Book Review: I Can See You by Karen Rose

Review of I Can See You by Karen Rose

Synopsis:

Detectives Jack Phelps and Noah Webster of Minneapolis Homicide Department or "Hat Squad" are media darlings. Magazine covers with Detective Jack Phelps and glowing articles on their joint accomplishments have added turned up the tension on their already complex jobs. Phelps is distracted by his growing celebrity status while Webster becomes increasingly certain that several deaths that been classified as "suicides" may occupy the press for a day or so.

Homicide detective Noah Webster of Minneapolis notices that two recent suicides are disturbingly similar. Acting on a hunch, he determines that the deaths were murders not homicides. As he and his partner Jack Phelps review recent "suicides", it becomes apparent that a serial killer seems to be targeting women. Webster and Phelps face the added pressure of increased media scrutiny with the recent positive press given to the Minneapolis Homicide Detectives.

Eva Wilson survived two violent attacks that left her disfigured. It's taken her years to go back to school and build a life. But her current study involving the addictive power of online communities is dragging her into danger. Eva isn't supposed to know the identities of her test subjects, but the sudden spate of deaths among her heaviest users leads Eva to get involved despite the risk.

Detective Webster had been interested in Eva Wilson, even before her reconstructive surgery. When she turns up at two murder scenes on the same day, Webster looks for her connection to the victims. Eventually, Detective Webster and Eva Wilson work together to search for missing women and stop the criminal before he kills again.

Review:

I Can See You strikes me as a book that would appeal equally to thriller lovers and romance lovers because of the strength of Karen Rose's writing.

Carefully crafted, the characters are nuanced and complex. Eva and Noah both have such strong and sympathetic personalities that the action and suspense scenes build on their personalities and those of the people around them. But the Even the villains are fully developed while Karen Rose keeps their identities carefully hidden. Karen Rose builds the tension steadily so that as you get anxious, you can't bear to put the book down. I found that the computer and internet angle helped the book. The action/thriller side helped the romance while the romance helped build the tension.

This is my first Karen Rose novel, and I'm off to look for her earlier books!

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (August 5, 2009), 496 pages.
Courtesy of Hatchette Books Group.

Read an excerpt of I Can See You.

The book will be available tomorrow, August 5, 2009.

Thanks so much Miriam and Hatchette Books Group for this opportunity!