Review: What Doesn’t Kill Her by Christina Dodd

Title: What Doesn’t Kill Her

Author: Christina Dodd

Series: Cape Charade, #2

Published: January 2019, HQN

Format: ARC Paperback, 400 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

One secret, one nightmare, one lie. You guess which is which.

1. I have the scar of a gunshot on my forehead.
2. I have willfully misrepresented my identity to the US military.
3. I’m the new mother of a seven-year-old girl.

Kellen
Adams suffers from a yearlong gap in her memory. A bullet to the brain
will cause that. But she’s discovering the truth, and what she learns
changes her life, her confidence, her very self. She finds herself in
the wilderness, on the run, unprepared, her enemies unknown–and she is
carrying a priceless burden she must protect at all costs. The
consequences of failure would break her. And Kellen Adams does not
break.

What doesn’t kill her…had better start running.

My thoughts: This is the second book in Christina Dodd’s Cape Charade series and the second book I’ve read by Christina Dodd. As you know if you’ve been following me for any amount of time, I’m a big fan of series and I love when I come across a series that’s just beginning, which is what happened with this one. 

This second book starts off much like the first book does – it pulls you right into the story and never really lets up. It
was intense and the suspense builds at a pretty steady pace. I found myself glued to the pages, desperate to
figure out just what was going on – thinking I had it figured out, only
to be thwarted as something new would be discovered. This one really
kept me on my toes, and when you add a child in the mix…an adorable, yet precocious seven-year-old, it adds a totally new dynamic to the story.

I will say, as I usually do when it comes to reading series…I highly recommend reading the first book, Dead Girl Running, before picking this book up. This book contains just enough threads that would be considered spoilers to the previous book that it might ruin it if you read it after. So, proceed as you see fit.

I continue to love the character development we get with Kellen. She is one complicated character. And a lot is thrown at her in this book. We do get a bit more of her backstory – the book goes into her past, which I loved! It gives us some much needed answers that if you read book one, you are desperate to know. One of the things I loved about the first book, and which continues here, is that answers aren’t given to us about all the characters right away. They are slowly fed to us, bit by bit…and we still don’t have the full story. I think there is still more to Kellen, in particular, and perhaps on some of the other characters, as well, and I’m looking forward to exploring them all further in future books!

The mystery really keeps you guessing in this book…who is behind it all? There are twists and turns and it becomes quite tense at times, and then it is just plain hilarious at other times…but the balance is so thought-out and well-played that it strikes an even-keel. 

I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series – more for the continued character development than the mystery, if I’m being completely honest. I will say Kellen is a fun protagonist and it is always an adventure whatever it is she gets involved in! Have you started this series yet?

Books in this series: 

1. Dead Girl Running
2. What Doesn’t Kill Her
3. Strangers She Knows – due out October 2019