Rowan Smith is living in a borrowed Malibu beach house while her bestselling novel is made into a Hollywood movie. A former FBI agent with a haunted past, Rowan thinks she has outrun her demons. But fiction and reality collide when a dismembered body is found in Colorado: the real-life victim had the same name, occupation, and looks as a character in Rowan’s novel. By the time the FBI, the LAPD, and her own private bodyguard gather around her, another person is killed–again, the murder ripped from the pages of Rowan’s book.
In the company of a former Delta Force officer with secrets of his own, Rowan faces an excruciating dilemma: the only way to chase down the tormenting killer is by revisiting the darkness of her past–and by praying for some way out again.
After the prey is chosen, the hunt is on and the kill is certain.
My Thoughts: This was an engaging, fast-paced thriller that had spent too long on my TBR mountain. Written in 2005, I believe that this was Brennan's first published book.
Rowan Smith is a former FBI agent turned best-selling author. She's in Malibu overseeing the movie adaptation of one of her books. Things begin to go wrong when a young woman is murdered in the exact same way as a woman in her first book. Even the name of the person matches the character. And worst of all, a copy of her book is found at the scene.
Rowan is being pressured by both her former FBI mentor and the producer of the film to hire a bodyguard. She chooses Michael Flynn who is a former police detective turned private investigator. Michael works with his computer expert sister Tess and former Delta Force and DEA agent brother John.
When murders mimicking murders in her other books are committed, Rowan, the FBI, the local police, and Michael's company are all looking through her old cases to see who could hold such an inconceivable grudge against her. Rowan is forced to look back into her own violent past to find someone who could possibly know what is needed. But only Rowan and her brother Peter survived alive and sane. Her father is in a hospital for the insane and is in a comatose state.
When Michael was murdered - which was certainly not in any of her books. Rowan and John who have fallen in love are more determined than ever to solve the mystery of who killed Michael and who wants Rowan dead after tormenting her enough.
Though I figured out who the villain was rather soon in the story, I still found the story exciting and engaging. It was filled with interesting characters who were well-developed and intriguing.
Favorite Quote:
She wrote because she had to, a purging of the pain she'd kept locked up for so many years. In her books, justice always won. In her fantasy world, the villains always died. Victims were avenged, good persevered over evil.But in the real world, none of that was true. Sometimes victims received justice. Sometimes villains were punished. Sometimes good defeated evil.But just as often, evil won.
Alison Brennan is one of my favorite authors. This was the first book I read, I remember enjoying it. Are you going to read the rest in this series?
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