Gone for Good

I’m not sure what it says about me that I’m reviewing a book about a serial killer called the Lovelorn Killer on Valentine’s Day, but it’ll give me an excuse to go cheer myself up with chocolate afterwards so … here we go.

Annalisa Vega was 17 years old when her neighbor, Katie Duffy, the mother of her boyfriend, Collin, and wife of her cop dad’s partner became the 7th victim of The Lovelorn Killer, a serial killer who courted the attention of the media by writing love letters to his victims after their deaths.  After going dormant for 20 years, he suddenly reappears with a new victim, Grace Hopper, a member of an online amateur sleuthing club called The Grave Diggers, who started re-examining his cold case.

When Annalisa, who is now the newest detective on her squad, and Detective Nick Carelli, who just happens to be her ex-husband, get partnered to solve the case that no law enforcement agency from local cops to the FBI have been able to for 20 years, it gets the attention of The Lovelorn Killer, and becomes an increasingly dangerous cat-and-mouse game, with Annalisa becoming the Lovelorn Killer’s newest “mouse” to play with.

I loved this story. Annalisa is a great character, with a nice combination of hard and soft personality qualities to keep her balanced. There were twists, turns, red herrings, misdirects, and constant suspense as the Lovelorn Killer gets closer and bolder in his efforts. There’s even a big reveal AFTER the main big reveal that added an interesting avenue to explore in later books. There’s a little bit of romance, but not in a distracting way, with the big three characters: Annalisa, Nick and Collin forming a potential love triangle that will be a lot of fun to watch as the series continues.

A couple things in the final stretch of the book that knocked this down from a sure 5-star to a 4-star read is that I was able to predict who the killer was pretty early, and I felt the reveal went just a wee bit silly in its execution, including one major gaping plot hole that I’d love the author to explain to me. <spoiler>How did The Lovelorn Killer tie himself up like that?</spoiler> I also had hoped for a happier ending than I got, but seeing as this is the first book in a new series, I think it makes sense not to wrap things up in a neat, happy bow.

Do I wish the ending had been more of a surprise?  Yes.  Am I disappointed? Only the teeny tiniest bit.  I was all in for this book, and I can’t wait to see what Joanna Schaffhausen thinks up next for Detective Vega!

★★★★ ½  (rounded down to 4)

Thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and author Joanna Schaffhausen for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. This book will be published August 10, 2021.