Mary Burton

At the grisly murder scene of a teen prostitute, Virginia state trooper Riley Tatum's past roars back to haunt her. When she was a teenage runaway, she was kidnapped, drugged, and left unconscious on the streets. She has no memories of what happened, only strange recurring dreams of two men playing cards. Former FBI agent Clay Bowman, Riley's old flame, is Shield Security's newest member. He's plagued by the unsolved case of a serial killer nicknamed the Shark who murdered girls as part of a sadistic poker game. Only one girl survived. With the Shark now bent on evening that score, Clay has a chilling suspicion: Riley is the girl who escaped the Shark's deadly amusement--and she is his next prey. As the Shark gets ready to play his hand, can Riley and Clay stop him--or will this killer finally claim the one who got away?

The Shark

Riley Tatum is the only survivor of an encounter with "The Shark," a poker player who uses women as stakes in his poker games.  She has no memory of that time, but when young women are being taken off the streets and killed, their bodies found with playing cards in their pockets, Riley knows that "The Shark" is back.  Clay Bowman crossed paths with Riley as her tracking instructor, and she hoped that their one night together would lead to something more, but the time wasn't right as Clay was still dealing with the grief over the death of his wife.  Now he is back as a member of Shield Security, helping to investigate the recent murders, and he has no intention of letting Riley slip through his fingers again.

The premise of the serial killer in The Shark is interesting and makes for a good set up for this book and makes for a good mystery, however, it isn't very difficult to figure out who the culprits are by the end of the book. Riley and Clay both have lots of baggage, and we learn a lot about their them from their interactions with the other people in their lives. Their romance is kept on the back burner for most of the story, making this less of a romance and more about the suspense.  There is enough here to hold the interest of the reader, but the story is a let down by the end.  Overall, The Shark, has a good premise but doesn't really live up to expectation. 

Lynn Braden

Riley Tatum is the only survivor of an encounter with "The Shark," a poker player who uses women as stakes in his poker games.  She has no memory of that time, but when young women are being taken off the streets and killed, their bodies found with playing cards in their pockets, Riley knows that "The Shark" is back.  Clay Bowman crossed paths with Riley as her tracking instructor, and she hoped that their one night together would lead to something more, but the time wasn't right as Clay was still dealing with the grief over the death of his wife.  Now he is back as a member of Shield Security, helping to investigate the recent murders, and he has no intention of letting Riley slip through his fingers again.

The premise of the serial killer in The Shark is interesting and makes for a good set up for this book and makes for a good mystery, however, it isn't very difficult to figure out who the culprits are by the end of the book. Riley and Clay both have lots of baggage, and we learn a lot about their them from their interactions with the other people in their lives. Their romance is kept on the back burner for most of the story, making this less of a romance and more about the suspense.  There is enough here to hold the interest of the reader, but the story is a let down by the end.  Overall, The Shark, has a good premise but doesn't really live up to expectation. 

The only reason I am giving this a 3 instead of 4 or 5 is the because the story kept being broken by the uneccessary sex scenes. These scenes kept interrupting the pace of the story line and I just had to keep skipping to get to get back to the story. I don't mind the backstory of the relationship. just the detailed sex was, imho, very unnecessary to the story.

Otherwise, written well and entertaining.

The Shark

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