MADE TO BE BROKEN

Author: Kelley Armstrong ISBN: 9780553588385 3/2009 SUSPENSE Publisher: BANTAM

The author of the acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series returns with her latest novel featuring an exciting heroine with a lethal hidden talent. This time she’s hot on the trail of a young woman no one else cares about—and a killer who’s bound to strike again. Nadia Stafford isn’t your typical nature lodge owner. An ex-cop with a legal code all her own, she’s known only as “Dee” to her current employer: a New York crime family that pays her handsomely to bump off traitors. But when Nadia discovers that a troubled teenage employee and her baby have vanished in the Canadian woods, the memory of a past loss comes back with a vengeance and her old instincts go into overdrive. With her enigmatic mentor, Jack, covering her back, Nadia unearths sinister clues that point to an increasingly darker and deadlier mystery. Now, with her obsession over the case deepening, the only way Nadia can right the wrongs of the present is to face her own painful ghosts—and either bury them for good, or die trying. Because in her book everyone deserves a chance. And everyone deserves justice.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Another book that I'm on the fence about. That is what MADE TO BE BROKEN is to me. Oh, there are a few memorable scenes, but there are also some not so great ones. Plenty of boring-not-sure-why-this-is-dragging-out-so-long time too, if I am being honest. I think with the mediocrity of what I have been reading lately, I really want something to grab hold of me and invoke some passion and fire that I can spew out into a review. Since Kelley Armstrong usually gives me that, I was hoping to find that inspiration here. I suppose it's fair to say I have found a spark and that's about it.

Some of the romance... well, the majority of it is non-existent. This is more of a mystery book although there are signs pointing the way to the possibility of something romantic happening in books to come. And while I like the backdrop, there are too many distractions to the main idea. I don't care if the heroine is taking guests to the lake. I want her to get back to business. So, I guess what I am saying is the flow is not quite what it should be and the sex is absent.

To be fair, the ending is cool. REALLY cool. Not the mass of characters and weird way they all come together; that part I don't actually like and think it needs work. But, the anti-heroine is beyond good at what she does and I love the unexpected way she does it. I give props where props are do, so kudos to Armstrong for writing that amazing scene. She also does a terrific job mapping out the premise. I love the idea of hitmen for main characters and the brief mysterious glimpses into their pasts that surely set me up to anticipate the next book. And, I do want to read the next one.

Shannon Johnson