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WHEN A KILLER DOESN'T WANT TO GET CAUGHT...
The woman has been waiting impatiently on her satin sheets. Her lover knows exactly how to satisfy her. But this time, he has something else planned...something that will really take her breath away.

THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO ELIMINATE HIS VICTIMS...
In the courtroom, defense lawyer Quinn Cortez has a reputation as a ruthless predator who always gets what he wants. In the bedroom, it's no different. Quinn is an accomplished seducer with a long list of conquests. But now, someone has brutally slaughtered one of them, and Quinn has no memory of the night he was found in her home...

SOFTLY...
Annabelle Vanderley wants justice for her murdered cousin, and if Quinn Cortez swears he can find the true killer, she's willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. But then another body is discovered...and another...each victim an ex-lover of Quinn's. Now, consumed by dread, Annabelle wonders just how close she may be to a twisted psychopath for whom her pain would be the ultimate pleasure...

367 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2005

186 people are currently reading
1212 people want to read

About the author

Beverly Barton

298 books708 followers
Beverly Marie Inman was born on 23 December 1946 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA. Daughter of Doris Marie and Walter D. Inman Jr. A born romantic, she fell in love with The Beauty and the Beast epic at an early age, when her grandfather bought her an illustrated copy of the famous fairy tale. Even before she learned to read and write, her vivid imagination created magical words and fabulous characters inside her mind. Movies fascinated her, and by the time she was seven she was rewriting the movies she saw on television and at the local theater to give them all happy endings. By the age of nine she'd penned her first novel. She wrote short stories, TV scripts, poetry, and novels throughout high school and into college.

After her marriage to Billy Ray Beaver, the "love of her life", and the births of her two children, Beverly continued to be a voracious reader and a devoted moviegoer, but she put her writing aspirations on hold until her children were teenagers. At every age of their lives, from infancy to adulthood, the children had been a true joy to her. She devoted herself to her husband and children and considered herself one of the many selfless "supermoms" who put their family's needs first. She believed she had had it all, just not all at the same time.

In her mid-30s, Beverly returned to her former passion — writing — as a hobby, but before 40, she decided that she wanted to make writing a full-time career. And when she rediscovered an old dream — of becoming a published writer — no one was more supportive of her aspirations than her family. Her children were her greatest cheerleaders and her husband was her biggest supporter. After writing over 40 books and receiving numerous awards and nominations, as well as having books on the USA Today list and consistently on the Waldenbooks bestseller list, her career was indeed a dream come true. Having a fantastic family and fabulous friends, as well as making a living doing the one thing she had loved doing since childhood, she considered herself truly blessed. Beverly died suddenly of heart failure on 21 April 2011.

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5 stars
1,083 (39%)
4 stars
981 (36%)
3 stars
499 (18%)
2 stars
116 (4%)
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36 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
Profile Image for jenjn79.
723 reviews266 followers
August 9, 2008
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Mostly for the suspense plot than for the romance or the characters.

The summary/description on the book page gives a good overview of the book so I won't bother to write another summary.

At times during this book, Quinn isn't exactly my favorite character. Not that I disliked him. But he's a total man-whore player and it's a bit of a turn-off when the hero is someone who admits he just likes to fuck women whenever, wherever he can. During the book, he is even involved with another character, and almost yet another. Even after he develops an interest in Annabelle, he goes off and screws someone else because Annabelle had him so out of whack and he needed a release. When a guy acts like that, his ability to be monogamous is rather questionable. So I never quite developed an emotional attachment to Quinn, but he was likable enough.

The romance is okay. For 3/4ths of the book, it is pretty much non-existent. Then suddenly they are all over each other. I would have liked something a little more gradual. A few stolen kisses or whatever, instead of the lust explosion that within like a page has Annabell telling him she loves him.

So those two aspects of the story weren't the greatest for me. But the suspense plot was really good. It's not particularly intense. It's more of a winding mystery with a moderate level of intensity. Barton tries to direct suspicion onto various characters and it works to a certain degree. I had a fairly good idea in which direction the bad guy was going to come from. The plot and the way it was written kept me interested in the story.

I loved the use of connected characters in this book. For people who have read other of Barton's romantic suspense releases, you'll find a number of familiar characters. Griffin Powell (The Murder Game) is a secondary character, along with Judd Walker (The Dying Game), Jim Norton (Close Enough To Kill). And there are numerous mentions of Johnny Mack Cahill (After Dark). It's great to see those characters again or see another aspect of them.

If you're looking for a book with a solid romance, this may not be the one to read. But if you like a good romantic suspense plot where the suspense is more prominent, then this is a good one to pick.
Profile Image for Christa.
2,218 reviews583 followers
January 12, 2009
I enjoyed this Beverly Barton book, but it was not one of my favorites by her. After seeing Quinn Cortez turn up in some of the other books with Griffin Powell (I read this one out of order), I was looking forward to his story. I was a bit disappointed in Quinn as a hero as he turned out to be such a player with women, but I enjoyed Annabelle Vanderley as a heroine and felt better about Quinn by the end of the book.

Quinn Cortez is a suspect when his lover turns up dead. Her cousin, Annabelle Vanderley comes to represent the family and keep tabs on the investigation. Quinn and Annabelle are attracted to one another but just as she is beginning to trust him, his attorney/lover is the next woman to be found dead. When Griffin Powell's agency is hired by Quinn and Annabelle, they soon discover that several of Quinn's previous lovers have been victims of murder. Quinn has no alibi for any of the murders, and even though they took place in different locations, Quinn was in each city where the murders happened on the day of the event. When Annabelle decides that Quinn is innocent, they become deeply involved with one another. After Annabelle and Quinn become lovers, the murderer selects Annabelle as his next victim.

This was an interesting book, but there were things that kept me from enjoying it as much as some of Barton's other works. Quinn's attitude toward women and the fact that he became involved with his attorney even after meeting and liking Annabelle didn't work well for me in a romantic suspense novel. I thought that the suspense portion of the book was well done, but without giving away anything, I will say that I didn't really enjoy how the situation played out as far as the identity of the killer. I did really like seeing the numerous characters from some of Barton's other books. Jim Norton from Close Enough to Kill had a fairly large role in this book, and several others had lesser roles. If you are a fan of Barton's books that are tied to Griffin Powell, you will probably enjoy this one.
Profile Image for Francesca.
400 reviews126 followers
November 28, 2014
I really enjoyed the plot and the characters as well. First book by this author but I'll try to read more.
Profile Image for Mouna Ben jazia.
7 reviews6 followers
September 21, 2020
trashy romance. That's the most i can say about this book. i came for the thriller, not to be disgusted by the unnecessary sex scenes every 2 pages
Profile Image for Leah.
7 reviews
July 5, 2020
I picked who the murderer was less than a quarter the way through. But I still enjoyed reading the book.
Profile Image for Angelic Zaizai.
976 reviews35 followers
June 22, 2009
Perempuan-perempuan yang punya hubungan dengan Quinn Cortez, pengacara terkenal yang ganteng seksi [latino boo:] suka perempuan tapi ga mau terikat, terbunuh.
Tudingan tentunya ga jauh-jauh dong, Quinn-lah yang kena, apalagi ada polisi yang haus jabatan pengen banget bisa jerat Quinn demi karirnya.
Ada tokoh Annabelle Vanderley, sepupu salah satu perempuan yang terbunuh, malah tertarik pada Quinn..
jadi ada romance-romance-nya dengan bumbu penyelidikan pembunuhan..
Untungnya porsi romance ga terlalu parah, jadi masih lumayan menghiburlah.. haha

Endingnya mah agak sedikit ngagetin, tapi tentunya Quinn ga salah dong ya.. mana mungkiiin..

katanya ada serinya, tapi kaya'nya gw males ngelanjutin.. bacaan ibu-ibu banget ah... *ngumpet*
Profile Image for Beth Galloway.
73 reviews3 followers
May 15, 2024
Just yikes. Repetitive descriptions - does every female not wanting to get killed “fight like a wildcat”. Also, way too much seggsy junk just randomly thrown in - the story should keep a reader reading not intermittent humpin. Honestly, with skipping the raunch this 6h audiobook was about 4h. Just not my type of book.
Profile Image for Merkathi.
132 reviews1 follower
February 24, 2020
The romance was a bit over the top and thus a bit hard to read and I can’t say I liked many of the characters that much but the mystery was ok.
Profile Image for Janice.
59 reviews2 followers
January 7, 2021
For some reason, I couldn't get on board with this novel. The pacing felt off so it was difficult to feel a connection to any of the main characters, which was really too bad. There was potential but, alas, it fell short on the mark.
Profile Image for Melanie.
158 reviews
June 8, 2012
When a killer doesn't want to get caught... there's only one way to eliminate his victims... softly...

This is how the back cover describes this novel, and I have to say that it was quite ingenious. The book was quite well written, one of those books that you have to read to the end to find out what happened. The doubts the author placed in the reader's mind was impressive. There were constant hints that Quinn had murdered the women. And then there was also Jace and Aaron who could have committed the murders. The detectives investigating these murders try their best, and Beverly draws the reader into more than just Quinn and Annabelle's minds. We get an indepth look at Chace and Jim, the detectives investigating, in addition to the women who are killed throughout the book.

I have never seen so many different view points taken in a novel, but Beverly made it work. I liked seeing into the minds of every main character as it caused more doubts and scenarios to run through my mind than normal, making it more difficult to determine who was the murderer.

Although the sex scenes are explicit and are often, this book is quite well done. I skimmed those sections of course, making the book a lot better. Great read if you don't mind the sexual scenes.
Profile Image for Holly.
1,910 reviews128 followers
November 28, 2008
Killing Her Softly is exactly what I expected Beverly Barton to come out with. A mystery that keeps you guessing until the end, a beautiful plot, and a satisfying romance between two of the main characters. Barton is a fabulous writer and can tie a murder plot around anything.

Yeah, the romance was good, if not sudden. One minute, they're trying to decide if they trust each other and the next...you can figure that out. It was good, but it wasn't my favorite Barton book.
Profile Image for Kingfan30.
1,028 reviews3 followers
November 7, 2017
Another new author that I've picked up several books into the series - seems to becoming a habit :-)

The story behind this book was certainly an interesting one and all clues seem to point in one direction, however as a character Quinn isn't the most likeable as a love em and leave em kind of a guy. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing but the romance side of the story just didn't fit for me.
Profile Image for Nura.
1,056 reviews30 followers
January 1, 2010
This is a story about a bad boy got the good girl. It took a lot of effort though, coz the bad boy accused for murdering her cousin. And its not the end or beginning of the murders. I think the bad boy, Quinn Cortez, is too good to be true (even in a fiction!). a handsome, rich criminal lawyer, had everything but love. sigh! I'm like reading a HQ than a thriller.
Profile Image for Midori.
22 reviews12 followers
July 19, 2012
This is not a police or detective procedural, but rather romantic mystery with plenty hormone. It seems all characters in this book are horny. I didn't find the lead character Quinn is a believable guy. If he is a really good criminal lawyer, why he doesn't realize all the sign of setups by someone very close to him?
Profile Image for Jennifer.
Author 2 books23 followers
April 13, 2016
I liked the story line and some of the secondary characters, such as Griffin & Jim. But I didn't really care for the main characters too much. Quinn was way too full of himself and Annabelle came off as weak.
Profile Image for Tbabe001.
195 reviews2 followers
July 18, 2015
I love the author writing style, but the hero was just a disgusting man Whore :(!
305 reviews3 followers
May 2, 2021
The basic plot was compelling enough to keep me reading. I did think the "falling in love" portions were shallow and improbable.
Profile Image for ElaineY.
2,449 reviews68 followers
June 11, 2024
REVIEW OF AUDIOBOOK; JUNE 10, 2024
Narrator: Stacy Gonzalez

Murder Mystery:
Narration:

This is a difficult one to rate. While murder mystery-wise it's about the best book I've listened to in years, there are elements in it that made me want to gag.

What I liked: Never has a mystery intrigued me from the start to the end. It's a rare book that I feel I have to know who the killer is otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep. It's also rare, these days, where I pause my listening to finish a chore or run an errand and the thought of resuming once I'm free fills me with anticipation. For a long while now every book for me has been put-downable.

The pacing was very good and there were no fillers. Every section moved the plot forward, something I don't get in UK police procedurals.

What I didn't like: (and which cost it a star): Absolutely the WORST narration I've come across in all the years of listening! . Admittedly, this opinion is mine and therefore subjective. I had to tolerate 14 hours of the narrator giving everyone and every thing a sing-song cadence at times, making every sentence sound like a question when it's clearly not, even the narrative portions, not just the dialog. It was as if the book had been taken over by a bunch of Valley girls turning the title to 'Death By Valley Speak'. To have a character speak like that is fine but, please, not the entire book, dialog and narrative. Having the cops speak like a Valley Girl is very hard to take.

Then there's how handsome, how desired, how gorgeous Quinn Cortez is. Not just him but Chad, too - how handsome he is to the point of prettiness. I think descriptions of the characters are important. I do want to know how he/she looks, how tall, fat or skinny. BUT...I do not want to be bludgeoned to death by repeatedly being told about it. I got it the first, second, time.

That said, this #5 in the Griffin Powell series, is still a winner. I did guess, towards the end, who the killer was but by then every reader would have. It was just a matter how it all fit together and why each of the three women who were killed in the course of this book were not surprised by the man who came knocking. why they thought it was Quinn. The answer may not be quite as obvious as you think...
Profile Image for Annette.
1,391 reviews7 followers
December 22, 2024
Another book in this series that kept me captivated. Overall, a good read with a great plot and good characters. My only complaint is with the narration. Unsure if it was the actual narrator or an editing failure. Too many scenes/segments ran into each other without a suitable pause between them. The story moves on to a different aspect and you're two or three sentences in before you realize the situation has changed. This is a downside to listening as opposed to reading it in print format. One sure thing I can say is that Barton knows how to keep you guessing to the end. I'm five books into this series. and still haven't figured out why it is called the Griffin Powell series. Though I find fault with some of the books, thus far, they are becoming a bit addictive. I enjoyed it, I recommend it, and can hardly wait to acquire the next book in the series.
139 reviews3 followers
May 11, 2022
No surprises

An enjoyable book. The plot not too contrived.

I dint don't understand why the author chooses to use big words incorrectly when the simple ones tell the story.

It isn't possible to 'scurrilously' glare at someone and 'irregardless' shouldn't be part of any author's vocabulary.

That said, the writing was good and the story flowed well if over long.

I skimmed the sex scenes and the child abuse scenes, as the former was tedious and the latter unbearable.

Beverley Barton is a decent writer and worth reading.
Profile Image for Dyan Eka.
287 reviews12 followers
July 3, 2017
Tidak sesuai ekspektasi. The way the serial killer kill his victims doesnt give me any special feeling, tidak membuat saya menahan napas atau tercekat, seperti novel beverly lain yg saya baca. Novel ini terasa flat bagi saya, selain rasa penasaran siapa dan kenapa pembunuh berantai ini beraksi, tidak ada lagi hal yg menarik.
Bahkan hubungan Quinn Cortez dan Annabelle menurut saya dibangun terlalu cepat.
Profile Image for Nessa.
1,856 reviews70 followers
July 2, 2018
Wow, absolutely wow, this book has left me speechless and in awe of the author. It just amazes me how the author continues to keep coming up with these amazing plot ideas.

This is an edge of ure seat gripping crime thriller, I could not put this book down, was completely taken in by the story from beginning to end.

As always I love the characters in this ongoing series of books. :-)
Profile Image for Christine Jalili.
2,188 reviews44 followers
May 30, 2023
Fantastic book.

Wow, I devoured this book in a day. What a shocker, and I loved staying on edge. It sure looked bad for Quinn, did he kill his former lovers or is he being set up? Loved the chemistry between him and Annabelle. Loved not knowing who the serial killer was. Loved their happy ever after and I highly recommend this book.
Profile Image for Kimberly Hoder wisniewski.
1 review1 follower
November 16, 2021
The Suspense was killing me

This was definitely a suspenseful novel. The twists and turns really left you wanting more. For those of you who like Red Herrings, you'll never see it coming! Hopefully, you find the same feeling I got...sitting in suspense until it was finished.
Profile Image for Savannah.
209 reviews3 followers
February 10, 2023
I’ve read a lot of Barton’s books and this was my least favorite thus far. So far fetched and unrealistic. Also I did the audiobook and the narrator was terrible with her poorly placed emphases in literally every sentence.
Profile Image for Safffff.
77 reviews
October 16, 2024
i pretty much feel skeptical the first time i read the prologue cause i thought this probably going to be ted bundy with identity crisis and im like yeah do you know what serial killer good at? being charming. but man, do i wrong. i enjoyed the plot so much and never expected that
Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews

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