Bad Moon Rising - Katherine Sutcliffe

WHAT IS A MAN'S WORST NIGHTMARE?


Once, J. D. Damascus had a wife and two children who were the light of his life. He was the most feared assistant district attorney in New Orleans. Now, four years later, he's a man on the verge of a breakdown. A down-and-out lawyer barely scraping by since the vicious slaying of his family by the notorious French Quarter killer. Damascus is certain that the wrong man was convicted and executed for his family's deaths. And his fears come to pass when the French Quarter killer returns, and a new killing spree begins.

HOW DOES A WOMAN ESCAPE HER PAST?

Holly Jones escaped the dangerous red-light district, but her best friend wasn't so lucky. When Holly hears that the French Quarter killer is alive and again prowling the streets, she risks her life to save her friend from becoming his next victim. Confronted by a police department intent on keeping the serial killer's resurrection from becoming public knowledge, Holly is forced to turn to Damascus for help.

Holly and Damascus must join forces to end the nightmare once and for all. But each of them has secrets - some forgivable, some not - that could jeopardize their hunt...

Another thriller that I dug up from the TBR pile, Bad Moon Rising is the story of JD Damascus, a former DA assistant and now an attorney fallen on hard times and Holly Jones, a former hooker who managed to leave that life behind and now comes back to find her missing friend Melissa who may be the latest victim of a serial killer.

The serial killer that has been targeting hookers on the streets of New Orleans use the same MO than the murderer who a few years back had killed a bunch of prostitutes and JD's wife and kids. Although a man was executed for the crime JD never believed he was the real criminal. His guilt over the death of his family and his doubts about justice having been done has kept him drinking steadily and made him lost all his clients.

When JD and Holly meet they don't exactly like each other but eventually they reach a compromise and decide to look for Melissa together. They are both damaged characters and although you could guess that Holly had had a pretty tough life for a while it seemed JD was the one with the most problems. I felt that she was definitely the stronger character.

I really did like that this was a very fast paced story. Something was always happening, we were kept in suspense and there's a twist about who Holly really is that I did not see coming. However I thought that the romance could have had a more solid development, they fall to the attraction too fast (to me anyway) and Holly's past definitely suggested that they might need more time to build a relationship. I think that JD's problems with his family could also have been better developed... the relationship with his father and brother could have been better explained and his sister in law was quite annoying, always following him around. One thing I did not understand is why he was always so patient with her and never told her no. Oh, and another thing that could have been better developed is the mob storyline, they were a part of the story but in the end it felt that they had no real purpose...

Still, it made for an entertaining read and now I'm rereading my review and thinking that I am being too harsh because I did enjoy it. It just wasn't as solid a read as I was expecting.

Grade: 4/5