Monster in the Closet by Karen Rose: Review

Monster in the Closet by Karen Rose
Pages: 508


Series: Baltimore #5
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Also in this series: Death Is Not Enough
Also by this author: Have You Seen Her?, Edge of Darkness, Death Is Not Enough, Say You're Sorry, Into the Dark, Say No More, Say Goodbye

Goodreads

The Sunday Times bestselling author of Every Dark Corner returns with an exclusive novel celebrating ten years of Karen Rose's thrillers in the UK. MONSTER IN THE CLOSET reunites readers with characters from Karen Rose's bestselling Baltimore series.

A mother is dead, and now her killer hunts the child that witnessed the brutal crime...

Private Investigator Clay Maynard locates missing children for clients, but has nearly given up hope of finding his own daughter, cruelly stolen from him by his ex-wife twenty-three years ago.

Equine therapist Taylor Dawson has chosen to intern at Daphne Montgomery-Carter's stables so that she can observe the program's security director - her father, Clay Maynard. Trying to reconcile the wonderful man she's getting to know with the monster her mother always described, Taylor never expects to become the target of a real monster, the man who murdered the mother of the little girls she works with at the stable. Neither does she expect to fall for Ford Elkhart, Daphne's handsome son, who is dealing with his own demons. As family and friends gather for a wedding, Taylor starts to imagine a permanent life in Baltimore.

But not if the real monster gets to her first...

A murder with an 11 year old witness, an intern at an equine therapy program with a hidden agenda, a dirty lawyer looking to cover up his crime, a slew of cops trying to find the truth, and more! Monster in the Closet has a cast of characters that will probably require you to keep a list-sometimes it was difficult to keep up with them all!

Jazzie witnesses the aftermath of her mother’s murder, and knows that her father is responsible. But she is so traumatized from the attack, she hasn’t said a word. Taylor is working with Jazzie and her sister, Janie, at the equine therapy program in hopes of helping the girls.

Then you have Taylor who has really come to town to find her father, after years of being hidden away by her mom, who has recently passed away. Ford, the therapy owner’s son, has his own harrowing story. He and Taylor start to fall for each other during all this tangled mess.

So, then, in all this, the killer targets Taylor because Jazzie has gotten close to her and is opening up. As the reader, you know who the killer is the entire book, but you don’t know how it will all play out which is what keeps you flipping pages.

My biggest issue? So many subplots. Honestly, it got a bit distracting and off track. It made it difficult to stick with the book at times because it felt that each chapter went into a different subplot or new characters. Seriously, there are a LOT of characters. But, the suspense is great, the romance between Taylor and Ford was sweet, and I adored Jazzie and Janie.

While this is book 19 in a series, and book 5 of that subseries, I have not read the other books and was able to keep up and not feel that I missed something; however, the characters from the previous book play important roles in the story. Its not critical to KNOW their backstory, but I would imagine that if you had read the previous books, getting a little check in with old favorites would be delightful. I have always wanted to read Karen Rose’s books; she has a series set in Cincinnati that I am super interested in!

 

• POV: 3rd
• Tears: no
• Trope: secrets, mortal peril, domestic abuse
• Triggers: View Spoiler »Jazzie witnesses her mother’s brutal murder and some scenes of domestic abuse occur « Hide Spoiler
• Series/Standalone: stand alone within a series
• Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »no « Hide Spoiler
• HEA: View Spoiler »yes with epilogue « Hide Spoiler

Under Fire by Scarlett Cole, The Hunting Ground by Katee Robert, After the Dark by Cynthia Eden…then you will probably like Monster in the Closet!

 

 

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