Notes from Hell
Rachel Bukey
Mystery
When Seattle Times reporter Ann Dexter scores an interview with Franco Albanese, rock star of the modern opera world, she is thrilled. Don Giovanni in art, Don Juan in life, this charismatic man easily charms all women he meets, including Ann. But when Franco is kidnapped and Ann is contacted by the kidnapper who wants her to publish the truth about Franco, she launches her own investigation into his past exploits. Ann interviews a cast of characters from Franco’s life including former lovers, a jealous husband and a young opera singer whose star is on the rise.
Armed with new information and determined to rescue Franco, Ann must use her wits to deal with an adversary whose grasp on reality evaporates almost as quickly as Ann’s strategies to escape. In a thrilling climax, Ann gets one chance to free the opera singer from his hellish imprisonment. Will she take it?
Notes from Hell is a carefully crafted mystery of intrigue and suspense, packed with operatic drama and passion.
Uncaged Review: I’m not a mystery reader and I don’t read heavily in this genre, but I have to say this was a really well written read. Ann is a reporter that is normally stuck on the education circuit, and when she gets the chance to interview the opera star, Franco, she jumps at it. When Franco is kidnapped, and Ann starts getting cryptic messages, she cooperates with the police, but also does her own investigation on the sly.
The nice thing about the book, is that Ann is not written as a superhero, she’s written as a strong, smart female lead that is believable and likeable and the author does a good job with the whole cast of characters, and there are quite a few to keep track of. It slows down a bit in spots, but it gets right back into storyline without dragging down the story.
Nothing was overly surprising to me, but it had an ending I didn’t really expect, and a nice epilogue-ish final chapter. This is the second book in the series, but it reads well as a standalone. Reviewed by Cyrene
4 Stars
