Aftershock

This is one of those stories that splits you down the middle. On the one hand I applaud the effort on the other I shake my head and wonder. While the plot itself is decent the presentation was muddled. She isn't totally unlikeable but what's up with the polish speckled throughout the book?? It really doesn't add to the story unless it's just to muddle it more. While she comes off as dedicated to her work her past and her curt attitude seem to cause her more problems and puts her in bad situations that could be avoided. Did I like it yeah but it could have easily been so much better and smoother. Will I read these authors again yes because when they get it right it will be off the hook. I think the right editor will help these two merge better and therefor create a more cohesive story with a smoother flow.

Aftershock by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell Jessie Teska #2 Jessie is woken early to come into assess a dead body as happens when one is a medical examiner. Upon arrival there is a messy scene with a very dead man beneath a pile of pipes. Everyone seems eager to write it off as an accident…except Jessie and someone she works with. Police arrive, crime scene techs come do their thing and for some reason Jessie becomes a sleuth along with being a medical examiner a bit like Quincy or perhaps Crossing Jordan on TV. I have trouble wrapping my head around that idea but putting that aside and thinking of it the context of one of these shows I can see the story working better. Soon after the first dead body is found there is a big earthquake while Jessie is out with her boyfriend of eight months and this is the first hint in the story that though they have been together awhile there may be future problems. Why? Well, Jessie feels she needs to go out and work after the earthquake as there will be dead bodies and her main squeeze, Anup the lawyer, thinks she should go home and stay safe. There are scenes with Jessie doing autopsies, talking to the homicide detectives, interacting with Anup, spending time with her PI friend Sparkle, on the job with coworkers, talking to her mother, talking to suspects, meeting Anup’s family, dealing with relationship issues, with potential love interests other than Anup and…a few other things. It was a busy story with a lot going on with plenty of twists and turns, red herrings, positive and negative people and eventually the sussing out of who murdered the first dead body. I did not read book one in the series and wonder if I would know Jessie better if I had. I had trouble warming up to her as I read and wondered if she would grow on me or not. She is brash, outspoken, aggressive, says what she thinks, backs down for no one, and tends to rub people wrong. So, perhaps I will give the next book in this series a chance to see if Jessie and I can hit it off or if perhaps she and her series will not be for me. I have a feeling the author(s) will grow as they write more in the series and would like to see how they and this character develop over time. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Hanover Square Press for the ARC – This is my honest review. 3-4 Stars

This was an active, nonstop, wryly written, and superbly crafted tale that was shrewdly paced, cunningly plotted, and cast with a wide variety of curiously compelling characters. I had great difficulty putting my Kindle down for those senseless interruptions that dared to interfere with my perusal such as thirst, hunger, dying batteries, and need for sleep. The busy storylines were written from the first-person POV of the brilliant and hard-working medical examiner Jessie Teska, M.D., and were taut with intrigue and pernicious conflicts with arrogant and egregious detectives and lawyers who didn’t have the good sense to listen to her sagacious theories and perceptive observations. I wanted to kick them in the shins for her. Lashing of amusing and clever wit cropped up to balance the emotional tone, which I always appreciate. This is my second time reading this dynamic duo’s exceptional wordcraft and I am so enamored with their mad skills that I have added them to my list of favorites and will be eagerly awaiting Dr. Teska’s next case.