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Mindhunters #2

Avenging Angel

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Grains of sand glistened in the moonlight, bright against the backdrop of her wet hair. Her blue lips were parted slightly, as if she could take in that last breath she'd been gasping for. She was, in a word, perfection.

When his friend's niece is murdered, Detective Noah Crandall vows to track down the killer. Since the victim worked in an art gallery with the well-connected and well-heeled Vanessa Knight, Noah questions her first. Despite the chemistry between them, Noah tells himself a relationship would be impossible. He's a loner and their backgrounds are worlds apart.

Drawn to Noah and horrified by the death of her intern, Vanessa shares her insights into the New York City art world. As they work together on the case, she's tempted to explore the possibility of a real relationship with the sexy outsider who ignites her desire. But what Vanessa doesn't realize is that in order to complete his gruesome series of paintings, the killer has targeted her to become his next victim...

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First published July 30, 2012

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309 people want to read

About the author

Anne Marie Becker

19 books70 followers
An award-winning author of romantic suspense, Anne Marie has always been fascinated by people—inside and out—which led to degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Counseling. As a games hostess at Sea World, tutor, waitress, personal and family counselor, and high school counselor, she has indulged her curiosity through sanctioned professions. Now, as a stay-at-home mom of three young children, her passion for understanding the human race is satisfied by her roles as mother, wife, daughter, sister, and writer.

She writes to reclaim her sanity.

Find ways to connect with Anne Marie at AnneMarieBecker.com. There, you can sign up for her newsletter for special sneak peeks and giveaways.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Danielle  Gypsy Soul.
3,174 reviews80 followers
January 25, 2020
There were just way to many unbelievable procedural things in this book for me too really enjoy it. Two detectives with no official access to the case working to solve the murders. One detective with no jurisdiction is able to get another team from another state access to the crime scene. Then on top of that hey let me just invite a woman I barely know to the crime scene as well because she knows art and can help with the profile - WHAT? The hero is hot and cold with the heroine for the stupid "I don't deserve love" trope. The heroine is a complete push over through a good chunk of the book. I have a boyfriend who treats me like crap and I really need to break up with him but let me just drag it out. She meets the hero when he lies to her and then decides to immediately forgive him because it's hard to stay mad at a gentlemen. REALLY? It's a shame because I really enjoyed the first book but this one just didn't work for me.
Profile Image for Janet.
3,356 reviews24 followers
September 30, 2019
The prologue caught my interest and the suspense was nicely done. This is a good book to try if you enjoy thrillers.
Profile Image for SoBeA.
620 reviews49 followers
June 13, 2012

Let me first say that Avenging Angel is decently written with all the fundamentals of a romantic suspense title in place...

Now the unfortunate part is, it never really delivers. It almost feels like reading a book that someone yanked a couple chapters out of, so there are all these gaps that leave me floundering....so much is never touched on, and other things happen, people react certain ways to things, that make absolutely no sense, I'm just left irritated by the lot of it.

Okay, I don't usually do these, but lets see if I can do a plot summary...


Natalee, an intern working for our heroine, Vanessa, (or V, for expediency's sake) and ends up dying via crazy bad guy.

Diego, Nat's uncle, and a NYPD detective is second guy on scene, and first thing he does is rushes to her body...which while a natrual response, gets him in trouble with every freaking body, becasue now the scene hasn't been preserved, and he (D) has ruined anyh sot of justice for his niece, and is more or less on forced leave.

All that happens off scene.

So, here comes our Hero, Noah, (N) who lives in Chicago, and has gotten a call regarding D mostly becasue of his behaviour on the crime scene, and his withdrawing from the family. So they get together, and N and D decide, to investigate the case together..., despite the fact that D was more or less thrown of case and put on and the hero is from entirely different state!

Back to our heroine who works at an art gallery and an artists more or less in her own right. She is getting ready for a charity auction. And has decided to break up with neglectful, sob boyfriend. A lot of time (many many pages) seems to be spent on auction..a lot of unnecessary time (far too long for a fictional auction!) spent with her boss and coworkers ...said coworkers push her (V) to get laid.

Enter Noah.

With his pants on fire.

He lies about who he is, to get info he really doesn't have a right to, and that he doesn't think he'll get, but after he gets said info, still doesn't own up to lying...
But heroine finds out a couple pages later, and forgives him 2 or 3 pages after that, after all It was hard to stay mad at a gentleman. seriously, she says...well thinks that.

Anyway a lot of not much happens...the auction fianlly occurs, bad guy strikes again, V figures N supported her at art auction she'll support him at crime scene...did I mention she's an artist? And he really didn't even have a legal leg to stand on?

Anyway, at this crime scene, instead of meeting any of the very capable NYPD, instead we meet a bunch of guys the Hero brings is, who everybody seems a 100% ready to help...but we only get a vague idea of who these guys are, and for the longest time I had no idea what legal reason they had to do...well anything. (we learn, in passing mind you, that they're some sort of security force, though, from the name of said forice, I never could have figure that out, Society for the Study of the Aberrant mind...am i the only one that doesn't think that sounds like a security anything?)


Let's see...stuff comes out about heroe's past, in a predictable way,, And it's all very vague meaning we don't really learn anything...And whole team spend pages and

pages working on the case...it's all pretty slow moving.

Romancey part of story b/w H and h heats up, then colds down, because H had shitty past, and therefore must be douche ( but with best of intentions, of course),

And there are a few secondary romances that seemed to be part of the story just to make it longer...I didn't really give a rats ass about them...sorta hurried through...

Um H and h get separated, h decided to follow H to watch out for him, cuz you know it's not like he's a cop, or anything, and can take of himself?

Yeah anyways, some more clue following, some more romance bits between the H and h, where the H finally realizes he's an asshat, romancey bits for secondary

characters, then the big bad's final play comes up, yada, yada, yada, HEA, the end.


******************


Now i have to say there were so many times I almost quit this altogether, it was really only because I planed to review my netgalley provided copy that kept me going.

Like,I said there's a lot missing, so much is touched on, and then glossed over. We get hints of things, of associations and relationships, but nothing is satisfyingly described...so much more was needed:

More background on heroine and victim, Natalee relationship. At one point natalee, is the protégée of the heroine, but we don't really get any details....I didn't get the impression they even knew each other well, until much later in the story when the h admits, she'd do anything for Natalee.


More of heroes friend, Diego and his nieces relationship...
For much of the book, D is angry and dead set on finding his nieces killer, but we never get any idea of what his relationship with her was like. And he never really seems to get past his anger into actual grief...Mostly he just seemed like a douche.

More info on Diego and hero's relationship.... In particular in the begining of the book. We get bits and pieces through the latter half of the story, but by then I don't care. We're told they're like brothers, but never shown it.

More info on Hero's relationship with Diego's family...again we get info, later on in the story, and again by then it's too little too late, I don't freaking care anymore.

More info on Heroine's background and how she gets on with family...we meet her family a handful of times, but each time it seemed they'd pop up randomly without any explanation. When we first meet the heroine, I feel like we should have learned about her family then, and how she got on with them...or at the very least how she felt about them.


There's also the characterization of the main characters themselves. I jsut didn't like them. The hero was hot and cold all through out the book, and was sorta a jerk

off about it. Altogether he just wasn't very hero like. Sorta wussy. The heroine...seemed sorta pansy assed too. And had a few moron moments...You know those

romances where the heroine's a kinderagarten teacher, or something very simlar, and the hero is a special forces somebody(or something very simlar), and he get in trouble, so the heroine - who has never had a defense class in her life, knows nothing about weapons, and in general is a strager to danger- she decides to go save him? that's what this heroine reminded me of. No experience/expertise what so ever in solving crimes, but is welcomed by all in the scooby gang. Plus ske kept putting stuff off! Oh, I have a boyfriend I need to break up with...I'll do it later. or We need to have a super important converstation! Meh, let's do it tomorrow Jeez, you'd think she'd learn! Both the H and h's overall maturity level reminded me of highschoolers (of the irritating variety), honestly.

When it comes to the romance...can i just say: what romance?! They argued, they went back and forth a lot, they had sex, and they spend a lot of time apart, so when they finally got to the ILY's, i was so freaking surprised! When the hell did that happen, and how? And maybe it was just me, but it never really felt like the H was even all that much into the h, for any other reasons beyond her being the h.

Another thing that irritated me, and it applies to the whole story, but everything always feels half done. Arguements that aren't really arguments, a secondary character getting chewed out by a boss, that lasts like 30 seconds, conflicts between characters that don't seem to make any sense.


When it comes down to it, Avenging Angel's feels like a gigantic case of Telling not showing. We're told how they feel, we're told they have an argument, we're told the main characters love each other, that the h is pretty hot shit in the art world, that the H's best bud (Diego) was grief sricken, but i never really saw/felt any of that. So 2.5 stars. Again, not a BAD book, but also definitely not worth the time and patience it takes to get through it either.


Having said that, Apparently Ms Becker's previous book,Only Fear won a Golden Heart Award, and IMO might be a better place to sample her writing.

eta: I did not realize I was even reading a book in a series, til i Looked this up on GR! It doesn't feel like it, but that group i mentioned in the summary, society for the study of the abberant mind, they *may* get a better descripton there.
Profile Image for Tina.
1,113 reviews2 followers
August 1, 2017
Really hard to get into, although it did get a bit better as the story progressed. Just an okay read.
Profile Image for She Schenker.
37 reviews1 follower
September 4, 2017
A good read to pass the time while traveling. Perhaps a bit far fetched, but it is a romance thriller so I wasn't really expecting something realistic. Kept me guessing until the end.
1,367 reviews3 followers
May 29, 2019
Another good story in this set. Noah and Vanessa are great together!
Profile Image for Nicole.
1,535 reviews173 followers
August 6, 2012
Review originally posted here: http://thebookpushers.com/2012/08/02/...

When I first read Becker last year, I was immediately pulled into the story and knew that I would need to read the next book. Becker writes some incredible suspense with thrilling and creepy villains and great romance as well. While I didn’t like Avenging Angel as much as Only Fear, there was a lot to love in this book.

Noah is back in his hometown, taking personal leave to track down the serial killer who went after his best-friend’s niece. When the investigation leads him to Vanessa, Noah is conflicted between being desperate to find the murderer, and fighting his growing attraction to Vanessa. Add in their very different lifestyles and their romance is as doomed as Noah can make it.

But when the killer sets his eyes on Vanessa as his final target to complete his gruesome paintings, Noah and Vanessa will have to fight tooth and nails to keep her safe. However, the last thing either of them expected was to have the killer be someone close to them, someone they trusted. When time begins to run out for Vanessa, Noah will be forced to fight the clock in order to keep her from becoming the final victim.

The suspense in this book was awesome! Absolutely thrilling and chilling and everything I’ve come to love and look for in a romantic suspense book. The killer was so incredibly creepy, he had me fighting goose bumps and a strong desire to sleep with the lights on. However, once the killer’s identity was revealed, things started to fall a little apart for me. There were some big timeline issues that were revealed during the killer’s explanations. Add in some motivational concerns I had, and I really struggled with the big reveal. I was bummed that the suspense aspect fell apart for me at the end, because I really wanted this one to work for me as well as Only Fear did.

In addition to the suspense fizzling out toward the end, I also felt as if the romance didn’t live up to the same level of caliber as it did in Only Fear. While I really liked both Noah and Vanessa as individual characters, there was something about their romance that just didn’t work for me. I think it was in part because it felt like at times these two were fighting harder to stay apart than together. Their romance was a slow build, with Noah being stubborn and sticking his foot in it every now and then, saying stupid things and making silly decisions. Noah constantly fought the idea of a relationship with Vanessa, despite his growing attraction. I wanted him to man up to the idea of love a lot sooner than he did.

All in all, I overall enjoyed this book. Despite the twists at the end that didn’t add up for me, the suspense of the book for the first 90% was absolutely incredible. The suspense was thick, the villain was creepy, and the overall plot with the killer and paintings was so well done. Had the end with the killer been better explained and the romance a bit more explored, I think this would have been a top RS read for the year. However, for me, it fell short.
I give Avenging Angel a C-
Profile Image for Cindy.
2,349 reviews172 followers
August 27, 2012
Another thrilling book in the Mindhunter series.

Detective Noah Crandall who we met in the first book Only Fear has taken time off from his homicide duties in Chicago to come to New York to help in the investigation of his best friend Diego's nieces murder. When he gets there he finds Diego is poor shape and on temporary suspension for contaminating the crime scene of her murder. He kicks Diego's butt into action and agrees they will investigate the murder on their own. I remember Noah being a bit of a crabby pants in Only Fear and we finally get to find out what's with the attitude in this book.

Vanessa Knight works at the art gallery where Diego's niece worked as an intern. She was the one who found her purse in the alley and reported her missing. Her boss doesnt want any of them at the gallery to speak to the police as he doesnt want the publicity to hurt there upcoming charity auction but Vanessa isnt having any of that - she was friends with Natalee and wants her murder brought to justice.

When they dont get very far in the investigation Noah calls Damien who's head of the Mindhunter's for help. Damien ends up coming himself along with a couple of his team to New York. There were side stories of Damien and his ex-wife and a secondary romance between Becca (of the Mindhunters) and Diego. It was nice to get to hear more about Damien's past with his ex-wife. Its because of all of this that I recommend that you need to read the first book to understand everything - about why Damien created the Mindhunters and what the issues were that lead to the breakup of his marriage.

It certainly wasnt an easy romance for Noah and Vanessa. Between his childhood issues, her having a boyfriend wanna be fiance who wouldnt take the hint she didnt want him anymore and discovering that Vanessa was on the killer's radar as his next victim these two had a lot to get through.

After talking with the author and finding out some of the threads that were left open will be addressed/concluded in future books I felt a lot better about the ending.

I am looking forward to more books in this series.
486 reviews41 followers
July 20, 2012
I struggle to write down why this only gets 3 stars and the only thing I can come up with is it was a bit jarring at times.



Vanessa is working at an art gallery in Chelsea when her intern is brutally murdered. As the story unfolds you get to see her come to terms with the murder but also discover what she really wants in her life. She has been seeing Kenneth for 2 years but realizes early in this story that it wasn't meant to be even though she knows her family will not approve. She meets Noah and the sparks fly between them from moment one.



Noah is a Chicago detective in town to help his "adopted" family uncover who murdered a young member of the family. He has a past that is heartbreaking and beleives himself unworthy of love. Things like that happen to people who deserve it and not those who never truly had it other than the love his "adopted" family gave him. He has always felt like an outsider so when he finally realizes his feelings it is almost too late.



I think my issue was we moved from moment to moment and it didn't seem like you could keep track of the true timeline or perspective we were being told about. It felt a bit disjointed and kept throwing me out of the scene just when I would start to get completely comfortable with it. This being said I did enjoy the story and would love to see more of the main pair plus the secondary characters. I also didn't see the killer until it was revealed in the book which is pretty cool but then maybe that is why it was a bit disjointed... hmmmm... thinking about it.... Anyway take a chance but be a bit prepared for some moments of "Hey isn't this only supposed to be 2 weeks and ummmm"



Special thanks to netgalley.com and Carina Press for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.
Profile Image for Kimberly.
1,449 reviews13 followers
August 2, 2012
Review written for www.books-n-kisses.com

This is the second in the “Mindhunters” series which I did not read the first one but having gone back and read the synopsis for the first in the series I do not think they are connected except the SSAM institute mentioned in the book. This book certainly stands alone.

Honestly I am not sure why I liked this book but I did. It is filled with more cliche’ than believable, it has Noah being the perfect, protective and handsome cop who had a terrible childhood, Vanessa being the heiress that wants to make her own way in the art world even without her parents approval, the fact that she is dumb enough to not believe she is in danger and even down to the walking out of the ocean scene but this really was a good book. It is fast moving and filled with suspense. I enjoyed this couple when they were together but I have to say while I realize it was done for background in the story the fact that Vanessa can not tell her, in her mind, ex boyfriend they are really through just grated on me. She just did that whole “there will be a better time than now” thing and it drove me nuts. Then the fact that she feels the need to run after this man and he thinks he doesn’t deserve love was again so cliche’ but the story is very interesting and a fun read. I enjoyed the camaraderie with Noah and Diego a lot.

I wish there had been a slightly different ending. It just didn’t seem to give the “correct” finale to me and a epilogue was really needed. I know it should be that I did not enjoy this book with all the complaints I am writing but I really did enjoy it and I think if you enjoy romantic suspense then you will too.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Meyke Liechandra.
13 reviews8 followers
December 30, 2013
Wow!

I need one month to finish this book. Please, don't blame on this book. It was pure about my busy schedule in real life. But, I know I can finish this book with max. 2 days.

The story was so damn good. I like romantic suspense and this book gave me pleasure on that except the end was too quick and too easy peasy. I like the main couple and how they built their loves together. The main story was about murder who targetted the main role (Vanessa Knight) as the victim, but the author (Anne Marie Becker) made the plot twisted into romance and heart melting story besides their main job to reveal the murder mask. All characters in this book blended with strong relationship each other. This book is not a kind of book which is complicated. I'm sure many readers will assume a name for murder identity easily because in this suspense plot, we will get a "signal" at first that the murder is someone who was trying to be hidden by the author or the author need to make more adventure before she decided to reveal the page in which the murder will be announced. I don't wanna give anymore clue here because I would like to make you read this book first and won't destroy your happiness before reading.

By the way, this books is written in well English. Not a hard one to understand for people who isn't a native English speaker. So, take it easy. I didn't find any misspelling grammars too.
Profile Image for Heather Wood.
Author 17 books1,252 followers
June 18, 2012
This book had some really good suspenseful and romantic elements, but it never came completely together for me. I think the characters needed to be fleshed out a little more in order for the reader to care more about what happened to the hero and heroine.

What I liked: The villain of the novel was chilling and the opening scene definitely gave me nightmares. I also enjoyed several of the scenes between Noah and Vanessa and the slow build of sexual tension. They had great chemistry together from the get go.

What I Didn't Like: A lot of the secondary characters came across as one note. Also, some of the characters' actions were unbelievable (a detective who pretends to be a nude model in order to interrogate you?). I think more information earlier on about the characters' back stories could have helped draw me into their romance more.

Star Rating: Three out of five stars
Profile Image for Stacey Coyer.
33 reviews1 follower
April 24, 2015
Avenging Angel

Fantastic second book in the Mindhunter series!! Anne Marie Becker had me in this series from the first page of the first book of this series. I fell in love with Noah and Vanessa's story and I honestly did not guess the protagonist in this book. I really enjoyed the parts that had Pricilla and Damien working together as well. Anne Marie Becker has me hooked!! I can't wait to start the next book!!
157 reviews8 followers
October 21, 2013
I won this book in a Goodread's giveaway. I loved it. The story was interesting, I loved the characters and the ending was a surprise. The characters were likable and the story was totally possible. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Does this author have any other books? I give the book 5 stars
Profile Image for GONZA.
7,446 reviews127 followers
August 29, 2012
Strange story, not very well written and with a lot of BIG HOLES on the plot. And no, it's not a paranormal romance, only a romance, the title can be devious.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND CARINA PRESS FOR THE PREVIEW
Profile Image for Kristina.
1,155 reviews1 follower
September 26, 2014
I enjoyed this book. It is the second of the series. The characters were enjoyable. The only reason why I didn't give it a 5 star rating is that it lagged a little in the middle. other that that the book is enjoyable and u would recommend it to others.
58 reviews
November 17, 2019
Perfect

Everything I said in my review of Book 1. This one was better as far as the happily ever after but I still want an epilogue..You know, a year later a little baby girl that they name Natalie, yep, the cheesier the better, but only in EPILOGUEŚ!
Profile Image for Liza.
1,403 reviews149 followers
July 29, 2012
***3.5 out of 5 stars***

Full review to come.
Profile Image for Sarah.
112 reviews26 followers
June 14, 2014
I found it a little slow at the beginning, oh but did I ever get hooked!! Fell in love with all the characters! Especially Noah!!! Really enjoyed it :)
96 reviews
October 1, 2014
this one was much better! i almost didn't read it but i didn't have time to find a new book/series before i had to get on the metro and needed something to read.
Profile Image for Jackie.
17 reviews
October 17, 2015
Good read to pass the time. A little predictable and abrupt at the end, though.
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