Never Look Back
After multiple women go missing, Agent Melina Shepard of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation makes the impulsive decision to go undercover as a prostitute. While working the street, she narrowly avoids becoming a serial killer’s latest victim; as much as it pains her to admit, she needs backup.
Enter lone wolf FBI agent Jerrod Ramsey. Stonewalled by a lack of leads, he and Melina investigate a scene where a little girl has been found abandoned in a crashed vehicle. They open the trunk to reveal a horror show and quickly realize they’re dealing with two serial killers with very different MOs. The whole situation brings back memories for Melina—why does this particular case feel so connected to her painful past?
Before time runs out, Melina must catch not one but two serial killers, both ready to claim another victim—and both with their sights set on her.
MY REVIEW: "Never Look Back" is Book Three in the "Criminal Profilers Series" from master of contemporary romantic suspense, author Mary Burton. An appropriately creepy prologue gives us a chilling look into the mind of a serial killer--and that's just the beginning of this suspenseful race-against-the-clock thriller in which a Tennessee state investigator and an FBI agent must work together to stop a killing spree and solve a mystery. When women who earn their living by walking the streets of Nashville begin to disappear, Reverend Sarah Beckett, who runs "The Mission", a halfway house for prostitutes, calls a friend for help. Melina Shepard, who works for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, doesn't hesitate to go undercover posing as a prostitute while searching for clues to the disappearances. After surviving a too-close call with a serial killer, Melina joins forces with Jerrod Ramsey, and FBI agent who has been chasing this particular killer for years. As the danger around Melina and Jerrod grows, so does the awareness between them. The investigation becomes more complex and more perilous when it becomes clear that there actually two killers at work, and each has Melina in his target sights for his own twisted reasons. Working together as a team, can Jerrod and Melina bring to an end a deadly double reign of terror? They can protect one another's lives, but can they protect their hearts from each other? Mary Burton's suspense thrillers are rich in procedural detail, and "Never Look Back" is entertaining and addictive as the lead characters put their criminal profiler skills to use analyzing those around them--and each other. A highly-recommended series for lovers of top-notch contemporary romantic suspense.
Book Copy Gratis Author
I See You
FBI special agent Zoe Spencer uses skeletal remains to recreate the faces of murder victims through sculpture. Though highly scientific, the process is also sensitive and intimate; she becomes attached to the individuals she identifies, desperate to find justice for each.
As Zoe examines old remains, she sees a teenage girl looking back at her—the victim in a cold case from over a decade ago. Zoe wants nothing more than to tell this young woman’s story and to bring her killer to justice.
Zoe’s case leads her to the victim’s hometown and to homicide detective William Vaughan, Zoe’s on-again, off-again lover. As the two become more involved in the case, they quickly realize that it isn’t as cold as they first believed: someone’s still out there hunting women. And with more women gone missing, time’s running out. Can they work together and stop this madman before he kills again?
MY REVIEW: Author Mary Burton continues her thrilling "Criminal Profiler Series" with Book #2, "I See You". A tip to an investigative journalist leads to the discovery of skeletal remains from an almost twenty-year old crime. Forensic artist and FBI Special Agent Zoe Spencer uses her skills and intuition to recreate the image of the victim through an eerily life-like sculpture. When Zoe's boss recognizes the face as that of a young college student who had vanished without a trace all those years ago, a tumultuous chain of events will follow. Zoe is reconnected with Detective William Vaughan, whom she had first met when he was a student at one of her training seminars. A mutual attraction had led to a casual involvement. When more violence against women occurs, and the old case is linked with the new crimes, Zoe and William must work together to stop a killer. The more time they spend together, the more their appreciation and awareness of each other grows--could it lead to more than a brief affair? Author Mary Burton has a way of drawing readers into her stories that keeps the pages turning, and when one story ends, you can't wait for the next one to begin. "I See You" is highly recommended for lovers of romantic suspense and top-notch police procedural thrillers.
Book Copy Gratis Author
Hide and Seek
She’s hunting. He’s watching.
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?
“In this gripping sequel to Cut and Run…Burton delivers an irresistible, tension-filled plot with plenty of twists. The characters resonate with an intimate, small-town feel, and the tender romance between Macy and Mike complements the plot nicely. Lovers of romantic thrillers won’t be disappointed.” —Publishers Weekly
ALSO BY MARY BURTON
Cut and Run
Twin sisters separated by the past are reunited by unspeakable crimes in New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton’s throat-clutching novel of suspense…
Trauma victims are not new to medical examiner Faith McIntyre, but this one is different. The unconscious woman clinging to life after a hit and run is FBI agent Macy Crow. What the woman from Quantico was doing in a dark alley after midnight is just one mystery. The other is more unsettling: Macy is Faith’s mirror image—the twin sister she never knew she had.
Faith knew that she was adopted, but now she’s finding that her childhood concealed other secrets. Following the trail of clues Macy left behind, Faith and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden make a shocking discovery on an isolated country ranch—a burial ground for three women who disappeared thirty years before.
They weren’t the only victims in a killer’s twisted plot. And they won’t be the last.
As the missing pieces of Faith’s and Macy’s dark lives snap into place, Faith is becoming more terrified by what she sees—and by what she must do to save her sister and herself from the past.
“Burton can always be counted on for her smart heroines and tightly woven plots.” —For the Love of Books
“Must-read romantic suspense…Burton is a bona-fide suspense superstar. And her books may be peppered with enough twists and turns to give you whiplash, but the simmering romance she builds makes for such a compelling, well-rounded story.” —USA Today’s Happy Ever After
Mary Burton
Mary Burton, whose latest book, Never Look Back, her most recent Criminal Profiler novel, loves writing suspense, getting to know her characters, keeping up with law enforcement and forensic procedure, morning walks, baking, and tiny dachshunds. She also enjoys hunting down serial killers, which she does in her New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels. She is a 2019 Montlake Romance Diamond Award winner signifying she’s reached one million readers. Library Journal has compared her work to that of Lisa Jackson and Lisa Gardner, and Fresh Fiction has likened her writing to that of James Patterson.
Mary is routinely featured among the top ten writers in Amazon’s Author Rankings for romantic suspense. Upon publication, her books, including her recent titles I See You, Hide and Seek, Cut and Run and Her Last Word, consistently rank high on the Kindle eBooks Store Bestseller List.
Research is a favorite part of Mary’s workday. She never tires of delving into police work, evidence collection and analysis. She’s known for taking a hands-on approach, whether it means interviews with professionals in the field, forensic seminars or lessons at the firing range.
A Richmond native, Mary has lived there for most of her life. She’s a graduate of Virginia’s Hollins University and worked in marketing before she began writing full time. Her first book was published in 2000. Today she’s the author of thirty-three published novels and five novellas as Mary Burton and six works of contemporary fiction as Mary Ellen Taylor, including her recent Winter Cottage and Spring House and upcoming Honeysuckle Season. She’s co-editor, with novelist Mary Miley, of Deadly Southern Charm, A Lethal Ladies Mystery Anthology.
A member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Novelists, Inc., and Romance Writers of America, Mary is known for creating multiple suspense stories connected by characters and/or place.
Though she enjoys traveling for research and visiting readers at festivals, reader conferences and other book events, she remains very much a homebody. There she and her husband spend time alternately enjoying their empty nest and spoiling their four-legged babies Buddy, Bella and Tiki.
http://www.maryburton.com/
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