Review: Scared to Death

Scared to Death by Rachel Amphlett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Snatched this up for 99 ct. (Euro) than I got the daily email from the Fussy Librarian informing me of the bargain. Spur-of-the-moment-buy, blurb sounded interesting, takes place in the (as of yet pre-BREXIT, still united) UK, and was endorsed by Robert Bryndza, while I normally ignore popular authors endorsing, sometimes even condemning such endorsed books to the "never-read-never-buy" list (from S. King, J. Patterson I cannot believe people buy these to be real), I needed no more convincing to buy this, and the price was just right for a new author. Female heroine!

Starts as a page-turner. And keeps that pace, although some of it is by the numbers.
So far, I will say, the endorsement by Robert Bryndza is correct, pushes quite a few buttons for me: strong heroine with a bad incident in her (just happened) past, UK, up-to-date technology-wise, she is in a normal relationship with a man, romance is ok, but plays so far not big role in the story, which is ok for me.

Throw in bullying and a twist I did not see coming after the 50% mark, a place where some books, even from well-known and (by me) respected authors drag.
The twist adds a theme I really like, with hints of the saw movies, hard to tell without spoiling anything.

The writing is appealing to me, comparable to the following authors / series, bearing in mind, that it is set in the UK (as of yet with BREXIT voted for and looming, but not negotiated). Some expressions might seem strange to US-American used readers.
For fans of these series (Author - Heroine):

Angela Marsons - Kim Stone
Robert Bryndza - Detective Erika Foster
M.J. Arlidge - DI Helen Grace
Celina Grace - Kate Redman (too much romance and not strong enough heroine for me)
Griffiths, Elly - Ruth Galloway (must admit, I have only read the first book yet)
Robert Dugoni - Tracy Crosswhite

Which also means, if you know yet only some of these and really like them, I would guess, you might like the others, too.
Though I would have stopped reading the Kate Redman series, but I subscribed to an email newletter by the author and was invited to write a review for an arc and I also was informed by the author when a book is cheap for short time.

Finished it yesterday evening/this morning in bed just after midnight.
All loose ends where solved, some a little to neat, and one to many family ties.
After the case a nice ending with a good idea.
Length was just right for me, but some may find it too short, but the normal price of the book should be just right for that length, I think.

Recommended, 5 stars for the beginning of a good series, hopefully the next book(s) are as good as this. Already bought the second book.

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