Title: Watch Her Sleep
Author: L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Series: Charlotte Winters, #3
Published: March 2021, Bookouture
Format: ARC E-copy, 375 pages
Source: Netgalley
Summary:
Nestled in the autumn
leaves, her hair tangled in thick brambles, the girl looks like she
could be sleeping amongst the wild roses. But the trail of red across
her delicate throat means this is a slumber she will never wake from…
When
a search party trawling Salem Island find a girl’s body curled on the
damp earth, the hunt for missing waitress Emma Jacobis grinds to a
devastating halt. The day before, Emma had come to Detective Charlie
Winters convinced someone was watching her. In her trembling hand she
held a sketch of herself sleeping peacefully with the stuffed rabbit
she’d had since she was a child. On the back, scrawled in black ink: You
will be mine…
A box containing handwritten letters found under
Emma’s bed is Charlie’s first lead. But the handwriting isn’t a match to
the note left for Emma. With the help of her new assistant, a troubled
girl eager to learn the ropes, Charlie’s only hope is to canvas the bar
where Emma worked. There, she finds a woman with fear in her eyes and a
terrifying story to tell about an encounter with a dangerous stranger.
Is someone in this small town targeting vulnerable girls as prey?
Certain
she’s found a twisted killer’s hunting ground, and with time running
out before he strikes again, Charlie has no choice but to use her new
assistant as bait to lure him out into the open. But when a scream
pierces through the night, will Charlie survive the consequences? She
has to, or there’s no knowing how many more innocent girls will die…
My thoughts: This
is the third book in L.T. Vargus and Tim McBain’s new series and it
was really good! I love crime
thriller series and this is proving to be a fun, thrilling
series to read.
Once
again we have a fast-paced, suspense-filled read that kept me flipping
the
pages from start to finish. I was completely engaged right from the start and the short chapters give this one that ‘just one more chapter’ mentality. Of course, my favorite aspect of this series remains to be the voice that Charlie
hears in her head. It happened in the first book and it continued to
happened throughout
this latest installment. I love this – I find it to be a unique part of
the story. It is both humorous at times as well as quite telling in
regards to Charlie as a character. I do wonder if this is ever really going to be explored in depth…why does she hear the voice at certain times and then at other times there is radio silence???
While this book can be read as a stand-alone, I do feel it’s best to read the series in order. There are threads that are carried through and I really do feel that the character development that has happened over the course of the series really gives you a better feel for who Charlie is. But, if this is the first book you are picking up, perhaps it will entice you to pick up the other two after.
This book has such a great, creepy feel to it. A stalker that haunts their prey, someone watching and waiting. I love books like this and I love that we get the stalker’s point of view from time to time. Of course I was trying to figure out if I could guess the stalker/killer’s identity before the final reveal and I did…right before it was revealed. Not much of a lead time there, but it’s all good. This one really kept me on my toes and I loved how it all plays out in the end.
This
writing duo is fantastic. They push the envelop, they take chances and
they give an all-out gripping, exciting read. I am so excited to see
what comes next for Charlie…and I really hope that at some point, we
get some closure on her sister’s murder that happened 20 years ago.
Books in this series:
- First Girl Gone
- Girl Under Water
- Watch Her Sleep
