Hide and Seek
Criminal Profiler, Book #1
By Mary Burton
ISBN: 9781503905269
Author’s Website: maryburton(.)com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
Special Agent Macy Crow is a survivor. After a vicious hit-and-run nearly kills her, she gets right back to work, and now she’s gunning for a spot on the FBI’s elite profiling team. As an audition, she offers to investigate the recently discovered bones of Tobi Turner, a high school girl who disappeared fifteen years ago.
While investigating with local sheriff Mike Nevada, a former colleague and onetime lover, Macy discovers a link between Tobi’s case and several others that occurred around the same time as her disappearance. As Macy interviews victims and examines old cases, she uncovers a sinister picture of a stalker who graduated to sexual assault—and then murder.
Macy and Nevada race to put this monster behind bars before he can come out of hiding. But the murderer’s had years to hone his skills, and soon Macy herself becomes a target. She’s no stranger to pain and terror, but will Macy’s first profiling case be her last? (Goodreads)
Review:
Hide and Seek is the first book in the new series titled Criminal Profiler by Mary Burton. Hide and Seek is also the first book I have read by Mary Burton. I am speechless because boy have I been missing out on a really great writer! (I am of course presuming Hide and Seek is not an anomaly). I started reading the book, hoping that I would like her style, etc. and before you know it…I was hooked!
Hide and Seek begins with a prologue set in the past, where the reader gets a glimpse of the murderer and how he operates. Certainly set the tone for me! Then as the story starts out we jump back to the present, where at the site of a barn demolition the body of Tobi Turner is discovered. Tobi went missing nearly 15 years ago. And so the story begins.
We are introduced to Mike Nevada (the newly elected county sheriff). He had wanted to slow down, which is why he left his FBI job (a Quantico-based profiling team member). As a result of the discovery of Tobi Turner after all these years, Mike begins the investigation and requests assistance from the FBI (specifically a prior work colleague). Who turns up? Macy Crow, a former colleague and Mike’s onetime lover. There history is complicated. The journey to learn the intricacies of their relationship is worth the effort.
I liked the way the author introduced, in separate chapters, the development of the killer. He evolved from the early days of assaulting his victims. But as the rush he got from the act of assaulting his victims lessened, he upped his game to the point where he was killing his victims.
As Mike and Macy work through the clues available surrounding Tobi’s death, the plot thickens (as it usually does, of course). A rash of assaults prior to Tobi’s disappearance as well as unsolved murders after her disappearance quickly become all part of one big investigation. As the case evolves to include different locations and time periods, the past becomes the present when a new victim is discovered. With this discovery, it seems that the killer is now active again and VERY close. I was entrenched, entranced and engaged as the story became more intense and immediate. I just could not put the book down, even for sleep! So much so that for the better part of a couple of days, I devoured this title.
I must say that the path to figuring out who the murderer was (and is) well hidden in the story so that I was surprised when his identity was revealed.
And lest anyone is wondering, there is romance. I like the way that Mike and Macy get to reconnect. Glad to see Macy overcome her shyness about her body after the accident and glad that Mike is such an accepting and persistent guy.
I can’t wait to see if Macy passed her initial case test and is accepted into this elite criminal profiler team with the FBI. Or what will happen with Mike and Macy?
I am ready to continue my journey with the writings of Mary Burton. I can hardly wait for the next installment of the Criminal Profiler series. In the meantime … which title of Ms. Burton’s should I begin with?
