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Bayou #2
Cold Day In July
When the murder of a singer in Toussaint, Louisiana, reopens a supposedly solved murder case, medical examiner Reb O'Brien is forced to team up with Marc Girard, and as passion rages between them, the secrets of the town are revealed. Reprint.
447 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
17 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
About the author
Stella Cameron
106 books421 followersStella Cameron is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author. With over fourteen million copies of her books in print, Cameron is now turning her pen to mysteries and independently publishing COLD, Introducing Alex Duggins. She draws on her English background for this new, already critically acclaimed mystery series. Atmospheric, deeply character and relationship driven, COLD reveals the power of old secrets to twist the present. Cameron’s reputation for using her backgrounds to add tension and allure to her stories is heightened again.
Cameron is the recipient of the Pacific Northwest Achievement Award for distinguished professional achievement and for enhancing the stature of the Northwest Literary community. She lives in Washington with her husband Jerry, her Papillon Millie, black cat Zipper, and a cheeky little tabby named Jack.
Cameron is the recipient of the Pacific Northwest Achievement Award for distinguished professional achievement and for enhancing the stature of the Northwest Literary community. She lives in Washington with her husband Jerry, her Papillon Millie, black cat Zipper, and a cheeky little tabby named Jack.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 16, 2012
The plot had a lot of promise but it was a let down overall. Besides the "reveal" the ending was rushed and left a lot of questions unanswered. The female lead ran hot and cold throughout the book when it came to her relationship with the male lead and not in a good way. I was compelled to keep reading simply because I hate to leave a book half finished.
July 16, 2013
Hmmmmm......loved the book the entire way through.....until the end. I kept looking to see if pages were ripped out at the end of it. SO many unanswered questions!!! I REALLY want to know if Marc ever reunited with the sister he can to town looking for....kind of a big plot in the book that was left unanswered. Disappointed to say the least.
May 3, 2010
It was more a story about small town gossip than anything.. No thrilling surprises. And I hate how it ended. It was like she got tired of writing and just stopped..
May 13, 2014
started on May 2
This book sucked. After just finishing it and witnessing that colossal failure of an ending, I’m so mad I don’t even want to do the review. The book sucked literally from the first page to the last, but after the way it ended I can honestly say there wasn't a single good thing about it. It was a huge piece of crap and I’m shocked someone dreamt up such a disgustingly twisted story with truly stupid characters. I’d be ashamed to create something like this.
The writing was boring and awful and it was impossible to keep track of all the characters. She introduced way too many people too soon, and throughout the book I had trouble remembering everyone. I didn’t even know who was being talked about most of the time, and that really took away from the story, what little there was.
The book could have really benefited from some editing. There were quite a few mistakes and they were distracting and glaring. She couldn’t remember how she spelled her own character’s name. One paragraph she slipped up and spelled Marc as Mark. I thought she was talking about someone else. That was a pretty bad mistake to make. Also, Chauncey “did a Basset House imitation with his eyes.” I think that’s supposed to be Basset Hound, unless there’s such a thing as Basset House that you can do with your eyes that I haven’t heard of. These are really dumb mistakes to make. There were so many grammatical errors too. For example, so many times, too many to count, the author would not use a question mark after asking a question, not sure the thought behind that blunder but a major blunder it is.
Ex: “What’s wrong with the idea of not looking for it.” That’s not even hypothetical, so you can’t get away without using a question mark. Rule: You have to use a question mark if you’re asking a question. And sentences that start with what end in a question mark.
“Would you consider taking in a second one.” Again, no question mark. Ugh!
This is a sample of the weird/confusing thinking of the author. “His heart plummeted into his loafers, only he wasn’t wearing shoes.”
….so why didn’t you just say his heart plummeted into his feet? That doesn’t even make sense.
Reb has a mental disorder, that’s the only explanation for her behavior. I was ashamed to be a woman in that moment when Marc stays at her house after someone attacked her from the closet. She goes back and forth, contradicts herself, and changes her mind between one second and the next. She keeps telling him to leave, but he talks his way out of it and kisses her. He asks if she wants to stop, and she says no with certainty. I think they’re gonna do it, but she starts protesting and insists they slow down and set the pace. Then she proceeds to massage him. During the massage she kisses him, bites his ears, and rubs her breasts on his back. Then she undoes his jeans and handles his penis. He makes a comment that he feels like they’ve never been separated and it’s so natural, and she just up and says if it’s meant to be then they’ll be okay to wait. She moves away and wraps herself in a throw. She says she doesn’t need to stay there with her. He asks for a pillow, and she takes her nightgown off, pushes him to the floor and straddles him. Then she says if you don’t want to have sex with me now I’ll understand. WTF?!?! That is so freakin stupid.
When he reminds her she said they had to take things slow, she spouts out that she changed her mind and women can do that, and she likes danger. She sits on his crotch, then says I hope I haven’t ruined a chance at friendship, I like you so much, and starts to move away again. Those are some strong mixed signals, as in she’s crazy.
Early on, way too soon, Marc realizes he loves her after only being together for a couple days. That was so utterly ridiculous. I hate when authors rush love, when there’s no reason to. I like a story to be more believable. Marc starts bragging and praising himself, which was a total turnoff. He says he’s different from the rest of the males, and they only made one like him. And he isn’t even joking about it either. Who talks about theirself like that? That was so egotistical.
I HATED that Marc had touched Precious’ boobs when they were younger. That was so disgusting. And Reb wasn’t hurt or jealous at all, she just seemed amused. Go figure.
The writing was so hard to follow, it was so confusing. I had so much trouble trying to follow the author’s train of thought. The conversations were all over the place. Let me give you the scene that really grated on my nerves:
“Reb saw no sign that he was joking, but he had to be. He looked serious. She had been breathing through her open mouth. She shut it and straightened up. Let him see whatever he could through the nightie—she wasn’t above throwing a rope to a drowning man. Frustrated was the word that came to mind.”
“She sat, cross-legged, on the rug and swung the throw around her shoulders.
Only one thing would relax him, and it didn’t look as if he was going to get it. “Are you cold?” he said, taking a place beside her.
“Not really, but creating the illusion comforts me.”
Well son-of-a-gun, making her feel good was his job now. She’d been the one to decide they should go slowly, but she hadn’t mentioned that “slow” meant “stop,” or pretty near.
She leaned on him and patted his back. “Being here with you, just the way we are, is perfect. Forgive me for getting a bit pushy just now.”
He didn’t trust himself to look at her. “You weren’t pushy, you were very, very nice. I’ve ruined your evening and put out big time.”
“Not a bit of it.”
Not a bit of it was right as far as she was concerned, Marc thought, she’d lost her nerve at the last moment, and he was the one who’d been put out, big time.”
“They were both breathing hard when Marc took his kisses on the road. He pressed his mouth to her jaw, her neck and arms, stomach and thighs. And all the time she reached for him—to no avail, because he might be a big man but he was also swift, and determined. He was a man who didn’t have to have a woman in his life all the time. The hunt was the biggie, especially when he got close to running his quarry to earth. He could wait as long as it took to see Reb across the breakfast table—his table.
For a man who prided himself on dealing in absolutes, he must have had a frontal lobotomy in his sleep, and he’d lost control over speech.
The first round was his? Great, this should take the frost off the pumpkin.”
WHAT? Could you possibly throw any more disjointed thoughts into that melee? I don’t think you’ve confused your readers enough.
The author can’t write it’s as simple as that. It’s like ADHD in writing. It’s like a ball bouncing all over the place, thoughts don’t flow together, she isn’t making any sense, and it’s just awful. This is the worst writing I’ve ever read.
Reb kept commenting so many times that Cyrus, Spike and her knew that Bonnie wasn’t Amy, Marc’s sister, but they never would tell Marc how they knew that. They just let him think it was his sister, going on with the exhumation of the body, and going along with the theory that they needed the purse to see if they were Amy’s belongings. And Reb said that she had found a picture of a man and a baby but “could not speak of it” and that Spike could make the decision if it should be shared or not. WTF?! That is SO irritating. Who cares about a dead woman’s privacy? She’s dead! She just would not tell Marc she knew Bonnie wasn’t his sister. That’s like saying I know that’s poison ivy but I’m going to let them run right into it because they think it isn’t, and let them find out the hard way. You could save someone a lot of trouble and pain if you just tell the truth in the beginning and stop it from happening.
And now on to that atrocity of an ending. It turns out Oribel or whatever that psycho lady that worked with Cyrus is called, had the body moved, and was the Rubber Killer, great name by the way for the town killer, and killed all the woman that had anything to do with Cyrus. I guess it was because she was old fashioned and really promoted chastity with the priest and didn’t like any woman being around him…okay. I suspected her before that because she was a psycho, but then the author, true to herself, makes things more confusing and complicated by weaving in Chauncey, Precious, Amy, Pepper Leach or whatever, and May Lynn or however you spell that, into the whole mix. Amy was sleeping with Precious’s husband, found out about his bad car business, and so Chauncey wanted to kill her, hired Dante to do it, who slept with Precious. May Lynn saw Pepper, thought he wanted her, and almost raped him, then called the law on him saying that he tried to rape her. He went to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Precious forgives Amy, Amy runs away…and some crap happens that I don’t care about. Those things really didn’t go together and I’m still confused about a lot. We end off right after they subdue Oribel or whatever, and we aren’t even afforded a lighthearted scene with just Reb and Marc, which wouldn’t have redeemed the book anyway, but would have made it a better point to end off of. It turns out Cyrus was seduced by the women, or Oribel thought he was, and he was the father of Bonnie’s baby…Madge looked at him sadly and that was the end of that, literally because the author just stopped there without wrapping anything else up. We don’t know where Amy was, when she meets Marc, what they say to each other, or anything. I’m more mad about Cyrus and Bonnie than anything. He has feelings for Madge and she has feelings for him, but they couldn’t even talk about their personal feelings for each other because he’s a priest…but he slept with another woman and got her pregnant. Screw this book, this story, the awful characters, the whole piece of crap. I’m so mad when I think of all the time I wasted on this drivel. I’m never reading anything by this author again. It’ll be a cold day in July before I ever do. I haven't read many other books deserving of one star.
This book sucked. After just finishing it and witnessing that colossal failure of an ending, I’m so mad I don’t even want to do the review. The book sucked literally from the first page to the last, but after the way it ended I can honestly say there wasn't a single good thing about it. It was a huge piece of crap and I’m shocked someone dreamt up such a disgustingly twisted story with truly stupid characters. I’d be ashamed to create something like this.
The writing was boring and awful and it was impossible to keep track of all the characters. She introduced way too many people too soon, and throughout the book I had trouble remembering everyone. I didn’t even know who was being talked about most of the time, and that really took away from the story, what little there was.
The book could have really benefited from some editing. There were quite a few mistakes and they were distracting and glaring. She couldn’t remember how she spelled her own character’s name. One paragraph she slipped up and spelled Marc as Mark. I thought she was talking about someone else. That was a pretty bad mistake to make. Also, Chauncey “did a Basset House imitation with his eyes.” I think that’s supposed to be Basset Hound, unless there’s such a thing as Basset House that you can do with your eyes that I haven’t heard of. These are really dumb mistakes to make. There were so many grammatical errors too. For example, so many times, too many to count, the author would not use a question mark after asking a question, not sure the thought behind that blunder but a major blunder it is.
Ex: “What’s wrong with the idea of not looking for it.” That’s not even hypothetical, so you can’t get away without using a question mark. Rule: You have to use a question mark if you’re asking a question. And sentences that start with what end in a question mark.
“Would you consider taking in a second one.” Again, no question mark. Ugh!
This is a sample of the weird/confusing thinking of the author. “His heart plummeted into his loafers, only he wasn’t wearing shoes.”
….so why didn’t you just say his heart plummeted into his feet? That doesn’t even make sense.
Reb has a mental disorder, that’s the only explanation for her behavior. I was ashamed to be a woman in that moment when Marc stays at her house after someone attacked her from the closet. She goes back and forth, contradicts herself, and changes her mind between one second and the next. She keeps telling him to leave, but he talks his way out of it and kisses her. He asks if she wants to stop, and she says no with certainty. I think they’re gonna do it, but she starts protesting and insists they slow down and set the pace. Then she proceeds to massage him. During the massage she kisses him, bites his ears, and rubs her breasts on his back. Then she undoes his jeans and handles his penis. He makes a comment that he feels like they’ve never been separated and it’s so natural, and she just up and says if it’s meant to be then they’ll be okay to wait. She moves away and wraps herself in a throw. She says she doesn’t need to stay there with her. He asks for a pillow, and she takes her nightgown off, pushes him to the floor and straddles him. Then she says if you don’t want to have sex with me now I’ll understand. WTF?!?! That is so freakin stupid.
When he reminds her she said they had to take things slow, she spouts out that she changed her mind and women can do that, and she likes danger. She sits on his crotch, then says I hope I haven’t ruined a chance at friendship, I like you so much, and starts to move away again. Those are some strong mixed signals, as in she’s crazy.
Early on, way too soon, Marc realizes he loves her after only being together for a couple days. That was so utterly ridiculous. I hate when authors rush love, when there’s no reason to. I like a story to be more believable. Marc starts bragging and praising himself, which was a total turnoff. He says he’s different from the rest of the males, and they only made one like him. And he isn’t even joking about it either. Who talks about theirself like that? That was so egotistical.
I HATED that Marc had touched Precious’ boobs when they were younger. That was so disgusting. And Reb wasn’t hurt or jealous at all, she just seemed amused. Go figure.
The writing was so hard to follow, it was so confusing. I had so much trouble trying to follow the author’s train of thought. The conversations were all over the place. Let me give you the scene that really grated on my nerves:
“Reb saw no sign that he was joking, but he had to be. He looked serious. She had been breathing through her open mouth. She shut it and straightened up. Let him see whatever he could through the nightie—she wasn’t above throwing a rope to a drowning man. Frustrated was the word that came to mind.”
“She sat, cross-legged, on the rug and swung the throw around her shoulders.
Only one thing would relax him, and it didn’t look as if he was going to get it. “Are you cold?” he said, taking a place beside her.
“Not really, but creating the illusion comforts me.”
Well son-of-a-gun, making her feel good was his job now. She’d been the one to decide they should go slowly, but she hadn’t mentioned that “slow” meant “stop,” or pretty near.
She leaned on him and patted his back. “Being here with you, just the way we are, is perfect. Forgive me for getting a bit pushy just now.”
He didn’t trust himself to look at her. “You weren’t pushy, you were very, very nice. I’ve ruined your evening and put out big time.”
“Not a bit of it.”
Not a bit of it was right as far as she was concerned, Marc thought, she’d lost her nerve at the last moment, and he was the one who’d been put out, big time.”
“They were both breathing hard when Marc took his kisses on the road. He pressed his mouth to her jaw, her neck and arms, stomach and thighs. And all the time she reached for him—to no avail, because he might be a big man but he was also swift, and determined. He was a man who didn’t have to have a woman in his life all the time. The hunt was the biggie, especially when he got close to running his quarry to earth. He could wait as long as it took to see Reb across the breakfast table—his table.
For a man who prided himself on dealing in absolutes, he must have had a frontal lobotomy in his sleep, and he’d lost control over speech.
The first round was his? Great, this should take the frost off the pumpkin.”
WHAT? Could you possibly throw any more disjointed thoughts into that melee? I don’t think you’ve confused your readers enough.
The author can’t write it’s as simple as that. It’s like ADHD in writing. It’s like a ball bouncing all over the place, thoughts don’t flow together, she isn’t making any sense, and it’s just awful. This is the worst writing I’ve ever read.
Reb kept commenting so many times that Cyrus, Spike and her knew that Bonnie wasn’t Amy, Marc’s sister, but they never would tell Marc how they knew that. They just let him think it was his sister, going on with the exhumation of the body, and going along with the theory that they needed the purse to see if they were Amy’s belongings. And Reb said that she had found a picture of a man and a baby but “could not speak of it” and that Spike could make the decision if it should be shared or not. WTF?! That is SO irritating. Who cares about a dead woman’s privacy? She’s dead! She just would not tell Marc she knew Bonnie wasn’t his sister. That’s like saying I know that’s poison ivy but I’m going to let them run right into it because they think it isn’t, and let them find out the hard way. You could save someone a lot of trouble and pain if you just tell the truth in the beginning and stop it from happening.
And now on to that atrocity of an ending. It turns out Oribel or whatever that psycho lady that worked with Cyrus is called, had the body moved, and was the Rubber Killer, great name by the way for the town killer, and killed all the woman that had anything to do with Cyrus. I guess it was because she was old fashioned and really promoted chastity with the priest and didn’t like any woman being around him…okay. I suspected her before that because she was a psycho, but then the author, true to herself, makes things more confusing and complicated by weaving in Chauncey, Precious, Amy, Pepper Leach or whatever, and May Lynn or however you spell that, into the whole mix. Amy was sleeping with Precious’s husband, found out about his bad car business, and so Chauncey wanted to kill her, hired Dante to do it, who slept with Precious. May Lynn saw Pepper, thought he wanted her, and almost raped him, then called the law on him saying that he tried to rape her. He went to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Precious forgives Amy, Amy runs away…and some crap happens that I don’t care about. Those things really didn’t go together and I’m still confused about a lot. We end off right after they subdue Oribel or whatever, and we aren’t even afforded a lighthearted scene with just Reb and Marc, which wouldn’t have redeemed the book anyway, but would have made it a better point to end off of. It turns out Cyrus was seduced by the women, or Oribel thought he was, and he was the father of Bonnie’s baby…Madge looked at him sadly and that was the end of that, literally because the author just stopped there without wrapping anything else up. We don’t know where Amy was, when she meets Marc, what they say to each other, or anything. I’m more mad about Cyrus and Bonnie than anything. He has feelings for Madge and she has feelings for him, but they couldn’t even talk about their personal feelings for each other because he’s a priest…but he slept with another woman and got her pregnant. Screw this book, this story, the awful characters, the whole piece of crap. I’m so mad when I think of all the time I wasted on this drivel. I’m never reading anything by this author again. It’ll be a cold day in July before I ever do. I haven't read many other books deserving of one star.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2012
I found this torturous and finally irritating. I gave it a hal-hour, about 60 or so pages, put it aside, tried again later, after reading another one by the same author, and found it even more irritating. Reluctantly, I've dropped it, and I very rarely give up on a book.
July 31, 2011
One of the worst pieces of crap I ever read. Had to finish it though just from the pure facination of how such a lousy book could have ever gotten published. I'm thinking nepotism.
March 20, 2014
Hated this book, it made no sense, was all over the place and had a horrific ending. At 434 pages it was way too long
July 6, 2024
I picked this one up, thinking it would be a fast, easy read. Which it is. It is, however, of the genre "romantic suspense", as best as I can make out. Which means there is a mystery here and danger, but much of the story is about the two perfect 30-something people who find each other and fall in love. Several times I waded through pages of the leadup to sex and the actual sex (or not), and it was, to me, not titillating but rather annoying.
I prefer characters who are less perfect, more interesting.
As to the story, Dr. Reb O'Brien lives in the small town of Toussant, Louisiana, and tends to the locals as well as consults as medical examiner as needed. She was on call when a young woman appeared to fall to her death in a church tower. The woman, Bonnie, was drunk so the police theory was that she fell accidentally.
Enter Marc Girard, searching for his sister Amy, who believes Bonnie was actually Amy. He has been living elsewhere and running a successful architectural firm, but he is obsessed with finding his sister, who has not been in his life for a long time.
The two meet, the two find some common ground while examining recent deaths, and then danger enters.
You can figure out generally how it goes.
I prefer characters who are less perfect, more interesting.
As to the story, Dr. Reb O'Brien lives in the small town of Toussant, Louisiana, and tends to the locals as well as consults as medical examiner as needed. She was on call when a young woman appeared to fall to her death in a church tower. The woman, Bonnie, was drunk so the police theory was that she fell accidentally.
Enter Marc Girard, searching for his sister Amy, who believes Bonnie was actually Amy. He has been living elsewhere and running a successful architectural firm, but he is obsessed with finding his sister, who has not been in his life for a long time.
The two meet, the two find some common ground while examining recent deaths, and then danger enters.
You can figure out generally how it goes.
September 6, 2017
Overall Rating: 3.0
Action: 1.0 | Emotion: 1.0 | Romance: 3.5 | Sensuous: 1.5 | Suspense: 3.5 || Laughter: 0 || Tears: 0
{Second Book of Ten-Book Bayou Series}
Liked:
• All the different point of view voices.
Didn't Like:
• Couldn't "connect" to main characters.
• Hated the abrupt ending. Too rushed. Definitely needed an epilogue.
• Book ended with so many unanswered questions.
• Were the sexual escapades supposed to be fun? They just didn't make sense.
• Reb was supposed to be logical and strong willed, but she was just confusing, like: "I don't want you" . . . so why aren't we having sex?
Additional Thoughts:
• Secondary characters were more interesting than main characters.
• Didn't hold interest enough to want to pick up next book in series.
Action: 1.0 | Emotion: 1.0 | Romance: 3.5 | Sensuous: 1.5 | Suspense: 3.5 || Laughter: 0 || Tears: 0
{Second Book of Ten-Book Bayou Series}
Liked:
• All the different point of view voices.
Didn't Like:
• Couldn't "connect" to main characters.
• Hated the abrupt ending. Too rushed. Definitely needed an epilogue.
• Book ended with so many unanswered questions.
• Were the sexual escapades supposed to be fun? They just didn't make sense.
• Reb was supposed to be logical and strong willed, but she was just confusing, like: "I don't want you" . . . so why aren't we having sex?
Additional Thoughts:
• Secondary characters were more interesting than main characters.
• Didn't hold interest enough to want to pick up next book in series.
February 16, 2018
From "Cold Day In July" to "Dead End"
Stella Cameron is my favorite author. Everything she writes always ends up in my "keeper" bookcase.
Dead End was such a wonderful, exciting read, I didn't even put it down until I finished it. I read Cold Day In July about 10 years ago. I've gone back & read the end several times. Now, after reading Dead End, I realize that, for me, Cold Day In July's ending was to fast and not as riveting as Dead End.
Stella Cameron is my favorite author. Everything she writes always ends up in my "keeper" bookcase.
Dead End was such a wonderful, exciting read, I didn't even put it down until I finished it. I read Cold Day In July about 10 years ago. I've gone back & read the end several times. Now, after reading Dead End, I realize that, for me, Cold Day In July's ending was to fast and not as riveting as Dead End.
August 16, 2020
Marc Girard came to Toussant looking for his long lost sister and found the girl he had fallen love with almost thirty years ago. Meanwhile three murders and a missing body complicate the plot. Not a bad story but not all ends were tied up in the end. Where is Amy?
December 7, 2019
Great story line. Enjoyed the book although it was a bit hard to keep my attention in a few places. Loved the ending.
February 10, 2014
Stella Cameron has delivered a slightly better romantic suspense novel with her second effort in the Louisiana-set series. Cold Day in July takes place in Toussaint, a small bayou town, which had recently seen two young women get murdered, and though the latest looks like an accident, it might make murder number 3. Marc Girard, native son, returns to town with the notion that the most recently deceased woman might have been his sister in disguise. He begins his investigation with Dr. Rebecca “Reb” O’Brien, who examined all three bodies. Marc and Reb were also romantically linked in college, and this situation gives them an opportunity to rekindle their relationship.
Cameron seems to have a little trouble fitting romance into the suspense story. Marc in particular makes frequent awkward comments to Reb about their relationship and what he’d like to do to her, sexually, right in the middle of conversations about clues and suspects. Also, the two go back and forth quite a bit about whether they are going to actually engage in sexual relations. They start and stop the “action” (so to speak) about 4 times before finally getting interrupted by another character before being able to complete the act. This whole section was irritating to read. Marc is also kind of high-handed and controlling with Reb, but then they are in a situation in which it looks as though someone is trying to murder her, so I don’t really blame him for trying to keep her safe when it looks as though she’s going to do something foolhardy and put herself in harm’s way. In fact, now that I think about it, her insistence on being a strong, independent, intelligent woman who would also like to drive her motorbike out to the middle of nowhere in a rainstorm to check on a patient is pretty contradictory.
Also, the character introductions were a little confusing. So much backstory is revealed on many different characters in the first two chapters, that I later had a difficult time remembering who was who and what their relation was to each other. A little more spacing-out of character introductions might be helpful to Cameron in the future. However, I cannot fault her with the eventual resolution of the murder plot. I did not guess who the killer was, nor that person’s motive until it was revealed. There were some pretty strong suspects, so I applaud Cameron for this. It left me feeling satisfied, although at the beginning, I did not think I was going to rate it well at all.
Cameron seems to have a little trouble fitting romance into the suspense story. Marc in particular makes frequent awkward comments to Reb about their relationship and what he’d like to do to her, sexually, right in the middle of conversations about clues and suspects. Also, the two go back and forth quite a bit about whether they are going to actually engage in sexual relations. They start and stop the “action” (so to speak) about 4 times before finally getting interrupted by another character before being able to complete the act. This whole section was irritating to read. Marc is also kind of high-handed and controlling with Reb, but then they are in a situation in which it looks as though someone is trying to murder her, so I don’t really blame him for trying to keep her safe when it looks as though she’s going to do something foolhardy and put herself in harm’s way. In fact, now that I think about it, her insistence on being a strong, independent, intelligent woman who would also like to drive her motorbike out to the middle of nowhere in a rainstorm to check on a patient is pretty contradictory.
Also, the character introductions were a little confusing. So much backstory is revealed on many different characters in the first two chapters, that I later had a difficult time remembering who was who and what their relation was to each other. A little more spacing-out of character introductions might be helpful to Cameron in the future. However, I cannot fault her with the eventual resolution of the murder plot. I did not guess who the killer was, nor that person’s motive until it was revealed. There were some pretty strong suspects, so I applaud Cameron for this. It left me feeling satisfied, although at the beginning, I did not think I was going to rate it well at all.
July 3, 2008
I suppose this book is classified as "romantic suspense". I have to classify it as a mess! I have enjoyed Cameron's historicals - I even have one that's a "keeper" - and I had hopes for her contemporary novels. This one was not well-written at all. There were some truly enjoyable parts scattered among the chaos, but mostly it was disjointed, predictable, unbelievable and floundering. I figured out the villian's identity early on, saw her behaviors as highly suspicious, yet the characters remained oblivious until the last few pages. A pivotal character makes it safely out of captivity, yet never reunites with the family member desperatey seeking her throughout the book. Even the sexual encounters seem contrived and the heroine's actions were almost bipolar in this regard. Out of respect for her body of work and the many historicals that entertained me years ago, I bumped this rating up to three stars. At the moment, however, I'm wishing I had the hours I spent reading this book back to devote to something more worthy.
August 25, 2015
As this novel was my introduction to Stella Cameron, I didn't realize it was a romantic thriller. I am not opposed to romance, but prefer it to be in the background rather than an integral portion of the plot.
For that reason alone, I did not enjoy this thriller as much as I would have had the romance been turned down a few notches. The writing is excellent with good character development. The "whodunit" portion of the plot was well thought out, with the reveal left to the final pages.
If you enjoy some romance and steamy scenes along with your mystery, Stella Cameron and her novels may be your cup of tea.
For that reason alone, I did not enjoy this thriller as much as I would have had the romance been turned down a few notches. The writing is excellent with good character development. The "whodunit" portion of the plot was well thought out, with the reveal left to the final pages.
If you enjoy some romance and steamy scenes along with your mystery, Stella Cameron and her novels may be your cup of tea.
May 4, 2009
I think I've read this before, but did so again because I couldn't remember it. I enjoy Cameron's novels, although this one had some awkward dialogue moments. Sometimes the back and forth banter is hard to follow. I liked the surprise of "who done it," and of course, it was nice to get the backstory on some of her more recent novels.
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September 3, 2010Louisiana Doctor Reb and friend from New Orleans, Marc, who is visiting home town become involved in murders. Marc is looking for lost sister, who he thinks has been murdered by person, who killed two previous women. Priest is good friend. Woman who worked for priest is the murderer. She thought she was protecting priest from women. Reb and Marc get together.
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May 9, 2013Very choppy. Half the time the dialogue made no sense. think the heroine, Reb, may be mentally ill. Then, it just ended. Unanswered questions. Characters left hanging. If this is what I can expect, I will never read another Cameron.
June 29, 2009
It's ok. Started off really slow and uninteresting. 1.5/5 stars.
August 2, 2011
not very good.
May 23, 2012
toussaint must have more murderers per sq. mile than most small towns. the ordinary citizens however are great. the plot is decent. the characters interesting.
July 12, 2013
Entertaining but not a book I would recommend to others.
September 4, 2014
It was a good book.
October 28, 2014
Great mystery, romance. Kept me guessing.
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