Say You’re
Sorry by Karen Rose will keep readers
guessing and thinking. It has thrills, suspense, psychological
analyses, and a bit of romance. People are kept at the edge
of their seats by a story that delves into intense subjects
such as cults, pedophiles, torture, abuse, alcohol dependency,
anxiety attacks, and PTSD.
"I
enjoyed writing the scenes with the dogs. Brutus is a therapy
dog. I got a lot of the ideas from one of my editors that
trains therapy dogs. I wrote the scenes with Brutus because
I want readers to understand what a true service dog does.
Daisy has her dog to help her with anxiety and keep it under
control, so it doesn't become a threat to her sobriety. We
are even giving away some stuffed Brutus' at the conferences.
I am losing my hearing, so I am looking for a service dog
of my own. Hopefully, one like Brutus. My younger daughter
is deaf, and her anxiety comes from her disability. Recently,
she was followed, which scared her and me. It is nerve racking
that as a deaf person anyone can sneak up to her at any time.
We have been talking about getting her a service dog as well."
Although
the first novel in a new series, it draws on characters from
the Baltimore series. The heroine, Daisy Dawson, should be
recognizable to those readers who have read Rose in the past.
She is a cross-over character whose story is told front and
center in this debut. Having moved to Sacramento, she is confronted
by a disguised gunman who pulls her into an alley. Instead
of fleeing she uses the skills taught by her dad. As the attacker
bolts, Daisy pulls a locket off his neck. A good friend, Sacramento
PD Detective Rafe Sokolov, comes to her rescue and brings
his old friend, FBI Special Agent Gideon Reynolds. After doing
some investigating it becomes clear this attacker is actually
a serial killer who preys on young women. Knowing she needs
a defender, Reynolds is asked to be a part of her protection
detail. For him, it is personal, since he recognized the locket's
significance. The cult forces teenage women to wear these
lockets after marrying them young. Together Daisy and Gabriel
are determined to stop this vicious killer and find the cult
he escaped from.
"This
is a serial killer who has been hanging around in my head
for about five years. He is a person that is capable of monstrous
deeds. To make a villain believable, they must not be cardboard
cutouts like Snidely Whiplash who just twirls his mustache
and goes wah-ha-ha. They have to have a vulnerability, something
they care about. This killer had a messed-up childhood. I
wanted to explore why others like the hero Gideon who has
a horrific childhood do not become killers. I am fascinated
why some do, and some do not. I have to tell you a funny story.
I met a man on an airplane who is a private pilot that combined
charter services and corporation timeshares. As he talked
about all these places he visited in such a short period of
time, I looked at him and said, ‘you would make a perfect
serial killer because there is no pattern.' He looked at me
and became very upset. I told him I write thriller novels,
but he still did not speak with me the rest of the flight."
Both
the hero and heroine are mending from emotional problems.
She is a recovering alcoholic that has anxiety, while he wrestles
with his memories of the cult’s abuse. Daisy was forced
to live a sheltered and isolated life by her father who believed
her sister, Taylor was being hunted. Daisy must come to grips
with her father for uprooting their lives. She gravitates
towards Gideon because he too is trying to come to grips with
his past. When he was a young child, his mother got involved
with a cult that advocated forced marriages as soon as a young
girl turned twelve and welded a locket around her neck which
claimed ownership of her. Boys at thirteen were considered
men and began apprenticeships which also included pedophilia.
Gideon was nearly beaten to death after he objected and killed
the man who was trying to rape him. He barely escaped with
his life.
Although this book is 600+ pages, there are a lot of moving
parts from start to finish. Yet, it's an amazingly fast read
given the size of the book, since these pages are jam-packed
with wall-to-wall action and heart-stopping, page-turning
suspense. Say You’re Sorry is something Karen Rose will
not have to do with this debut novel of her new series because
she has written a riveting and thrilling novel.
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