Review: Deranged by T.R. Ragan (audio)

Title: Deranged

Author: T.R. Ragan

Series: Jessie Cole, #3

Narrator: Kate Rudd

Published: October 2018, Brilliance Audio

Length: 7 hours 34 minutes

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

Family man or deranged killer? It’s for fearless PI Jessie Cole to find out. At any cost. 

Ever
since a car accident left reporter Ben Morrison with amnesia, he’s been
trying to rebuild a future as he puts together the pieces of his past.
With the help of PI Jessie Cole, he’s getting closer. But few who
remember Ben’s troubled childhood want to talk. And those who
do—including his father, imprisoned for a shocking crime—are stirring
disturbing memories given up for dead.

Then Jessie is sidetracked
by a surveillance request from a suspicious husband. An ordinary case,
until the cheating wife and lover are found murdered. They bear the
trademark wounds of an elusive serial killer who’s now leading Jessie
down a chilling path—one that’s about to put a dangerous twist in the
search for Ben’s identity.

To discover the truth, Jessie must put
more at risk than she ever feared. Because there are more secrets to
Ben’s past, than she—or even Ben—ever imagined.

My thoughts: This is the third book in T.R. Ragan’s Jessie Cole series and I am really enjoying this series. I was not familiar with T.R. Ragan prior to picking up the first book in this series, but I am slowly becoming a big fan of her work. I know she has other series and I just might have to give them a try, too.

While this latest book definitely can be read as a stand-alone, I highly recommend reading this series in order. This installment in particular really builds on information that T.R. Ragan has set up in the two previous books. And if you are planning on reading the other books, there are some bits of information in this book that might be considered “spoilers” for the earlier two books.

The character development in this book is top notch. I really feel that it has been building all along in this series, but a lot comes out in this particular installment. Jessie continues to work with Ben on trying to figure out just who he is. A lot about Ben’s past is revealed in this book, but we still don’t find out everything. It will be interesting to see where things go next. And I love that Zee, Jessie’s assistant is still around. She provides some much needed humor at just the right time. She was helping Jessie with the surveillance case and gives some interesting insight. I think she is such a good balance for Jessie.

Because Jessie was so caught up with helping Ben, her focus isn’t so much on murder investigations as it has been in the past two books. However, there are still murders going on, and this is where Jessie’s boyfriend, Colin, a homicide detective, takes center stage. I feel like we see a lot more of him in this book and I liked that. He is saddled with a new partner and at first isn’t too sure about him, as he has some interesting quirks to him, but they end up proving to be quite useful. 

I am so looking forward to the next book in this series…where we finally get all the answers about Ben. From what I can tell, it is to be the finale of this series…which makes me a bit bummed out. I definitely want to know all those answers, but I don’t want to see the end of this series.

Audio thoughts: I was very excited to see that Kate Rudd was once again the narrator for this book. As you know, I am a big fan of having the same narrator narrate a series whenever possible and Kate Rudd has been doing a great job – she has been consistent with the voices and personalities of the characters. Her pacing and tone are spot on and she infuses just the right amount of tension and suspense into her voice as needed. I hope she will be the narrator for the final book!

Books in this series: 

1. Her Last Day
2. Deadly Recall 
3. Deranged
4. Buried Deep – due out April 2019