Review: Horribly Unsatisfying.  Lacking in Common Sense and Detail.  Everyone is Stupid!
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
This review will contain spoilers to explain why it was unsatisfying.  I will first begin by saying I have enjoyed Mary Calmes' books in the past.  The most recent ones have been unsatisfying and I hesitated to buy this one because of the last 2 books and the price.At $6.99, I was hopeful and let 2 5-star review seduce me into buying the book.I'm disappointed.  I wasted not only my time in reading the book but also my money.  If there was a way to return it, I would.The book is well written in the sense that someone "edited" it.  It contains no excessive amounts of typos or big spelling or grammatical mistakes.  It's well paragraphed.  Yet, it's stupid.  Someone did not edit the book to make sure it hung together or made any coherent sense.  Not a single character acts with common sense.  It lacks basic research on police procedures.  It's a lot like like A Matter of Time with big tough cop who says, "I wanna be with you,"  "Gotta have you," but speaks normal English otherwise.  Then, there is the spastic younger guy who is always in trouble but lacks any sense to take care of himself.  A loving family.  Sex.  Same mold as A Matter of Time but not as satisfying.A Matter of Time hung together.  Police in that older story did what you would expect police to do.  An independent victim did what would make sense for an independent victim to do.  A person generally tries to save themselves from harm.  Here?  None of that here.In fact, this one is horribly, horribly unsatisfying.  I am willing to suspend belief when reading fiction.  I am not, however, willing to turn off my brain or to ignore what is current knowledge.SPOILERS BELOW . . . SPOILERS BELOW . . .  SPOILERS BELOW . . . SPOILERS BELOW . . . SPOILERS BELOW . . . SPOILERS BELOW . . . SPOILERS BELOW . . . SPOILERS BELOW . . . SPOILERSIt even opens like A Matter of Time with Tracy being chased and shot at.  I was thinking, "okay, familiar but seems exciting.  Excellent!  Let's go."  Well, it went down hill from there.Tracy is attacked twice in San Francisco.  Cord claims he will protect Tracy in San Francisco.  Suddenly, the plan is ridiculous.  Let's take Tracy and a pregnant woman who is almost bombed to smithereens to another State.  Why?  Well, because.  Let's ignore the reality that a San Francisco cop has no authority outside of that city.  Cord is SFPD.  He is not FBI.  Apparently they do not contact the FBI.  A decision is made by somebody to take potential victims out of state . . . for their own protection . . . with only 1 cop.  My brain is protesting the stupidity, but I figured the author would somehow tie things together.  Nope.Let's do no investigation in San Francisco.  Let's not contact the FBI.  Let's not even attempt to protect the potential victims in San Francisco or all of California.  I mean, they did not even try to put them in a safe house in San Francisco.  They don't really DO anything to protect these people in San Francisco.  Heck, they don't even call the FBI.  But somehow it is decided to take two potential murder victims to another state.  Why?  Well, because.Even worse, they do little to no research on Breskin even though he is at the heart of it.  They don't apparently interview him to ask him "who would want to hurt you."  Instead, they take him back to his family, who he has not seen in 18 years when he left because he was gay and his gay boyfriend committed suicide.  Amazingly, they don't find that out until they are in Vermont.Cord explains that the reason to go to Vermont is because the community is small and the house well defended. Well, turns out the house is not well defended and is encroached upon immediately.  The lights do not help with security and someone gets all the way up to the house.  AND, the local police have not investigated all these outsiders who will be working for them because the local police is 4 strong.  Okay?  If the local police is so small, why the heck did Cord bring them all the way from San Francisco!THEN, while Cord says he is going to stay side-by-side with Tracy, he doesn't.  He is constantly leaving.AND, of course, the family home which is supposed to be isolated means, of course, that they have to have a big party.  I was rolling my eyes at the stupid.My brain is screaming at the stupid at this point and I just want the story to end.  The villain is identified as soon as he enters the book.  Everyone sees it, of course, except Tracy.THEN, of course the protagonist, Tracy, has to be really stupid.  He is attacked twice and the woman,Celia almost blown up.  He is in another state to escape the stalker.  He is told a story of how Breskin had a young lover when he was last home who looked amazingly like TRACY.  He is told by Lucien how he loved this young lover and is still grieving him.  That would all be a red flag to a non-stupid person.  But, Tracy has a HUGE helping of the stupid so he doesn't link Lucien to why he's in Vermont in the first place . . . someone is after him and Celia because of something Breskin did.THEN Tracey is specifically told  not go anywhere alone.  So, of course, first chance he gets, he goes out  . . .  alone . . .  while his lover is sleeping . . .  at night . . . to get some water . . .  and they are in a hotel.  There is no water in the hotel room, of course.  No need to use the faucet or wake your lover up.  Of course, Tracy is, of course, kidnapped.  The stupid was hurting quite a bit at this point.And, there is the reason why he goes with the kidnapper?  To save Celia, the woman who cheated with his former lover and got pregnant by him.  This is a woman he met once.  Why would he care that Celia has been captured?  There is no emotional link between them such that he would trade his life for hers.  That she is captured should not have caused him to go with a person with a gun.  He should have yelled and called police so she could be assisted.  Instead, like a lamb to the slaughter, he goes along.  Yet again, he has a HUGE case of stupid.  It was a stupid move.  He did not even try to fight.  He did not try to protect himself or alert anyone.  Just went along.  In a Matter of Time, Jory always fought for his freedom and his life.  Tracy is just . . . well stupid.Later, we learn that Tracy's kidnapper was not a violent man.  Yet, amazingly, he went alone, with a gun, and kidnapped a person.  Why?  Well, we are told someone did him a favor.  Okaaaaaaay!  I guess Tracy is not the only person with the stupids.  Must have been a big favor, right?  No.  The true stalker paid off his gambling debts.  Anyway, kidnapper man is shot right away by the true stalker.  Why?  Why not.Of course, the person who has been stalking Celia and Tracy is the only person who has really talked to Tracy at all.  No mystery there.  The true stalker is easily identified.  I tagged Lucien as soon as he came on the scene.  He gave Tracy every hint of who he is, but Tracy is kinda stupid.Lucien wants to hurt Celia and Tracy in order to make Breskin suffer.  Lucien clearly has the stupids as well.  Why not just kill Breskin?  I mean, Lucien is killing people left and right and setting up these involved scenes with bombs and rabbits.  It hasn't impacted Breskin at all.  If he wanted to hurt Breskin, why not take it directly to Breskin?  After all, Celia was merely a 1 night stand and Breskin does not want her.  They have no relationship at all.  If she dies and the baby dies with her, Breskin is unlikely to care.  Hell, he'd probably be relieved since he is clear that he does not want Celia.  Tracy hasn't been with Breskin for over 4 months and they've, for all intents and purposes, have broken up.  Will Breskin be alarmed that Tracy is hurt?  Probably, but not if he, himself, was hurt.The whole, "I need to hurt Breskin by hurting the people he cares about," makes no sense on the facts presented in the story.  It would have made sense if Lucien had done anything at all, to Breskin.  Lucien set one guy on fire.  He tried to blow up Celia.  He knocked both Celia and Tracy out.  He killed the kidnapper who was helping him.  To Breskin, Lucien does nothing. He wanted to hurt Breskin so bad that nothing happens to Breskin.  Lucien gets to go to jail and Breskin has the life he had before Lucien started killing people.  I guess Lucien also has a case of the STUPIDS.Anyway, the book is finally ending.  Tracy goes with the kidnapper for some reason.  Not to rescue Celia since he did not notify anyone OR bring a weapon.  They are all rescued before being killed, but not before Tracy is shot point blank but is amazingly not hit.  We also learn this is business partner had Tracy followed in Vermont, but yet did nothing to prevent him from being kidnapped, even though the kidnapper walked him through the streets.  Makes sense, right?  No.  If I'm being kidnapped and you're there to help me, how about rescuing me while I am being kidnapped . . . with a gun.Overall, everyone seems tremendously stupid and the author does little to no research on how police put people in protective custody.  She does not research on how police do not cross state lines for this purpose because they lack any form of jurisdiction.  She does not research how police do not put victims at risk by failing to do basic investigation of the people surrounding them.  She ignores the reality that if you're guarding a suspect, you kind of need to be with the person you claim to be guarding.I was insulted by this book a lot.  I hated how much was missing as if the author could not take the time to flush out the basic facts of these types of police mysteries.  Has she not read a book, seen any of the numerous police shows or done any research?  Seems not.  Sending them from San Francisco to Vermont served no purpose except to waste space.Then, to compound the stupidity, Cord is made to say that they'll be taking the killer, Lucien, back to California.  Why?  He killed 1 person there and attempted to kill 2 others.  He admitted to killing 2 in Vermont and was witnessed killing 1 other, as well as attempting to kill 2 others.  Lucien being sent back to California is not a done deal, but since the author does not do research on these types of things, she ignores the details.And, then there is Celia.  An educated, beautiful woman  . . . a surgeon . . . who has a 1 night stay with Breskin.  She gets pregnant, of course, because she's stupid.  She is desperate to be in some relationship with Breskin, a known cheater.  Why?  It's not the 1700s and her being pregnant should not force her to want a man so desperately who does not want her and told her so.  Ugh!  As the book ends, we learn that they will marry.  Tracy catches Breskin cheating on Celia.  Of course.  I guess the author wants to put a karma slam on Celia.  She cheated with Breskin and now he's cheating on her.  I guess I just thought, who cares.  If she cheated with him, of course he is going to cheat.Breskin's only comeuppance is that Tracy finally leaves him, though I was never sure why Breskin wanted Tracy at all.  I never got a sense of why they were together or what they had in common.  Their past relationship is left ambiguous and I had no sense of why Breskin was trying to get Tracy back at all.  Eh!  Another plot hole.  Nonetheless, Breskin is unscathed.  Lucien never tries to kill Breskin, though is primary complaint is against Breskin.  He gets his family back whom he has not seen in 18 year, as well as a wife and a baby.  He apparently gets an open marriage with an understanding wife that he might need some "man loving" every now and again.  LOL  I shook my head at this part.  I mean what self respecting woman would agree to let her husband have sex outside of marriage, as long as he only sexes up the men.  LOL  Forget about him bringing home a disease from the cheating, but the condom broke when he had sex with a person he did not know once.  Chances are, he'll have risky sex again and again and again.  Eh!  The stupid it hurt so much.There's got to be something with Celia to be so desperate to marry this man.As far as we know, Celia does not cheat on Breskin.  Breskin damages lots of lives and continues on, with a child in the mix.  No karma for Breskin unless you consider losing Tracy a big loss.  I didn't since I had no sense why they were together or why Tracy was valued as a relationship partner at all.Overall, it wasn't good.  It was horribly unsatisfying and just horrible.  I tried not to THINK while reading the book because so much of it made little sense.  If it had been a free book, it would have been unsatisfying.  At $6.99 it's a travesty.  It lacks coherency.  It makes no sense given the information readily available to an author about how police protect victims of escalating violence.  I hope the detail helps someone else.I wish I could return the book.  Since I can't, I'll be happy to loan the kindle out to anyone who desires it.  Put your info in a reply.