Review: The Killer Instinct (Detective Margot Phalen Series #3) by Kate Wiley

                                                            

Print Length: 311 pages

Publisher: Storm Publishing (October 28, 2024)

From Goodreads.com: When bodies keep appearing in the tranquil Muir Woods, California, and a woman is killed in Chinatown, Margot begins to realize these are no ordinary homicides. The eerie similarities to her infamous father's crimes send chills down her spine. But Ed’s been behind bars for years now – surely he couldn’t mastermind this from his cell, could he?

As evidence mounts – a bloodied image of Ed’s first target found in a victim’s home, stab wounds that match Ed’s trademark pattern – Margot uncovers a sinister obsession that hits far too close to home. She must use all her skills to outwit a killer who seems to know her history better than she does.

To solve this case, she’ll need to confront the dark secrets of her past, and face her worst that she may be more like her father than she ever dared imagine.

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Let me bring by saying that although this is the third book in this series, it can easily be read as a stand alone. In fact, I have not read either of the prior two novels and I had no trouble understanding the characters in this one and their relationships to one another. 

Now before I get into my review, as this was an advanced reader copy, I am going to talk about the mistakes that I found while reading the novel. Please keep in mind that these mistakes may have been found and corrected prior to release, but I am reviewing the copy that I was given, hence I will be speaking on them. 

The first comes in Chapter 19 when Ed refers to his daughter as Margot. This is not her birth name (that was Megan), but rather the name that she took after he was arrested so he would have no way of knowing that. Based on information that happens later on in the novel, at first I was inclined to believe maybe this hadn't been a mistake but when I went back to look I realized it must have been as neither Margot nor the other agent with her had any reaction to him calling her by that name. 

Then in Chapter 22, Margot tells the FBI task force team (who supposedly know Ed better than anyone else except maybe her), about a man named Jim. She tells him that he was a friend of her father's from work, but that Ed spent so much time with him that she and her brother referred to him as "Uncle Jim". Only for some reason, these highly-trained FBI agents are suddenly incapable of understanding English because they ask her who Jim is considering she had no biological uncle (nor an uncle through marriage) named Jim. This causes Margot to once again repeat the information that his man was merely a friend of her fathers that she called Uncle Jim. It made me wonder how these agents could be tasked with solving anything if they did not understand her the first time around. 

The final mistake I found came in Chapter 39 when Margot thinks back on a letter she read that had been sent (but marked as undelivered due to the content) to Ed wondering if he would have remembered it. Which led me to wonder how could he possibly remember a letter that he never received? 

Now that I've spoken on those things (that again may be corrected before the final print), I can talk about the rest of this novel. 

Let's start with the characters. Margot was a neurotic mess (but with good reason). And while I could completely understand why she never stuck to a routine of any kind (going so far as to take alternate routes home), it became tiring to hear about. Yes, I know you don't usually eat IN at restaurants preferring delivery (that she makes her doorman call in for her). Yes, I know that Sebastian the reporter, and her collogues at work (a few of them anyway) are some of the few people in her life. I got that message the first time it was delivered, so to have it constantly mentioned felt like a bit of a slap to my intelligence. I liked her partner Wes  more, the way he seemed to be able to counter some of her moods made for a good balance against her intense personality. I harder a harder time with Andrew, the FBI Agent who was constantly pushing her to see her father in jail. He had to know the kind of toll it was taking on her, and while I understand his reasoning, when it was clear that Ed played games more than he gave them anything useful, if I were Andrew, I wouldn't have been so quick to jump when Ed demanded it. 

But what really killed this one for me was the plot. Throughout this story we are treated to three different story-lines happening at once. First we have the dead women found in Muir Woods, then a brutal murder in Chinatown. And while Margot should be focused on these cases, she is also constantly being pulled off to either speak with Ed in prison, or go speak to the FBI team dedicated to him. Now I know a lot of authors who would be able to seamlessly weave these together without an issue, sadly, I did not find that to be the case here. For starters, the meetings with Ed contributed nothing to the current cases (which is both funny and disappointing considering how things eventually turn out), except put Margot off her game, distracting her with memories of Ed. 

As for the investigations? Yes. One of them is solved. But the other? Is not. And while I suppose the author might be intending to use this as the main plot point in the next book, I'm not sure that I enjoyed this one enough to read another to find out. 

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.