Review: Next Girl to Die (The Calderwood Cases, #1) by Dea Poirier

Print Length: 300 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (May 1, 2019)

From Goodreads.com: Solving the case will avenge her sister—unless the killer finds her first.

It’s been fifteen years since Claire Calderwood’s sister, Rachel, was brutally murdered in their small hometown in Maine. Claire has finally carved out a life for herself as a homicide detective in Detroit, but the past comes calling when the local police back home ask for her help with a murder eerily similar to Rachel’s.

Still haunted by Rachel’s cold case, Claire returns home, hoping to solve the crime and finally put her grief to rest. As she starts investigating, the last thing she needs is tenacious journalist Noah Washington asking questions she’s not ready to answer. But like her, Noah won’t give up until he finds the truth—and Claire reluctantly finds herself relying on him more and more when disturbing new details about Rachel’s death come to light.

When the killer strikes once again, Claire knows he’s not done. Now he’s set his sights on Claire, who will have to find the courage she needs to survive a deadly confrontation years in the making.

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

The premise, along with the first couple of chapters had me excited for this story. Unfortunately, this story was just too choppy to hold my interest. I feel like another round of edits would have done wonders in helping with the flow. For example, Claire has a job in Detroit when she gets the phone call saying she is needed back in her hometown. The next thing the reader knows she is back on the island, having her furniture and her car delivered to her. What happened to where she was living in Detroit? What happened to her job there? Did she resign? Take a leave of absence? 

There are other instances where she meets with characters in one location, and then the next page over is running into them in a completely different area of the island with seemingly no time having passed in between. It became very frustrating to have to go back to try and see if I missed something only to realize it was never there to begin with. 

Even the final showdown with the killer left me feeling less than impressed. I don't feel like we ever got their motivation. Sure, we get a very generic answer, as well as the initial catalyst, but not what was so specific to each girl. What they had done specifically to be targeted by this killer and for those reasons. 

If I had to sum it up in one word it would be lackluster. However, I do see potential in this author and this series, so I would give them another chance when the second book comes out. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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                                   Next Girl to Die is available from Amazon.com