Murder Girl by Lisa Renee Jones Pages: 272
Series: Lilah Love #2
Genres: Mystery
Setting: Hamptons, NY
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Also in this series: Murder Notes
Also by this author: Hard Rules, Damage Control, Bad Deeds, Murder Notes, He is... Creed
Goodreads
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones returns with the second book in her electrifying series featuring Lilah Love, an FBI profiler who doesn’t fight her dark side—she embraces it.
It’s Lilah Love’s job to inhabit a killer’s mind. The unapologetically tough FBI profiler is very comfortable there. But her latest case is making her head spin. It’s a string of brutal assassinations carried out across the country, each tied to a mysterious tattoo. Body by body, she’s followed the clues all the way back to her hometown. And every step of the way, the killer has been following her.
Here, beneath the glamour of the privileged Hamptons community, is a secret long buried but never forgotten. It’s bigger than Lilah. It’s powerful enough to escape the reach of the FBI. And it’s more personal than anyone can imagine. Because it’s hiding in Lilah’s own past. To fight it, she’s forced to turn to her lethally tempting ex, Kane Mendez. He’s an expert at bringing out Lilah’s darkest impulses. If she plans to survive, she’s going to need them.
Murder Girl picks up right after Murder Notes ends and you MUST read them in order. Thankfully for me, Jones included a recap of book 1 because I had straight up forgotten a lot! So, here are my thoughts on Murder Girl-don’t read if you haven’t read Murder Notes!
I liked Kane less. He drugs Lilah ‘to protect her’ when he knows her past and how violated being drugged would make her feel. I also began (like Lilah) to question her boss. He is just strange. Honestly though, the whole set up is strange! No one would let her work this case because she has so many conflicts of interest. If they catch the person, her work would never hold up in court! So, I had to stop myself from overthinking it.
There are no shortage of unlikable characters in the story. Lilah’s ex best friend, her ex-boyfriends, her brother, her father, her father’s ‘campaign manager’….all of them are unpleasant. Of course, this makes me think that any of them could be responsible for what is happening! Any of them could be “Junior” and I think any of them were capable of murder. However, I don’t think they would have left the Hamptons to murder someone in LA-that was what got Lilah involved in the first place. So as the reader, you are constantly guessing and trying to figure out what is a red herring and what is an actual clue.
By the end of Murder girl, you have answers to some questions but there is one big question left unanswered that will certainly compel the reader to continue the series! If you like police procedurals, the TV show Criminal Minds, or mystery/suspense books, Murder Girl will appeal to you on many levels. As I mentioned in book 1, the story isn’t really a ‘romance’. Lilah’s relationships are not the center of the story and are only mentioned in how they relate to the case.
- POV: 1st
- Tears: no
- Trope: FBI profiler
- Triggers: View Spoiler »
- Series/Standalone: series
- Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
A Cold Dark Place by Toni Anderson, Hunting Ground by Katee Robert, Have You Seen Her by Karen Rose…then you will probably like Murder Girl!
Murder Girl
Lovely review you have here. I do love a good suspense but I do need a strong romance. I do want to try this author out but I will probably try out one of her other books and see how I like her writing.
I’ve never heard of this series before this, but your review definitely didn’t make me want to check it out haha. Gosh, it does sounds…a bit unappealing. Life is too short for okay books.
Its one of those books that makes you suspicious of EVERYONE. Its actually well written in that sense.