I’ll wager that J.D. Allen’s ’19 Souls’ will become a sleeper hit. What starts off as a simple noir-style tale involving a low-key private eye soon devolves into a dark, twisted and nail-biting thriller in which our PI just battle not only his inner demons, but also a monstrously chilling serial killer.

Alcoholic investigator Jim Beam gets a call from a prospective client, who wants him to find her “missing” brother Daniel, or so she claims.

What sets ’19 Souls’ apart is just how quickly the excuse of the missing brother is dismissed. We almost instantly find out that a woman named Sophie Evers called Beam, claiming to be sister. In fact, she called Beam after she murdered Daniel’s sister.

It turns out dear Sophie is dangerously obsessed with Daniel, and has been since they were kids. It was to avoid her that Daniel drops off the radar, but Jim Beam unwittingly leads her to him.

We find out that Sophie, who is completely disconnected from reality, has honed her skills as a killer over several years and numerous victims.

Once Jim Beam realizes his tragic error, he signs up with local law enforcement and the FBI, and with his own team of helpers, tries to bring down Sophie through an elaborate cat-and-mouse.

Jim Beam is a compelling character with a tragic past. A once recruit for the FBI, a false accusation of rape derails his career and murders his self-esteem — he is always one bottle of scotch away from self-destruction.

While his back story is never clearly explained, there are enough hints and more to whet the reader’s appetite, and the fact that there will be more books in the series is a tantalizing prospect.

But the true star of the story is the villain, Sophie Evers. The character is meticulously crafted and scary as fuck. A true psychopath, she has no conscience and kills at will to further her cause, which in this case is to abduct Daniel and break him down into falling in love with her.

And anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross her path is disposed of with a shocking lack of compunction.

Her unhinged battle with her mind to her psychotic obsession with the affable Daniel, and her elaborate and deadly schemes to get closer to the “object of her affection”, and Jim Beam’s blundering quest to stop her, make this a superbly engaging thriller.

A killer hires a Private Investigator to look for her target, cool right? Well, not if you're Cynthia, wait, I mean, Elizabeth, no I'm talking about Sophie. Yeah, Sophie hires Mr. Bean to look for Dan and this begins a trip down memory lane which at some point includes intrusion from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
I received an uncorrected proof from NetGalley and aside from the grammatical mistakes, and the formatting, this turned out to be quite an interesting read because I had no idea what Sophie had planned and why she killed. It made her both reckless and dangerous.
It's been an interesting read no doubt.

This book had one very determined stalker who went to great lengths to find her prey - Dan - a boy from her past. Sophie was beautiful and deadly a great combination for a thriller. Jim Bean as the private investigator was a pretty cut and dry character who gets tangled with Sophie. He's definitely in over his head rather quickly. A thriller that kept me turning the pages until the conclusion. You find yourself waiting for Sophie to strike and knowing it's coming. Wait for it, wait for it.

An interesting concept with vivid characters. I personally found it difficult to connect with our villain, but did enjoy the character Jim Bean, thoroughly. Disturbing and intriguing are the best words I can find to describe this novel.

3.5/5 Stars.

Jim Bean is a private investigator that is hired by Sophie Ryan Evers to find her "brother" Danny, who is really the man she has been obsessed with since her childhood. Sophie goes to extremes to find and capture her "true love" including killing the 19 Souls.

I enjoyed the fast pace and well developed characters is this novel. The author did a great job with Sophie's fractured psyche and using her point of view to see just how damaged she was.

There were plenty of twists and turns throughout the book to keep it very interesting and was also kept simple enough to make them easy to follow. I look forward to reading more of the series!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC for a fair and honest review.

19 Souls is a unique book among the mystery/thriller genre. What sets it apart is the main killer/villain is a woman. This was interesting and I loved the author for writing this unique and spellbinding novel. I won't give out much more spoilers, except to say that it was well laid out, the plot was good, and it was fast paced. I loved it!

Fast-paced gripping thriller about a woman who will just not take no for an answer! Interesting well-written plot and interesting characters. Should be a great series to read in the future. I also liked that it was from the point of view of a private investigator rather than a police officer which was a switch from the norm. The killer is identified immediately so the story is more about her being a total psychopath and trying to stop her rather than figuring out who the killer is. Interesting! Good ending too! Definitely will read the sequel!

This was an interesting and well-paced crime story, not quite what I was expecting, but good anyhow. I enjoyed the point of view from a PI, too, not a cop, as well as having a female serial killer. I'm not sure the ending quite lived up to the rest of the book, but overall, it was a good read.

This book was soooo good!!!! I couldn't put it down! Will definitely be buying copies for the store! Way to go!!!!

This book quickly grabbed me and sucked me in. I really enjoyed the characters. I found myself easily picturing Jim and O and Annie and Ely, the lady fbi, and they were enjoyable. I'm dying of curiousity about Jim and his background, and what cases he will be handling in the future, I'd love to see more of O too. I liked how the point of view shifted to Sophia and her thoughts too.

I don't know if it was my copy, I downloaded it twice to my kindle, but at the start of the ending action, the passages and stuff got messed up, right this moment I have no idea in my head what happened, I don't know how it went down. I know what happened based on the after the fact mention, but not the details. That really sucked for me.

Other than that, I can't wait to see if there will be a #2, it's a series I could get behind I believe.

Jim Bean is a Private Investigator. A woman hires him to find her brother, Daniel ... only he isn't really her brother. Sophie Evers is a stalker and Daniel is the man she's been stalking for many years. He keeps changing his name and location in order to avoid her.

But Sophie is nothing if not persistent. Sophie is also a killer .. and she will stop at nothing to get the man she loves. She has killed many people and stolen from others to put together the perfect life for her and Daniel... even if it means keeping him in chains.

A local detective is brought in, as well as a lady FBI Agent who puts Daniel and his mother in a safe house. But just how safe is a safe house? There's also a bounty hunter involved and a friend of Bean's who is an expert on the computer.

Bean is mortified that he fell for Sophie's lies and put a decent man in mortal danger. He implants himself in the middle of the search for Sophie trying to set things right.

This is a great story premise. The characters are engaging and I love the humorous interactions between them. The suspense is riveting and the ending explosive!

Many thanks to the author / Midnight Ink / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Very effective, psychologically astute crime novel with truly creepy female serial killer. The men she rapes (although I'm not sure how, and I'm not being funny) suffer for it, and it's all in the quest of psycho-pathological forms of love, really . I like Jim Bean who is the PI, hearty fellow who loves a drink and probably women - but he admires fellow female FBI agent for being strong and resolute. When I realised it's a female writer I guess I understood why it all felt pretty right! Good plot with diabolical criminal and great characterisations of a family, a dysfunctional mother and good sense of place. Entertaining and gripping!

Jim Bean is a PI from Vegas. He has few friends and a cat. The limited friends are due to his lack of trust, so I guess the cat is representative of the softness inside that tough exterior. In this book, which appears to be the first in a series titled "Sin City Investigation" we meet Jim Bean's few friends which are "O" short for Oscar. The man who ladies love and apparently sounds like Sam Elliot. No wonder they like him! Ely, who cat sits Annie when Jim travels and is also able to find information for Jim when needed. We meet Sandy, the one woman he trusts. She is a waitress at this "usual" spot. He dislikes the food, but I guess he is just a creature of habit. In this first case in which we join Jim and his "friends", he hired to find Dan for his sister. Simple enough, huh? We know whom the killer is from the very beginning, so this is more of a cat and mouse story in which the mouse is very cunning and ruthless. I thoroughly enjoyed the character development of Jim and his friends. I am sure we will learn more in future books. I sure am hoping for future books. While his friendships are not the closest, you can tell he truly cares about those he calls friends. The writing style was enjoyable and I read in the course of two days. I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book it wasn't for me but once again thank you very much for allowing me to read this.

3.5 stars. This book is about an obsessed female who is pretty much out of her mind. We start off with Sophie killing a woman and stealing identity. She then hires Jim, a private detective, to find the dead woman’s brother the object of her obsession. I liked Jim, he life revolves around his job. As he starts the hunt for Daniel, the missing brother, he notices things are not right with the "sister". I found nothing likable/redeemable about Sophie. Sometimes you can relate the bad guy/girl, but not her. She is just a crazy sociopath IMO. There are a cast of secondary characters that I liked. I will be looking forward to the next book in the series.

A highly enjoyable read about a Vegas P.I. who takes a case which is not what if appears. Great characters and a good pace. Can't wait to read more in this new series

PRELIM REVIEW: I'm only about 10% into the book -- and I'm fully aware that this is a draft -- but am finding the grammar so horrible that I can't believe it's been edited AT ALL. After half a dozen times of the editors using the word "lose" (as in "...he stands to lose a lot...") when describing clothing that was "loose" (as in "...she liked loose jeans..."), I'd finally gotten aggravated to the point where I needed to take a break from reading the book. Seriously?? Are proof-readers now so ignorant of grammar that they neglect to catch ANY of those errors? You publishers would be wise to actually hire proof-readers with at least rudimentary grammar skills. Just sayin'...

This fast-paced thriller pulls you in from the first page, holds you tight, and never lets go. This is the first book in the promising new Sin City Investigation series, featuring PI Jim Bean. The plot is really not very complex, but the characters are. The author does a pretty good job of developing the main characters so that the reader feels more engaged in the story. There are also minor characters that pop up along the way that are quite interesting and add a lot of depth to the storyline.

Jim is hired by Sophie Evers under false pretenses. She is claiming to be a woman looking for her drug addicted brother. However, Sophie is not at all what or who she claims to be. In fact, you will discover that she is a psychopath who gets off on adding to her body count. Jim Bean is a pretty astute PI. Although it's usually no concern to a man in his business, Jim soon senses that the pieces to the puzzle don't fit quite right. He develops a sense of duty to track Sophie down and prevent her from achieving her ultimate goal. As Sophie becomes more reckless and more bodies stack up, Jim and the LEOs involved are in a race against time to put a stop to this sophisticated killer. The conclusion is somewhat predictable yet satisfying. I look forward to the next installment in the Sin City Investigation series.

I would recommend this book to fans of thrillers and suspense. I received this as a free ARC from Midnight Ink on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.