Did You Miss Me - Karen Rose (2013 Rom Sus Reading Challenge)

Best be nimble, best be quick, I'm right here and you're my pick...
The last thing Ford Elkhart remembers is walking his girlfriend back to her university dormitory. Now he's lying tied and gagged on a cold, dark floor, with only one chance to escape before he ends up like the bones surrounding him...
Assistant State's Attorney Daphne Montgomery is devastated by her son's disappearance, and is immediately convinced that his kidnapping is connected to the white supremacist she's just had jailed for murder. 
FBI Special Agent Joseph Carter isn't so sure - especially when he learns that Ford's girlfriend is also missing. Is Ford's abduction payback for Daphne's courtroom victory? Or is he a pawn in an even more dangerous game?

After enjoying Rose's No One Left to Tell earlier this month I was naturally eager to start her latest one. It is again set in Baltimore and features characters we met in the previous book. I have to confess, though, that this one was a bit of a disappointment.

Daphne Montgomery and Joseph Carter have been attracted to each other for quite some time but due to a series of misunderstandings never acted up on their feelings. However once Daphne is attacked at the end of a complicated trial and her son goes missing, they are quick to realise what each other feels.

Rose is very good at what she does but, to me, it felt that she tried too hard with this one. There's a huge set of secondary characters. I even considered writing down the names of the ones that I think are going to show up in later books as main characters. There are loving families supporting all the action and steadfast friends you can rely upon. Both Daphne and Joseph have past baggage to deal with and, since we know from the start who the killer is, we know what really is going on and how much Daphne's past in driving the action.

The thing is that too many things were happening at the same time. Too many people wanting a piece of Daphne. Sometimes this type of plot works perfectly, and all pieces fall into place in the end but here, I just felt that there was too much going on for it to be believable. 

Then there's the fact that I never warmed up to Daphne. There was plenty of tragedy in her past but the fact that so many bad things happened actually prevented me from feeling for her as I guess I was supposed to have. It also didn't sit well with me that she and Joe couldn't keep their hands off each other after the first chapters... She did have her son missing and possibly dead, after all!!

I did enjoy the bits about Stevie and Clay. I'm looking forward to see what Rose is going to do with them now that a part of their story has already been told. To be honest, despite this less than glowing review, I usually love Rose's books and I can't wait to meet a lot of these characters again.

Grade: 3.5/5

This read counts for the 2013 Romantic Suspense Reading Challenge