21 Weeks: Weeks 1-7

21 Weeks #1-7

by R.A. LaShea

21 weeks. 20 victims. 2 cops at odds. 1 serial killer. Week 1 Beck Nash arrives in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide division with a shaky reputation and a lot to prove. Her first moments a disaster, she gets the chance to redeem herself with her first murder investigation and a sympathetic new partner. Trying to adjust to the mold, and no idea how she’s going to adapt her questionable investigative techniques to her new position, Beck's only goal is to make it to week’s end. But as shocking as the first day of her first week in Homicide turns out, it will be nothing compared to her last. Week 2 Recruited to help in the hunt for a serial killer who has gone without capture for forty years, Detective Beck Nash already finds herself at odds with veteran Mick Bishop, the original lead on the case. Instincts pulling her one way, Bishop’s experience takes them in another, and Beck will learn what it means to be the new blood on the team. Meanwhile, at home, Beck’s brother has come to crash at her apartment under troubling circumstances, stirring demons from the past they would both rather forget. Week 3 A man is found dead in the stairwell of a casino hotel. Stabbed multiple times. His wounds stuffed with casino chips. Investigation hindered by the hotel staff’s attempts to cover up the true nature of the crime, Detective Beck Nash must pull out a few tricks of her own as she tries to determine if the murder is the work of someone with a personal vendetta or a serial killer. Week 4 When a young woman is strapped into the driver’s seat of her car and sent plummeting over a cliff in Red Rock Canyon, it’s up to Detective Beck Nash and her partner, Detective Kevin Williams, to prove, once and for all, their serial killer is practicing a new brand of torture. Week 5 When a student is found murdered on the campus of a local high school, Nash and Williams must face off with their fellow detectives in pursuit of the truth, while Bishop is missing in action and Beck’s brother, Leo, is falling back into old habits. Week 6 A woman’s body is found in a van at an auto salvage yard, her stomach cut open as if something has been ripped from within. Up to Nash, Williams, and Bishop to figure out the true nature of their victim’s torture, for Beck the case hits a little too close to home. Week 7 Starting with a fight, Detective Beck Nash’s Monday gets no better as she is buried in paperwork, the serial killer’s latest victim is buried in sand, and the past refuses to stay buried. 21 Weeks is a fast-paced police procedural thriller series that ramps up in intensity with each victim that falls until its explosive final week. This series is about a serial killer. There will be violence. There will be language. There will be other adult things. It is intended for a mature audience.

Genres: Dark, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Procedural, Suspense, Crime

345 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2015

Reviews

[Farah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corrie and Michele read, reviewed and rated 21 Weeks by R.A. LaShea and they were both right. For those who love psychological thriller featuring a serial killer who operated without modus operandi, then you should not wait any longer.

On her first day as a Homicide Detective, Beck Nash, F, 32, Bisexual (according to the reviewer on The Lesbian Review.com) exchanged a few punches with her her male acting Sergeant. He started it, he got her on the nose and she got him to take 48 hours mandatory leave due to swollen spleen. From that moment, I knew that her characterization was exceptionally well written.
She was -
- Down to Earth
- Possessed great detective skills
- Always cool even under pressure
- Someone Sherlock and Monk would be proud of
- The envy of Lara Croft and Ellen Louise Ripley
- Keen understanding of human behavior and psychology
(The Seagulls from Finding Nemo were back)

Blood - guts - gore
Yes, they were present. Detailed description of the victims, nothing censored. None were sexually abused. Quite disturbing but I couldn't help myself from praising Ms.LaShea's wicked, ingenious creativity. Do I need to set up for an appointment with a psychiatrist after my spa appointment?

Investigation Procedure
Top notch and Engaging
At the moment - Beck, her partner Williams and the Sergeant were the only 3 assigned to the investigation. Despite their differences, Beck worked pretty well with Williams, they give and take, had each others backs and strictly professional working relationship. Not getting my hopes up but the Medical Examiner, Doctor Shannon Baxton who worked alongside the detectives was an awesome character too... Attention, Beck.

Romance - zero, zip, zilch, nada

Sadness Level
The highest level. None of the victims deserved for their lives to be taken in such ways. I cried buckets over two of them especially for the one who was made to relieve her nightmare for 11 hours... That case really hit some major nerves, I stopped reading for a few hours and tears accompanied me.

Recommended?
Custody of the eyes - "Yes"

Week 8 - 14 and Week 15 - 21 books bought but I really need a breather, gummy bears (icky but necessary) peanut butter cups and serious pampering.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder she wrote. -Jessica Fletcher +Beck Nash

The plot. Homicide detective Beck Nash's career at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is off to a rocky start when she immediately gets into a fight with her superior officer. Sadly for Beck her week is only about to get worse when she and her new partner are expected to find a killer that hasn't been caught in over 40 years and is about to start killing again. Time's ticking and the bodies are starting to pile up again.

The characters. Beck is brash, brazen, bold and has a set of brass balls. And I love her for it! She's a very interesting character to read about as LaShea slowly reveals snippets of her awful childhood. This is a woman who has had to learn some tough lessons very early on and now has to rely on her street smarts to save the lives of innocent civilians. There's also a plethora of secondary characters introduced with each their own unique role to play in the narrative. No plot filler characters in this book folks!

The writing. I feel like this author's writing style and abilities shouldn't need an explanation by now. She's a fantastic writer who managed to keep my attention throughout the entire story and even had me reading in the car ride home last night. Put the book down? NO!

The special. Oh to be able to read the author's mind as she was writing this. Gruesome murders and torture so cruel, i'm still thinking about it. The case of the girl in the car had me wondering "can you actually die of fear"?

The negative. Oddly enough I managed to stay very detached while reading this. Yes the crimes were heinous but did I lose any sleep? No. Was I horrified? Not really. It doesn't matter, it was a minor issue and can be totally overlooked.

The verdict. Consider me fully invested in this series. Farah, I owe you big time for once again pointing me in the direction of another amazing read. So here you go; a special edition DDM.


Dear Diary Moment #577
Niece: "What's it like.. you know.. with a woman?"
Me: *record scratch* .. *crickets*
Niece: "Aunt A?"
Me: "Uhm. Why do you ask?"
Niece: "School teaches everything about men and women but nothing about what happens between two men or two women. I could ask my friend's moms but they're kinda weird."
Me: *Well let's hope you never find my GR account.*
Me: "Tell me what you know and I'll expand on that."
Niece: "So I was on the internet..."
Me: *Kill me now. Do it fast. Why can't you just learn about this stuff the way I did? On the playground as a 10 year old while being grossed out about where babies really come from?*
Niece: "Are you listening?"
Me: "Of course, I didn't want to interrupt."
Me: *Karma is breaking her foot up my ass right now for all the stunts I pulled on my aunties as a child.*
Niece: "Well?"
Me: *This is the moment you will look back on and realize that your college fund will be going towards therapy bills kid.*
Me: "Well you asked for it.."
Niece: "I guess that makes sense."
Me: *Really? I needed pictures to understand half of that.*
Me: "Good, glad we cleared that up."
Niece: "So... between you and B, who made the first move?"
Lexi has left the chat.

[Agirlcandream · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the concept. Not only do the detectives have to solve murders, they have to decide if the serial killer who has notified the police he intends on killing 20 people in twenty weeks is responsible for each murder, or is it someone else?

Beck Nash has to cope with a new department full of detectives who don’t trust her, her brother camping out in her lounge after beating up his wife and some ingenious and devious murder scenes unlike many I have seen before. What’s a girl gonna do? Work her ass off, use her vast collection of contacts, many on the wrong side of the law and befriend the first ME I’ve met who is cool and decisive in her morgue but a shaking nervous wreck at the crime scenes. I’m also hoping she’ll be a potential love interest for Beck. A girl can dream after all.

Loved this read, a nice offset to romance novels. Bring on the gore and the graphic murder scenes. I’m still pondering motives much like Beck and Williams. Can gratuitous violence be a motive? The ability to keep the detectives on the back of their heels? Who knows. I sure don’t.

[Bugs · Rating 5 out of 5]

*This commentary applies to all 3 installments of "21 Weeks"
(Weeks 1-7, 8-14 & 15-21)*


How do you catch a perfect killer?

R.A. LaShea's tour de force of a serial crime saga, "21 Weeks" that spanned out in 3 7-week installments, is prolly the best constructed and executed crime procedural series I've ever read in any fic yet! Thanks to an enthusiastic recommendation from one of my GR mates (Cheers, Farah!), I grabbed a copy and never looked back! My goodness! It was like watching the entire case on-screen! So meticulous. So methodical. So absorbing and addictive. In fact, LaShea's design of the entire case is so ready to be adapted from book-to-screen. imho! "21 Weeks" is truly one of the most original serial crimes created, what with the types of killings constructed and the methodology of solving it.

First off, I was immediately drawn to the aesthetic structure of LaShea's presentation of her story - dividing it into weeks. Reminded me of the TV series, "24," but instead of every episode representing one hour, this one was by week. And in each week, starting from "Week 1," the story began with the day, the location and the time, reminiscent of the TV series, "Law & Order." With this technique, I discovered that my brain was processing my reading of each Week as if it were a week instead of my usual reading time of x minutes to finish a chapter (Week). In essence, the constant display of the day and time on the pages tricked my brain into slowing down the reading time lapse to match LaShea's. I can't explain it any other way, so if you think I'm bonkers, maybe I am! Ignore this! Anyway, it literally brought Beck and Co.'s entire investigation of each homicide to life, for me, making my experience much more acute! In addition to this effective structure of presentation, one of the best bits was that I felt like LaShea gave me, the reader, the opportunity to work through and determine the killer's modus operandi myself rather than spoon-feeding me, you know? Simply brilliant!

Full commentary here... In Bugs' Own Words

[Corrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know Riley LaShea is an excellent writer and when Michele's review pointed me towards this series (written as R.A. LaShea) I knew I had to check that out.

So Book Club Buddie D. (who loves to read crime) and I dove in and boy were we in for a bumpy ride. There are 7 weeks in this first book and as the blurb promises, also one murder victim a week. We follow Beck Nash of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide division as she struggles with her new place of work, her new colleagues and her personal life.

It reads like a very good episode of Criminal Minds, it's intense, in your face and this serial killer's exceptional cruel streak will give you the chills. I could read one week per evening, so it took us exactly one week to get through the first book. And now that we're done there is a strong pull to dive straight into the next book (week 8-14) to see what happens next. But to keep us from having nightmares, D. and I are going to shake off some of this heavy stuff with a fluffy romance first ;-)

So better put your big girl pants on when you tackle this one because it will get under your skin. But man it is good!

Themes: don't expect fluff or romance, this is not that kind of book, scenes might be triggering, this serial killer is as evil as they come, great characters, fantastic dialogue, addictive read.

5 stars

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsure why there are not more people reading this series. Suspenseful and jarring. Well fleshed out characters. Extremely well written. This author needs more recognition.

[Somia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Delighted Stars

A killer the FBI swore they caught over 2 decades ago is back, torturing to death victims with their worst fears. The killer has promised to kill for 21 weeks, but catching this elusive, devious, intelligent and cruel monster won’t be easy, especially as the tensions within Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide division rise. New transfer Beck Nash, her instincts and network of smart friends, could be the key to catching the killer, if she is able to keep a cool ahead and deal with the boys in blue not so keen on her being part of the team.

Very quickly I found myself lost in the pages of this book – sinking into the world and characters the author has created. The book has a gritty tone which I enjoy. The main character in this - Beck, I really, really like – it’s clear her childhood and life experiences mean she sees the shades of grey that exist in the world, she may be a cop but she recognises law doesn’t always mean justice, and so uses her own judgement to ensure those doing right and not harming anyone aren’t punished by the law.

I found myself wincing at the punch Beck received at the start, smiling at her rejoinders and impressed by her skills as a cop but also her refusal to kiss ass. Plus, some of the descriptions of torture/the bodies had me cringing – the torture and reward of having a vivid imagination I could visualise everything like I was watching it on the TV (and this would make a good movie/show).

Beck seems to have a pretty cool group of friends; I’m looking forward to meeting more and seeing more of the friends who popped up in this first book. The author depicted the relationship between Beck and her brother Leo well – I loved the fact that Beck despite her love for him didn’t do what he wanted - she didn’t encourage his girlfriend Shelly to take him back after he hit her.

This book doesn’t end tied with a neat little bow, but will have you rushing to book two to see what happens next.

Thanks to Farah, I have found a new series to devour! Going to try and ration myself when it comes to the books in this series – but Try is the operative world 😊.

Staying in my re-read pile.

Potential Triggers: Bullying, domestic violence, and suicide are mentioned, as is drug abuse. Also murder and torture occur more than once.

[JulesGP · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s character driven, it’s a police procedural, it’s an enticingly slowest of slow burns, I don’t know what it is. Intense, addictive, I was invested in this world where cruelty peaks and only a certain brand of damaged crime fighter can do battle against a genius killer who revels in human frailty. I was desperate to see it through to the end as quickly but as slowly as possible, walking with the utmost caution on razor-edged eggshells. Not at all what I expected. That’s the entire theme of this series. Not at all what you might think it is but please stop in for an amazing telling. Beck Nash, everyone.

[hubsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main plot: MC Beck Nash works as a hard-nosed cop in Las Vegas and is at the helm of an investigation of the most atrocious serial killer you will ever come across in fiction, who has been at it for decades. DECADES. 

This was a tough one. I had read some reviews about the nastiness of the murders and thought "Meh, I have been reading since out of the womb and FER SURE have gone through it all in my reading journeys, so no biggie," but this one goes way beyond. It is so disturbing and I admit it, had serious horrible dreams . And I consider myself pretty desensitized to a lot of shit. 

I admit, for the first 120 pages or so, I found it reaaalllly slow and I kept putting it down to read other books.  I realize I am an anomaly here. Only on how much I trust the friends who recommended it did I continue, normally I would not have given it that long of a chance. Either my mood changed or one of the murders just horrified me that much more did I started getting into it. I think my expectations were just in an entirely different place as to what kind of story this would become.

I am a sucker for character development first, story second, and I did not connect with Beck at all in this book. The entire 1-7 chapters are all police procedural work ad nauseam with no clear character development. Beck was cold and aloof, not funny, not charismatic, just a cop trying to solve cases, who has a messed up brother crashing with her. She appears to have a good, loyal heart and wants to "fix things," but I did not get much else out of her, she just was not interesting to me. We get tiny glimpses into some kind of traumatic past, which I am told comes out more in the next books, but I really feel the author did a disservice by giving us so little in this first part. 

I think that is why this is hard for me to review, because even though I have criticisms, I am actually giving it a high review. Dammit all, it is good, solid and intense writing. The amount of research and details are crazy good. Where the fuck did the author's mind go when she wrote this?? Holy shit. How did she not have her own nightmares? I am in awe of that. Will I continue the series? I think I have to, but I have to really be choosy about timing. It's a hard read, and it will take me awhile to get through. I really, really hope that the characters get fleshed out as much as the story though, it doesn't have to be feel-good, but just more humanity, more connection to those who have to be on these grisly scenes, otherwise it is just a hunting a killer book and I need more than that.

[Ardila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my first few cracks at reading something other than my favourite romance genre. And I'm glad this is the book I went with (Thanks Farah). I already loved Riley Lashea's Behind the Green Curtain and Club Storyville, so that's a push enough, knowing she writes brilliantly.

This is a story of detectives, Beck Nash and her partner, Kevin Williams, looking for a serial killer who plans on killing a victim every week for 20 weeks straight. This book covers from Week 1 - 7 (6 victims), therefore I still don't know who the serial killer is. Beck is straight-up an absolute boss and I love the dynamic between her and Williams. As well as with Baxton - a sharp and intelligent medical examiner.

Indisputably, each murder is written really well by LaShea, how she explains in detail of what happened and how it happened. Even tossing a couple other murders to confuse us and the characters, if they're actually related to the serial killer or not.

Without giving much away, the serial killer has a really "unique" way of killing his victims. Out of them all, personally, the victim in Week 4 hits me differently, harder. I had to stare at a wall for a few minutes just to digest what he had done to her. I realized then how much of a psychopath this killer is, the lengths he will go through to put the victim to that level of torture. Kudos to LaShea in creating such a scene.

Maybe in a week or two, I'll continue with the 2nd book. Right now, I just need me a light book with some f/f pairing.

4.25 stars.

[RD · Rating 4 out of 5]

LaShea is brilliant! I’ve been meaning to give this a try for a while now. Behind the Green Curtain is in my top 5 Best Lesbic ever and Club Storyville is also fantastic, so I knew this wouldn’t be that different. After seeing another review from someone I follow on GR I decided to buy the first compilation and get started.

Amazing character work, a disturbing case and tons of gory details. The theme that connects each case is one of the most disturbing MOs I’ve seen in crime stories.

Only reason I removed a star is some inconsistencies in the case. They clearly didn’t follow through with the psychologist as they should (why wait for another case to get that facial sketch of the suspect, and also, not even look for cameras and footage of the event she was in felt like a missed opportunity).

Ps: I do miss a romance as a side story (can’t help it), but I’m shipping Nash and Baxton hard, so hopefully something happens as the series progresses.

Highly recommend giving this a try. Now, onto the next book!

[HornFan2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first read from the author R.A. LaShea, she just grabs you from the first journal like entry, it's addictive, puts you right their with Detectives Nash and Williams in the hunt for a serial killer, full of twists and turns, masterfully written and not for the faint of heart.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling story

This story is almost unputdownable. Love Beck and her posse of friends/brain trust. Would like to get to know her better, which I hope to do in weeks 8 to 14. This is one of my best reads this year!

[Margaret L. Hedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!

21 Weeks: weeks 1-7 is excellent. Definitely a mystery. Glad we don’t see the actual murder happening, only deal with the aftermath. Still gory, just a warning.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente policial.
Una vez que lo empezás a leer, no poder largarlo.
La mejor decisión, después de comprarlo, fue elegir los que vienen de a 7 semanas, sino me hubiera carcomido la ansiedad.