NEW Book Review for DARK MIND

Genre: Crime Fiction

Title: DARK MIND

Author: JENNIFER CHASE

Highly Recommended by reviewer: Jan Evan Whitford, Allbooks Reviews

“Okay, think HAWAII FIVE-O meets CRIMINAL MINDS, meets CSI. Sort of. Only much, much better because this author captivates and charms the reader with her many impressive writing skills—particularly for setting the scenes. And even as she engages the reader with vividly descriptive sights, smells and feel of the enchanting island of Kauai in Hawaii, she ratchets up terror, tension and suspense. Immediately, she hooked me by placing me into the tense atmosphere of an interrogation room—engaging all my senses with great sensory images. And then she follows up with a horrific captive scenario, some nasty crime scenes, nail-biting confrontations and plenty of well-researched police procedural action plus a corker of a plot that kept me guessing; just what I love in a crime fiction thriller. And the short chapters keep things hopping. I like that, too. I was definitely captured and seduced by the prose—very well done, and with thorough research into Hawaiian culture.

Emily Stone is the protagonist, along with her partner and possible romantic interest, Rick. Their passion? Hunting down serial killers, child abductors, and pedophiles. And they do it under the radar. Without badges. Starts out, they’re searching for a missing 9-year-old girl, taken by slave traders. Gritty enough for you? After that, the reader is treated to a roller coaster ride of vivid, authentic crime scenes, stalking, terror, violent confrontations, and dangerous forays into such exotic locales as the rugged terrain of the Na’Pali coastline. Plus even a little steamy romance. Anyway, we find out soon enough that a local serial killer is abducting women and doing away with them in horrific ways, definitely not for the squeamish. Ancient Hawaiian superstition is involved and the bad guy might just be a local. Or not. Of course, there are red herrings and the compulsory antagonism with local police, all good stuff but the ending? It’ll blow you away. Nail-biter. Did I mention that? Well, that’s what it is. The only downside was that I didn’t really connect with the protagonist until about 150 pages in—probably because I should’ve read the previous books in the series first. Nonetheless, as a rule, all books, even in a series, should stand alone. Minor hurdle, though. It was still a page-turner.

Since this is an e-book with no back cover for an author bio, I went online and found out that Jennifer Chase lives in California. She’s got a Bachelor’s degree in Police Forensics as well as a Master’s in Criminology. Wow. No wonder her crime scenes are so authentic. She claims her intense curiosity into the psychological aspect of crime led her to write crime fiction. Well, I’m so glad it did.”