On The Count of Three by Carolyn Arnold – a Review

Description:
And they thought prison was hell…

When a woman’s disappearance ticks off all the same boxes as two unsolved murders, Miami homicide detective Kelly Marsh is convinced there’s about to be a third. If she’s right and the killer sticks to their previous MO, she only has three days before Jenna Kelter’s decapitated head will show up somewhere in the city. With no time to waste, Kelly reaches out to the one person she knows can help: her former mentor and family friend Jack Harper, who just happens to lead a team with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.

BAU special agent and profiler Brandon Fisher easily sees the similarities between Detective Marsh’s missing person case and the two cold cases: all three victims served time for DUI vehicular homicide and disappeared three days after being released from prison. But is that enough to assume Kelter has been abducted by a serial killer? Brandon’s not so sure and fears his boss may have let his personal connection to Marsh cloud his judgment. Surely there isn’t any other explanation for why they jumped into an investigation less than twenty-four hours after Kelter was reported missing. Then again, maybe Brandon is letting his own differences with the detective affect his perspective. He’ll need to move past it, though—and quickly.

After all, this killer has evaded capture for the past six years, and they may be looking at a lot more victims than originally suspected. This serial killer is calling the shots and pulling them into a macabre game of cat and mouse. While the team has no choice but to play, if they don’t make the right moves, one of them may not make it out of Miami alive.

Review:

On the Count of Three by Carolyn Arnold is the 7^th book in her Brandon Fisher FBI series. Refresher: Our FBI BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) team consists of Jack (leader), Brandon, Paige and Zach. Their cases are always violent, intense, squeamish and at times difficult for the agents, especially Brandon.

We meet homicide detective Kelly Marsh, who trained under Jack to be an FBI agent, and when she investigates the case of a missing woman, she begins to see some similarities of other cases. Kelly will call Jack and ask him to come to Miami and help with this case.

The team will discover that the similarities of the other missing case, which resulted in decapitation, are indeed the work of a serial killer. The victims were all sent to prison for DUI vehicular homicide, and shortly after their release, they disappeared, eventually with the head purposely showing up.

Jack was Kelly’s mentor, and is pleased to have her working with them. Not so, Brandon, who seems jealous that Jack and Kelly get along so well. But Brandon will work with Jack on some investigations and Paige will work with Zach on other people. Kelly will work with either of them or on her own.

As normal in this series, we get to see the POV of the killer, which adds a good element to the story, despite being also very intense. What follows is an exciting, tense, edgy, non- stop dark adventure to find the killer before they strike again. I do not want to give spoilers, as this is a story that you need to read from start to finish.

This series is always intense, exciting and filled with wonderful details about how the team breaks down all the clues. No one does this better than Arnold, and she is an expert on all types of police/FBI procedurals. The end of the story looks like there will be some changes, and I will also mention that I still am not a fan of Brandon Fisher, but love the rest of the team.

Carolyn Arnold once again gives us a fantastic and graphic story, which keeps us on the edge of our seats. If you have not read the earlier books of this series, which I suggest you do, this can read as a standalone.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for review