Review: Serial Vengeance

Serial Vengeance by Melissa Wren
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Release Date: June 6, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Olivia Penn already lost her baby and her best friend. She's not about to lose the biggest story of her career. With the help of her police contact, she's on the case of what appears to be a random string of high-profile suicides sparked by guilty consciences.

But there's something strange about the suicide notes: They all say, "I deserve to die." Olivia is determined to break the story that the deaths are the work of a serial killer. She gets her big break when the killer commits a sensational double murder. "The Punisher" is on the hunt, and adulterers among the elite of Washington, D.C. are his prey. The further Olivia pursues her story, the further her life unravels.

And the more she uncovers, the more she begins to think that solving this case will also lead to discovering the truth behind her best friend's mysterious disappearance two years earlier. Willing to do anything to unveil the identity of the psychopath who is behind the successive murders, she finds herself embroiled in a psychological game, and it's become chillingly personal.

A stalker has been breaking into her home and sending threatening messages. Someone is trying to scare her away from her attempts to bait The Punisher with her news stories-someone close to her. It's a dangerous game she's playing, and it all leads up to a magnificent twist ending. Will Olivia's search for truth turn up anything? Or will her tenacious investigation cause her to lose her job, or her marriage-or her life?

♥ ♥ ♥

I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t happen.

I didn’t seem to care about the characters. Olivia often came across as a selfish and pouty child, especially when she was around her husband, Cameron. Nor, did I care for the interaction and conflict between Olivia and Cameron. Their relationship felt flat.



This book had the potential to be a real page turner, but it often falls short. I felt as though some of the scenes were rushed and if the author had just taken a little more time with the set-up, there would have been a bigger payoff for the reader.

However, the disappearance of Olivia’s best friend, Stacy kept my interest. I wanted to know what happened to her.

Even though I didn’t love this book, I didn’t hate it. I think that there will be many readers out there that will enjoy Serial Vengeance. I will put Melissa Wren’s name on my list of authors to keep an eye on. I think she has the potential to write great books that keeps me turning the pages.

♥ ♥ ♥

Author Bio:

Author Melissa Wren brings a background in journalism and over four years of experience living in the heart of Washington, D.C. to this dark, suspenseful, psychological thriller set among the political intrigue of the nation’s capital. After gaining her B.A. in broadcast journalism from Texas Tech University in 1998, Melissa Wren moved abroad to London, England and began her career in advertising, which eventually took her to Dallas, Texas and then to Monterey, California.

She spent more than four years on the West Coast before relocating to Washington, D.C. to work in communications and with the press for a government agency for four more years. Wren recognized her God-given passion for creating stories at an early age, finishing her first novel when she was 12 years old.

During her time in the nation’s capital, she joined such organizations as Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Washington Independent Writers and Thriller Fest. She currently lives in her hometown of Granbury, Texas, and works as a freelance writer and editor, penning anything from professional business copy, human-interest stories, magazine articles, poetry, creative fiction to non-fiction.

She’s currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women (NAPW). Wren also compiled Cancer Chronicles: One Man’s Journey to Glorify God Through Illness. www.melissawrenbooks.com

Goodreads