She Treads Softly: You'll Never Find Me

Saturday, June 15, 2024

You'll Never Find Me

You'll Never Find Me by Allison Brennan
6/25/24; 400 pages
MIRA Books
Angelhart Investigations#1

You'll Never Find Me by Allison Brennan is a highly recommended start to a new Private Investigator series, Angelhart Investigations.

Margo Angelhart is working as a PI on her own after a disagreement with her mother left her estranged from her family's PI business. The disagreement is based on her father's pleading guilty and subsequent imprisonment over a crime she is sure he didn't commit. In the first case she helps Annie and her two children escape from an abusive situation. The situation becomes threatening because the husband, Peter, is a state trooper, dangerous, and he is determined to get Annie back.

The second case starts out as a simple investigation into a cheating husband, Logan, but turns into a much more complicated situation when Margo and her siblings with the Angelhart firm discover they are both looking at Logan and Jennifer White, a former employee. Angelhart Investigations, however, is working on a corporate espionage investigation where privileged information has been copied. The people involved in both cases seemed to be tied into something much bigger than a cheating husband, especially when a third PI firm is following one of the people involved. The whole case is much more complicated than anyone initially thought and Margo consents to work together with her family to untangle the investigative threads.

Set in Phoenix, Arizona, this is a page turner that will hold your attention. Events unfold as they occur with no flashbacks or forwards, which helps increase the tension and suspense. Savvy readers may be able to quickly figure out what events are leading to, but the discoveries and facts are interesting to follow. The cheating husband investigation was a bit annoying because the client, Brittany, is annoying. Once the plot moved beyond that, it was more complicated and more entertaining. The family drama intermixed with the investigations adds a whole new layer to the intricate plot.

As expected, the writing is very good in this new series as Brennan introduces all new characters. The members of the Angelhart family are interesting and they are all multi-dimensional characters but I's expect much more development and depth in them as the series continues. Margo is a fully realized character and a great PI. It will be satisfying and enjoyable to see more of her, along with her brother Jack, in the future. Thanks to Mira Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.