Review: A Forgotten Kill (Daniela Vega, #2) by Isabella Maldonado

                                                    

Print Length: 361 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (March 26, 2024)

From Goodreads.com: FBI Special Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega was seventeen when her mother murdered her father. Ten years after Dani’s own damning eyewitness testimony sealed her mother’s fate, she’s starting to have doubts. What if she got it all wrong? A veteran NYPD homicide detective agrees to reopen the closed case on one condition―Dani must help him find a serial killer who’s been operating throughout New York City for the past decade. If anyone can decipher his patterns, and his riddles, it’s a trained codebreaker like Dani. 

The killer knows this too. And his next riddle―and victim―are meant just for her. For Dani, stopping a killer―and learning what really happened to her father―becomes more personal and more dangerous with each new twist. As secrets of the past are unearthed, the truth could forever change Dani’s life…and the lives of everyone she loves.

  

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

I had the same problem with this one that I had with the first in this series. Dani is portrayed as some kind of cross between a super computer and wonder woman. Meaning she can solve pretty much anything (a complex world phrase clue using cryptograms no problem, or a numerical password that the answer needs to be given within a minute , she's got it). But not only that, when it comes to getting physical? She can best anyone whether it be three hired thugs, or a serial killer who has operates for years without being caught. 

And honestly, is no one talking about how there was a serial killer operating in New York for YEARS using the same M.O. but despite all of the other "high tech" equipment they seem to possess, these different boroughs were incapable of uploading information into the database that would have clued them all in to murders happening under their noses? And yet it takes Dani all of one night to see a random pattern and connect them all?

But of course, she has these skills because of her time in the Army as a Ranger. A fact that was repeated so often throughout the course of the novel that it lost all meaning. Dani is just unlikable. From the first to the last. She's too perfect, even when she makes mistakes. And that becomes a problem for the reader (at least for this reader). Three men attacked her, and yet she bested all of them with no real repercussions? Could she not have a sprained ankle/wrist or a black-eye that inhibited her in some way? 

To give credit where it is due, the reveal of who was behind it was a bit of a surprise, and I was excited to see where that went considering how much of the book was left when it happened. But then he too, despite having no training whatsoever became a master of everything. 

At this point, my experience with this author indicates their stories are mostly written as trilogies. And I don't know if I'm going to finish out this one or not. I feel like one of the main storylines was satisfactorily closed, so I'm not sure where the author could even take this character in the future. 

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