PRETEND YOU’RE SAFE (The Agency #1) by Alexandra Ivy-a review

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About the book: Release Date August 29 , 2017

HE SEES YOU
First came the floods. Then came the bodies. The victims—strangled, then buried along the shores of the Mississippi—have finally been unearthed, years after they disappeared. He remembers every satisfying kill . . . each woman’s terror and agony. But there’s only one he truly wanted. And fate has brought her within reach again . . .

HE KNOWS YOU
Jaci Patterson was sixteen when she found the first golden locket on her porch. Inside were a few strands of hair wrapped around a scrap of bloodstained ribbon. Though the “gifts” kept arriving, no one believed her hunch that a serial killer was at work. Now Jaci has returned home . . . and the nightmare is starting once more.

AND HE’LL NEVER LET YOU GO
Back then, Rylan Cooper was an arrogant deputy sheriff convinced that Jaci was just an attention—seeking teen. It was a fatal mistake. There’s a murderer in their midst, someone determined to settle old scores and keep playing a twisted game. And it won’t end until Jaci is his forever .

•••••••••

REVIEW: PRETEND YOUR SAFE is the first installment in Alexandra Ivy’s contemporary, adult THE AGENCY romantic, suspense series. This is security and IT specialist Rylan Cooper, and twenty seven year old pastry chef Jaci Patterson’s story line.

Told from several third person perspectives including Rylan and Jaci PRETEND YOU’RE SAFE follows the hunt for a serial killer. With the recent deluge of rain, the rapidly rising waters of the Mississippi gave up her secrets with the missing and the dead. When a bloated body and a severed skull are discovered floating in a farmer’s flooded field Jaci Patterson’s mind begins to wander to the past to a time when s number of local women went missing, and several golden lockets with a few strands of hair would appear on her door step. Fast forward to present day, and the terror begins anew when her estranged mother’s housekeeper goes missing, and a new locket appears from out of the blue. Enter Rylan Cooper- back home from sunny California, visiting his aging father- and the man with whom Jaci will fall in love. What ensues is the rekindling friendship and relationship between Rylan and Jaci, and the search for a killer as Jaci is once again targeted by a unknown man.

PRETEND YOU’RE SAFE is a slow building story of intrigue, romance and suspense. Rylan is a protector; a man who is desperate to protect the woman he loves but also a man who knows he must atone for sins of the past. Years earlier, a then arrogant deputy sheriff, Rylan ignored the panic and emotional fall out of the innocuous threats against Jaci’s life but with the uptick and resurgence of a similar MO, Rylan knows that to ignore Jaci could be fatal in more ways than one. The $ex scenes are limited but seductive although the attraction between our leading couple is low key and felt somewhat awkward. Jaci struggles with her attraction to the man who ignored her earlier fears and warnings.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including Sheriff Mike O’Brien, his office assistant Carol, local artist Nelson Bradley; Jaci’s estranged family including half-sister Payton, half-brother Christopher, step-father Blake Hamilton, and mother Loreen Hamilton. We are also introduced to Rylan’s father Elmer Cooper , as well as a number of townsfolk, neighbors and nosy busybodies.

PRETEND YOU’RE SAFE is a thrilling and passionate story line. The premise is intriguing and keeps you guessing until the very end.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy