The Day Before

Series:  Jane Doe #1

By:  Liana Brooks

ISBN:  0062407651 (ISBN13: 9780062407658)

Author’s Website: http://www.lianabrooks.com/

 

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

Warning: Some Spoilers

 

 

Synopsis:

A body is found in the Alabama wilderness. The question is:

 

Is it a human corpse … or is it just a piece of discarded property?

 

Agent Samantha Rose has been exiled to a backwater assignment for the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation, a death knell for her career. But then Sam catches a break—a murder—that could give her the boost she needs to get her life back on track. There’s a snag, though: the body is a clone, and technically that means it’s not a homicide. And yet, something about the body raises questions, not only for her, but for coroner Linsey Mackenzie.

 

The more they dig, the more they realize nothing about this case is what it seems … and for Sam, nothing about Mac is what it seems, either.

 

This case might be the way out for her, but that way could be in a bodybag.

 

A thrilling new mystery from Liana Brooks, The Day Before will have you looking over your shoulder and questioning what it means to be human.

 

Review:

My first thoughts are….an interesting read, but is it trying to emulate the feel of J.D. Robb’s ‘In Death’ series?  This in and of itself caused me a bit of unease as who could live up to that series, though this unease was quickly dispelled by the writing and story line.  I was quickly engaged and some of the twists and turns actually drove me to drop everything else and continue reading long past my bedtime.

 

The big debate is to how to write a review without giving away all the good stuff.  Pretty hard in this instance since it has LOTS of good stuff!  But I shall do my best to leave loads of mystery for the reader to discover.

 

Agent Samantha Rose has been relegated to a third rate location by the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation (CBI), much to her dismay.  In order to get the coveted promotion and back to the big city…she is at Agent Marrin’s beck and call.  One Friday Sam is called out to a homicide investigation….or is it a dumped clone site?  Time will tell.  Throughout the story I really enjoyed Sam’s moxie.  She was always true to her beliefs, even when events got muddy and ugly.

 

Rose was frequently relegated the dud cases…for example: the break in at the lab.  And just when she was getting decent lead’s, her supervisor, Marrin yank’s her off the case.  However given her tenacity, Rose does find creative ways to continue with the investigation.

 

Talk about depth of a character….Linsey MacKenzie has so many layers; it was a pleasure learning his story.  You just know he had compassion when he took Agent Rose’s dog (Hoss) to his house when she was late returning from a meeting in D.C. and it turned out that a dead body was stashed in her freezer.  There was tension between MacKenzie and Sam throughout the story, but they came to understand and appreciate each other in due course.  The compassion and assistance Sam provided to Mac (without his knowledge) was endearing.  They both are tenacious in the fight for justice.  And I really enjoyed the evolution of their relationship – it just seemed so natural.

 

I frequently forgot that this story was set in the future (I know….with clone talk abounding or each chapter beginning with a date and location …how could I forget?) but when encountering statements like the following, I was jolted back into the future frame of mind:

“MacKenzie’s place was all 2020 architecture…”

 

The tension between Atlin and Marrin (local detective versus CBI) added to the drama.  At one point they were fighting over jurisdiction regarding the dead body in Rose’s freezer and Rose said to Mac over the phone:

“Tell them there’s a ruler in the top drawer by the fridge. They can whip it out and measure.  When they’re done dicking around, they can get back to work.”

 

There is certainly more than one storyline, which intersected in a myriad of ways.  This definitely added to the intrigue.  As the characters grew in depth, so did the intensity of the storyline.  And of course…the loose ends (i.e. resolution to the various storylines) kept me guessing throughout…just the way I like a good read.

 

Well done to Liana Brooks on this first book in a new series.  I will be patiently waiting to read the next installment of this series.

 

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*