Abandoned - Cody McFadyen

[goodreads]

Title: Abandoned (Smoky Barrett #4)
Author: Cody McFadyen
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 441
Date read: October, 2017

For FBI Special Agent Smoky Barrett, her colleague’s wedding is cause for celebration. Until a woman staggers down the aisle—incoherent, wearing only a white nightgown. A fingerprint check determines that she’s been missing for nearly eight years. Her coldly efficient captor toyed with her mind and body, imprisoning her, depriving her of any contact with the outside world. As Smoky fits together the pieces of what remains of the victim’s fractured life, a chilling picture emerges of a cerebral psychopath who doesn’t take murder personally, never makes a mistake, follows his own sinister logic, and has set the perfect trap.


Definitely the darkest of the lot as well as the weakest of the lot, and though there is one more book in the series, I think I'm done with it now.

This book was really slow to start - as in, it took me almost to page 100 to be thoroughly hooked. But then the action finally took off, and the rest of the book was a true page-turner. I was fascinated by the profiling of the latest serial killer, but have to admit that Cody McFadyen took some very dark turns that I really didn't care for.

Also, having a male write from a female POV is always risky, and there were certain descriptions of Smokey's personality and thought-processes that rang utterly false and "male-fantasy-ish"... her grooming habits especially - she loves shaving her legs every day? Really?! There were a few other examples also, but this was the most grating one.

The killer's motivation didn't ring true to me either, which made for a bit of a disappointing ending. It still made for a good enough read, but fell flat when compared to the earlier books in the series.