Review: You Are Next (Claire Wolfe, #3) by Jamie Millen

    

Print Length:  368 pages

Publisher: Kindle Direct Publishing (March 7, 2022)

From Goodreads.com: A fatal attack shatters Claire Wolfe ’s dreams of a new life in Quantico. A twisted serial killer is hunting FBI agents and has her unlucky victims begging for death.

With her fiancé , Special Agent Robert Cline, and forensic profiler , Dr. Sally Fleischer, Claire makes a startling discovery. This ruthless murderess has a deadly secret …and more names on her list.

But Claire’s warnings go unheeded. Caught between hostile investigators, hardened criminals, and her narcissistic future mother-in-law , Claire must cross every red line to outsmart this criminal mastermind .

With time running out in this gripping psychological thriller and police procedural page-turner, Claire strikes a deal with the devil and faces an impossible decision. To stop this monster, must she sacrifice the man she loves?

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My Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5

Considering this was the third book in the series, I was hoping to see something new from this author. The premise of an female assassin who went to such dark and twisted lengths to achieve her goals had me hooked.  But then the author reverted to what I will now call the dead horse, because they sure like to beat this plot into the ground. 

Narcissistic mother? Check. Although this time it was Rob's mother and given his history and knowledge of her trying to gaslight him to get her own way it was both remarkable that he would be that gullible, and unbelievable that he would fall for her schemes to the point he was unconsciously choosing her over Claire and the life they were supposed to be building together. 

Two supposedly well-trained FBI agents doing stupid things? Check and check. I mean seriously? Both Rob and Claire know that their lives are at stake, yet they are constantly leaving their firearms upstairs when at home instead of keeping them on them? Yeah, its annoying to constantly have a sidearm strapped to you, especially in the one place where you should be safe, but given the alternative? 

Then again, I don't know what I expected from Rob considering there came a point in the story where it was absolutely vital to both his survival and Claire's that he disappear, yet not only is her former colleague Jess showing up at one of the most obvious places every day (something I was very surprised the killer missed), but he also couldn't help himself from tagging along when it came time for Claire to actually execute the plan. 

Finally we get to what appears to be the big reveal. Something that I know the author intended as a shocking twist, but was so preposterous that it angered me more than shocked me. The second reveal later on to me was more shocking than that one was. But alas, the second reveal made it clear that this author is not yet done beathing the horse, so if there are more stories within this series, I doubt I will read them. However, if I see a new series, or a new standalone novel from this author, I would probably give that a chance.