She Treads Softly: Don't Open the Door

Friday, January 20, 2023

Don't Open the Door

Don't Open the Door by Allison Brennan
1/24/23; 384 pages
MIRA Books
Regan Merritt #2

Don't Open the Door by Allison Brennan is a very highly recommended mystery/thriller/procedural and the second book in the series featuring Regan Merritt.

Regan Merritt has left the US Marshals and her ex-husband, Grant after the murder of their ten-year-old son, Chase, and moved to Arizona. When her former boss, US Marshal Tommy Granger, is shot and killed after contacting her claiming he had new information about Chase’s murder, Regan returns to Virginia. She plans to investigate what happened to Tommy and what new information he had uncovered in his investigation into Chase's murder. As Regan begins to look into what happened and tries to meet with Grant, it becomes clear quite quickly that there is a whole lot more going on and someone wants to stop any questions or additional investigations into.

Don't Open the Door is a wonderfully written complicated mystery/thriller/ procedural that will quickly pull you into the plot and hold your attention throughout. Although it is the second novel featuring Regan Merritt, the first is The Sorority Murder, I feel that it can work as a standalone. There is enough background information to bring readers up to speed quickly. (You might want to read it, however, because it is a very good novel.)

Regan is a fully realized character and you will support her in her search for truth and justice. It is unimaginable to have to deal with the murder of a child, but as Regan discovers more information and it seems that there are insiders involved, she isn't sure who she can trust. Her level-headed reaction to information is a perfect character trait. The FBI's involvement makes it worse and more complicated. There are numerous characters but they are all easy to keep track of within the context of the narrative.

The pace is quick throughout with short chapters to keep things moving as the twists keep coming in the developing investigation. The plot is riveting; full of twists, danger, suspense, and surprising information. Regan is a great character as she takes information in and processes what it means. Don't Open the Door is a novel you won't want to miss.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of MIRA.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.