The Body Reader

If you're looking for an in depth character analysis of a person who's been through heavy trauma caused by captivity, captor bonding, Stockholm Syndrome and how that changes a person this is the book for you.

If you're looking for a good detective, investigation and procedural book this ain't it.

Through out the whole book I felt like the writer decided to focus on the main protagonist and forgot the rest. Jude has depth, but this story doesn't. Most of the plot doesn't make sense, the twists are way predictable and the big case they build throughout the book is just a reflex of Judy herself.

Strong, interesting female lead. Twists and turns that kept me reading ; finished it in one day! Already snapped up the other 2 in the series so I can binge them as well. First book I've read by this author and I'll be checking out everything else she's written asap

This book starts out intense. We are literally thrown in and just... wow. What a hook. 

I enjoyed reading this book. The mystery is there and it is really interesting. I didn't see the ending or the culprits coming at all. This is more thriller and suspense than mystery, in that regard. It is dark and gritty.

The thing is, it did slow down for me and lose my attention at times. I'm not really interested in reading the next book – I might if there is a buddy read of it going on, but on my own? meh.
It should also be mentioned though that the body reading is done at a minimum, and mostly mentioned about how she can read her partner. 

Not a bad book, but not completely memorable either. 

This was pretty damn hard to put down.

Detective Jude Fontaine escaped a 3-year captivity after overpowering her captor and making a run for it. But she was not the same person anymore. Everything about her and her life before she was kidnapped has changed - she was replaced at work, her boyfriend was seeing another woman, she was a cold shell of the happy normal person she used to be. And she gained a new ability, a bit of a super-heightened sense in smell and the ability to read body language.

Despite being plucked out of a situation and dumped into another, Jude coped and bounced back. She returned to the force and was given a new partner Detective Uriah Ashby, who had reservations on whether or not she should return to work at all. They immediately get thrown into a new case, which of course has some kind of connection to both Jude's secret personal history and recent kidnapping. All this and how it eventually wrapped up is a little too convenient, but the writing is good and pulls you along to the next page. You really want to find out what happens to Jude and whether or not she is truly safe.

The great part about The Body Reader is that you have characters who have been through hell and are stronger for it, despite moments of human weakness. Both Jude and Uriah are compelling characters. Their partnership had a rocky start, but Uriah started to care and Jude started allowing someone to care. This didn't lead to any romance, thankfully, because that would have been way too cliche.

I'm interested in read more from this author if The Body Reader isn't just one sample of a formulaic plot.

I don't feel like this review did the book justice, but if you're a fan of thrillers, this is a pretty good bet.

This digital copy was courtesy of NetGalley.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Fantastic read! I finished in 2 days!