BLOOD SPORT

Author: Judith E. French ISBN: 9780505527578 7/2008 SUSPENSE Publisher: DORCHESTER/Love Spell

Human Monsters. They torture and terrify, then terminate innocent lives. For pleasure. And always there is a pattern, a signature that sets their crimes apart. Agent Jillian Maxwell is sure she's identified one of the worst ever. Twenty-three unsolved murders in two years. A trail of bodies with slashed throats, dumped by the sea. Her distractingly hot new partner disputes her theory, but Jillian's instincts tell her she's closing in on her quarry. The postcards she's received before each strike hold the key; she knows the scene of the next murder—Ocean City, Maryland. Despite "Cowboy" Reed Donovan's objections, she'll go undercover to draw out the perp. Only too late, she realizes there's more than one player in this deadly game, and she's been set up to be the latest loser in their... BLOOD SPORT.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

BLOOD SPORT begins as Ms. French intends this killer thriller to continue—captivating, fast and utterly terrifying. With a disturbed heroine and an equally disturbing serial killer, BLOOD SPORT is brutally suspenseful and broodingly relentless.

This first of a new French series lures readers from page one with a gruesome discovery, keeping the intrigue level at fever pitch with a twisting, surprising plot and an intriguing, flawed female lead.

FBI agent Jillian Maxwell emerges from a tragic past to be uncannily good (or is she more?) at hunting serial killers. Maxwell's belief a killer has been operating under FBI radar for four years—and longer—despite no similar patterns among a number of murder victims, leaves the troubled agent with no allies among law enforcement peers. As a ruthlessly driven Jillian works to connect these murders to one killer, she teams with a think-outside-the-box agent, one Reed Donovan. Even she has trouble convincing the one-time maverick Donovan she's on the right track.

As good as the suspense is in BLOOD SPORT, the romance between Jillian and Donovan is fairly unconvincing. In fact, I, a great lover of romantic suspense, was mostly annoyed with the rather limp love story that distracted from the far superior thriller.

In spite of the watered down romance, BLOOD SPORT proves to be a fantastic thriller. Edgy, clever, creepy with some rich details, BLOOD SPORT moves with a smooth flow to a really shocking cliffhanger.

Debbie Jett