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Title/Author: Killing Me Softly - Maggie Shayne
Series: Secrets of Shadow Falls #1
Read: February 12, 2012
Rating: ★★★✩✩
First time author? no
To-Be-Continued? yes

Review:

First of all if you haven't read the parent series (Mordecai Young), you really need to read that before you attempt this series as the heroine of Killing Me Softly is the daughter of the serial killer, Mordecai Young.

That said, I was rather disappointed in this story. The characters were all flat and one dimensional. And there was absolutely zero spark between the hero and heroine. Apparently they had a hot and heavy relationship that was destroyed when Dawn up and left town without telling Bryan why (and didn't even call him in the five years after). Dawn just shows up in town when Bryan is accused of killing his girlfriend. The ambivalence between them is front and center. He's seemingly afraid to give her the chance to destroy him again and she feels guilty about the way she's treated him. It all just rang false to me as there was no effort from either one to bridge the gap. Besides, the relationship was practically incest anyway and creepy. Bryan's step-mother is Dawn's birth mother. YUK.

I liked the mystery of the serial killer and the tension when Dawn finally realizes that she is a dead-ringer for his preferred victim. And his inner dialogue via split personality was brilliant. Thankfully Dan and Bryan will not be center stage in future books, so I will continue the series with Olivia Dupree in Kill Me Again.