Review: The Collection Girls (Emily Slate #2) by Alex Sigmore

                                                        

Print Length: 260 pages

Publisher: Eric Warren Author, LLC (July 7, 2022)

From Goodreads.com:  When a federal judge’s daughter goes missing without a trace, it will be up to recently-reinstated FBI agent Emily Slate to find her. Only Emily doesn’t realize what dangers lurk at the edges of this unique case.

Special Agent Emily Slate is a woman on the hunt. After returning home from the town of Stillwater, she’s more haunted than ever. Ghosts she thought she’d laid to rest have suddenly reared their heads, and the only person who can answer her questions has disappeared.

Meanwhile, a Federal Judge’s daughter is reported missing and it’s up to Emily to find her. As she dives into the case, she discovers a clever and twisted mind working against her and every minute that passes could mean it’s too late for his victims.

Emily will need all the help she can get if she hopes to find the person responsible and bring them to justice. And if doing so means bending the rules just so no more people get hurt, she can live with that.

  

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

This story was so hard for me to get into. To begin with, Emily and Zara do not come across as seasoned FBI Agents, nor do they come across as very competent detectives. Sure, they figure out who the bad guy is, but then they go in without any backup whatsoever which (once again) leads to someone being injured. I get it, there are always risks in this line of work, but the risks these two take are just ridiculous. 

Even if we don't take that into consideration, there is also the time when they have someone who at the very least is making himself look suspicious by refusing to cooperate, and after they strong-arm him into cooperating, they allow him to go through the files they want to access. At one point Emily even asks him what he's doing since Zara ( a supposed expert who just came from being a computer analyst) couldn't get in without his help. I guess it's a good thing for Emily that Anuz was actually a jerk, but not the killer as he could have easily deleted the files they needed with them being none the wiser. 

If you need further proof of Emily's blatant disregard for her own safety there is also the fact that she not only signs up for the same rideshare company that the killer used to abduct the victim, but she also gives the driver her exact home address. Why not a home close to hers? Or better yet a store she could walk home from? Anywhere but her actual home. It's like she wants to make it easy for killers to find her. 

Added to that the ridiculous side plots of Emily using FBI resources to try and find a mysterious woman who she believes murdered her husband (and is pretty confident murdered the suspect in her last case) and another agent trying to blackmail her into giving him the collar once they find the suspect in their kidnapping case or he's going to run and tattle on her. Which of course he did when he was too busy chasing the wrong suspect, and instead of skirting the truth just a little bit and admitting that she was chasing a lead that this woman was responsible for the death of the suspect in her last case, she admits to doing it for purely personal reasons. Way to throw away all of the hard work you've put forth since you last fell out of favor with your boss lady. 

As of right now, I am taking a break from this series as I don't think I could handle another "thriller" novel that isn't very thrilling. But who knows, I may come back at a later date, maybe skip ahead a couple of books and see if the story picks up by then.