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Caching Out
The woods hide a deep dark secret, but no secret ever goes unpunished.
Tate Echo, former FBI profiler, is trying to put the past behind him. A broken marriage drove him away from the woman and job he loved and sent him to the mysterious Black Hills to lick his wounds. Taking a job in his sleepy home town of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, he is far away from the big city problems and twisted killers he once stalked – or so he thinks.
One night changes everything as a local elementary school teacher is raped and mutilated and a dangerous killer makes his presence known. Now, with his job on the line and rumors as to the real reason he left the FBI, Tate must find some answers – even if that means opening old wounds.
When a second body is found, confirming a serial killer, Tate calls in FBI SSA Emma Gage - Echo, expert profiler and his ex-wife. Though they have unfinished business to be settled between them, they must set aside their feelings and focus on finding the killer as a second and then third body is found.
Discovering that the killer is finding his victims among geocachers, Emma makes the decision to use herself as bait, ignoring Tate’s protest. One dark night will decide their fate – to have a chance at a future or end it all at the hand of a ruthless killer.
Tate Echo, former FBI profiler, is trying to put the past behind him. A broken marriage drove him away from the woman and job he loved and sent him to the mysterious Black Hills to lick his wounds. Taking a job in his sleepy home town of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, he is far away from the big city problems and twisted killers he once stalked – or so he thinks.
One night changes everything as a local elementary school teacher is raped and mutilated and a dangerous killer makes his presence known. Now, with his job on the line and rumors as to the real reason he left the FBI, Tate must find some answers – even if that means opening old wounds.
When a second body is found, confirming a serial killer, Tate calls in FBI SSA Emma Gage - Echo, expert profiler and his ex-wife. Though they have unfinished business to be settled between them, they must set aside their feelings and focus on finding the killer as a second and then third body is found.
Discovering that the killer is finding his victims among geocachers, Emma makes the decision to use herself as bait, ignoring Tate’s protest. One dark night will decide their fate – to have a chance at a future or end it all at the hand of a ruthless killer.
- GenresMystery Thriller
189 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 4, 2013
1 person is currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Tammy Cheatham
4 books2 followersGrowing up in a small East Texas town Tammy Cheatham loved to read, letting books take her to places that she'd never been. A middle school UIL writing contest planted the seed that she could write too! In college Tammy majored in English where she sharpened her writing skills in multiple creative writing courses and workshops.
Retiring after eighteen years as a Customer Service Manager in the Insurance industry Tammy returned to her first career choice and sat down to write her novel, Caching Out.
Tammy currently lives near San Antonio, Texas with her husband Royce. They have three adult children all living nearby.
Retiring after eighteen years as a Customer Service Manager in the Insurance industry Tammy returned to her first career choice and sat down to write her novel, Caching Out.
Tammy currently lives near San Antonio, Texas with her husband Royce. They have three adult children all living nearby.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 6, 2013
(Full spoiler alert) Though this was a freebie on Amazon, my hopes were high for this book. The premise of a sociopathic killer on the loose, choosing his victims based off geocaching? Yum. An angsty and disillusioned former-FBI criminal profiler, named Tate Echo, returns to Pine Ridge, South Dakota after a heartbreaking divorce. Soon after his return and employment as Pine Ridge Police Chief, a string of gruesome murders begins. Each victim is marred a particularly heinous way. As Chief Echo struggles to figure out the connection between the murders, he ends up calling his ex-wife – a brilliant FBI criminal profiler as well. While struggling to solve the case as well as avoid falling into the same emotional traps that caused their divorce, the duo realize that all the victims have a geocaching hobby. And each victim has penchant for taking a shiny coin from the caches they discover. Connect the dots. Find the identity sociopathic killer. Stop said sociopathic killer. The end.
When I finished the book, there was no euphoric exhalation that I receive after reading a good thriller. Nope. Instead, I was a bit disgruntled that the author managed to completely muff up what could’ve been a fantastic and darkly entertaining book. The story is told through shifting perspectives, mainly Tate and Gavin.
Tate and Emma. The author only gave a superficial synopsis of Tate and Emma's divorce. Was there a particular case that caused their marriage to implode? The romance aspect of this book could’ve been discarded as it wasn’t fully developed and the characters themselves were pretty boring outside of being decent sleuths. Also, they each talked to themselves more than they talked to each other! And no – there is no happy romantical ending. Emma hops on a plane and leaves. How rude. I guess this will be explored in the sequel?
Gav, oh Gav. My favorite lackluster sociopathic murderer. Where to start? Sigh. He's a sociopath. Got it. He kills brutally. Got it. But couldn't his character been developed more eloquently? Gavin deserved more than a few nonsensical sentences about his “mama” and a montage of dysfunctional memories about his abusive dad. I wanted a glimpse into his craziness. I was waiting for the author to explain in-depth what happened to Gavin’s mother as her injuries are the catalyst for him killing each victim so heinously and precisely. He cut off his victim’s ear because (I’m assuming) his father cut off his mother’s ear during a violent outburst. But where were the details of this childhood occurrence? Gav cuts the throats of his victims because his father made him cut the throat of a deer as a child? I must’ve missed the linking correlation that turns an abused kid to a sociopathic murder. I needed more contextual background to properly frame the deterioration of his mental facilities. I wanted the author to delve into Gavin’s first kill. What event sparked his breaking point to actually kill a sentient being? Cheatham just gives us a glimpse of Gavin killing his father’s dog as a child but not the preceding circumstance that caused it. Sidebar: I was perplexed/surprised that Gav didn’t then go out of his way to kill Walt’s dog. Meh. I just wasn’t satisfied with Gavin’s development and then next thing you know, Gavin dies. That he dies rather anti-climatically was icing on the proverbial cake. Color me hella disappointed. Also, I had no clue what his “evening freak shows” were… I guess videos of his previous kills? Meh.
Ultimately, I wanted to "solve" the mystery, not have every detail spoon-fed to me. But the author reveals the killer within the first few chapters and the reasoning behind his kills. And over the course of the book, Gavin's reasoning behind his kills turns out to be connected to a dysfunctional/violent childhood. Cheatham gave away every single clue and detail and spelled out the mystery for the reader. A surefire way for the reader to lose interest, surely. Instead of subtly easing into the killer’s identity, or giving some pretense of surprise as to when he’d kill again – everything became predictable. There were no plot twists or surprises. My brain wasn’t working overtime (or regular time) to utilize context clues to “solve” the mystery. Simply put, I wasn't engaged as a reader. What’s a thriller without suspense?
Also, there were a good amount of typos. For example, Emma is talking to herself and refers to herself as Emma Grant-Echo instead of Emma Gage-Echo. Just a little (major) irksome.
Caching Out possessed a solid framework and plot line for an intriguing thriller. But the author opted for not including any of the “trappings” to properly incite anticipation and suspense or any type of emotional response. If the book was completely reworked, I think it could be great. A decent read, especially since it was a freebie. I hope that the next installment, assuming that there is a sequel, is more thoroughly written.
When I finished the book, there was no euphoric exhalation that I receive after reading a good thriller. Nope. Instead, I was a bit disgruntled that the author managed to completely muff up what could’ve been a fantastic and darkly entertaining book. The story is told through shifting perspectives, mainly Tate and Gavin.
Tate and Emma. The author only gave a superficial synopsis of Tate and Emma's divorce. Was there a particular case that caused their marriage to implode? The romance aspect of this book could’ve been discarded as it wasn’t fully developed and the characters themselves were pretty boring outside of being decent sleuths. Also, they each talked to themselves more than they talked to each other! And no – there is no happy romantical ending. Emma hops on a plane and leaves. How rude. I guess this will be explored in the sequel?
Gav, oh Gav. My favorite lackluster sociopathic murderer. Where to start? Sigh. He's a sociopath. Got it. He kills brutally. Got it. But couldn't his character been developed more eloquently? Gavin deserved more than a few nonsensical sentences about his “mama” and a montage of dysfunctional memories about his abusive dad. I wanted a glimpse into his craziness. I was waiting for the author to explain in-depth what happened to Gavin’s mother as her injuries are the catalyst for him killing each victim so heinously and precisely. He cut off his victim’s ear because (I’m assuming) his father cut off his mother’s ear during a violent outburst. But where were the details of this childhood occurrence? Gav cuts the throats of his victims because his father made him cut the throat of a deer as a child? I must’ve missed the linking correlation that turns an abused kid to a sociopathic murder. I needed more contextual background to properly frame the deterioration of his mental facilities. I wanted the author to delve into Gavin’s first kill. What event sparked his breaking point to actually kill a sentient being? Cheatham just gives us a glimpse of Gavin killing his father’s dog as a child but not the preceding circumstance that caused it. Sidebar: I was perplexed/surprised that Gav didn’t then go out of his way to kill Walt’s dog. Meh. I just wasn’t satisfied with Gavin’s development and then next thing you know, Gavin dies. That he dies rather anti-climatically was icing on the proverbial cake. Color me hella disappointed. Also, I had no clue what his “evening freak shows” were… I guess videos of his previous kills? Meh.
Ultimately, I wanted to "solve" the mystery, not have every detail spoon-fed to me. But the author reveals the killer within the first few chapters and the reasoning behind his kills. And over the course of the book, Gavin's reasoning behind his kills turns out to be connected to a dysfunctional/violent childhood. Cheatham gave away every single clue and detail and spelled out the mystery for the reader. A surefire way for the reader to lose interest, surely. Instead of subtly easing into the killer’s identity, or giving some pretense of surprise as to when he’d kill again – everything became predictable. There were no plot twists or surprises. My brain wasn’t working overtime (or regular time) to utilize context clues to “solve” the mystery. Simply put, I wasn't engaged as a reader. What’s a thriller without suspense?
Also, there were a good amount of typos. For example, Emma is talking to herself and refers to herself as Emma Grant-Echo instead of Emma Gage-Echo. Just a little (major) irksome.
Caching Out possessed a solid framework and plot line for an intriguing thriller. But the author opted for not including any of the “trappings” to properly incite anticipation and suspense or any type of emotional response. If the book was completely reworked, I think it could be great. A decent read, especially since it was a freebie. I hope that the next installment, assuming that there is a sequel, is more thoroughly written.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2013
This book showed such promise at first , but quickly faded for me. Grammar errors and obvious storyline left me wanting
October 22, 2025
I was pretty invested in this murder mystery when one line written by the author made me feel like I’d been transported into a romance novel. Unfortunately that line colored my perception of the book. The ending also felt a little unsatisfying to me. It seemed abrupt which again altered my perception of the book.
April 27, 2013
Caching Out is about a small town police officer trying to track down a serial killer who uses geocaches as means for targeting his victims.
Being a geocaching fan, I mainly read this book because of the geocaching aspect. Unfortunately there are too many flaws for me to recommend it.
The serial killer doesn't give off the dreadful impression that a villan needs. Instead he seems more like a dorky version of Norman Bates. His motivations are never fully explained. How does he get his money? What are his motivations? What's the history with his favorite coin? Why is he using geocaching to kill people?
The story sometimes aburptly shifts from one point of view to another. I had often read a few paragraphs before I realized it moved on to a different scene. The characters talk to themselves way too often, the dialog is mundane, and coffee is being brewed or served every few pages.
There is a subplot about the police officer trying to reunite with his FBI agent ex-wife that provides some interest, and I do like the overall concept of mixing geocaching and murder. However all the other issues ultimately drag down Caching Out.
Being a geocaching fan, I mainly read this book because of the geocaching aspect. Unfortunately there are too many flaws for me to recommend it.
The serial killer doesn't give off the dreadful impression that a villan needs. Instead he seems more like a dorky version of Norman Bates. His motivations are never fully explained. How does he get his money? What are his motivations? What's the history with his favorite coin? Why is he using geocaching to kill people?
The story sometimes aburptly shifts from one point of view to another. I had often read a few paragraphs before I realized it moved on to a different scene. The characters talk to themselves way too often, the dialog is mundane, and coffee is being brewed or served every few pages.
There is a subplot about the police officer trying to reunite with his FBI agent ex-wife that provides some interest, and I do like the overall concept of mixing geocaching and murder. However all the other issues ultimately drag down Caching Out.
April 28, 2013
There were certainly some glitches with this authors first book, grammer for one, but who to blame? Where were the editors?? As for the story line, it was great! A very unique idea and well presented. The characters were believable and I look forward to the next book in this series.
April 30, 2013
Kindle Free and worth the download. A quick read and entertaining. I see all the comments about grammar but personally only saw one error in this book. A new idea having the killer use geocaches to choose his victims--I enjoyed. Give it a try.
Want to read
March 1, 2013Kindle freebie, 3/1/13
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews