Desperate Acts (Pike, Wisconsin 4) by Alexandra Ivy-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 21, 2023

WILL SHE FIND THE ANSWER
Teenager Lia Porter shouldn’t have been anywhere near the railroad bridge that night. Sneaking home after a party in the fields outside Pike, Wisconsin, she glimpsed a woman in a leather jacket, running in terror. Lia puts the incident from her mind–until a body is found near the same spot fifteen years later, wearing the same jacket. The police rule it a suicide. Lia knows different. The woman she saw was trying to save her own life, not end it. But whatever she was fleeing from found her first . . .

BEFORE THE KILLER
The stranger who arrives at Lia’s store shares her suspicions. Hollywood stunt driver Kaden Vaughn has come home to Wisconsin to learn the truth about what happened to his brother’s fianc�e years ago. The leather jacket, the timing–he believes the dead woman is Vanna, and that Lia may be the only person who can help. Together they retrace Vanna’s steps, but the more they dig, the darker the secrets become.

FINDS HER?
The killer is still out there, stalking the streets of Pike again, willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the truth locked in mystery. One by one, all those who know something about that night must be silenced, until there is no one left to tell . . .

•••••

REVIEW: DESPERATE ACTS is the fourth instalment in Alexandrea Ivy’s contemporary, adult PIKE WISCONSIN romantic, suspense series. This is thirty-five year old, former motorcycle stuntman Kaden Vaughn, and thirty year old Lia Porter’s story line. DESPERATE ACTS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from third person perspective DESPERATE ACTS follows in the wake of the discovery of a skeleton. Fifteen years earlier, a then fifteen year old Lia Porter stumbled across a woman in uniform, jumping off the local bridge. Fast forward to present day, and a skeleton has been discovered near the area where the woman had jumped. The local mayor declared the case closed, claiming the woman to be a suicide but Lia knew better, having watched from afar, as the woman ran for her life. Former Hollywood motorcycle stunt driver Kaden Vaughn never thought he would return to Wisconsin but the discovery of a female skeleton pulled Kaden to small town of Pike, where he would meet local grocer Lia Porter, a woman with a vested interested in the town’s discovery. Kaden Vaughn was sure his late brother’s fiance’s body had been found but the more Kaden and Lia began to unravel the secrets and lies, the target on their back, and several residents of Pike, is getting bigger by the day. As the injured and dead begin to accumulate, someone is desperate to keep secret what happened years before including blackmail and a possible connection to the EPA.

The relationship between Kaden and Lia is one of insta-lust to love; a joint venture in searching for the truth. Lia witnessed the victim’s jump to her death, and Kaden suspects the skeleton belongs to his brother’s fiancé. Working towards a mutual outcome, Kaden and Lia are pushed together as desperation forces a confrontation between the present and the past. The lone $ex scene is passionate but mostly implied.

Pike, Wisconsin is a town operated by corruption-from the judge to the mayor to local businessmen, wanna-bees and has beens looking to hide years of crimes. With every interview and investigation, another body is discovered, someone is poisoned, anyone who talked to Lia and Kaden, end up dead or injured. My only concern is the lack of any real law enforcement or FBI involvement. Two people looking for answers solve fifteen years of crime and passion.

DESPERATE ACTS is a tragic story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, murder and mayhem. The premise is intriguing and entertaining; the romance is tender; the characters are spirited and determined.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Don’t Look
Faceless
Unstable

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy