WOW! An Unsettled Grave grabbed my attention from the very beginning. Well-developed characters and a captivating storyline make this a must-read.

Synopsis:
Before being promoted to detective, Carrie Santero was given a rare glimpse into the mind of a killer. Through her mentor, Jacob Rein—a seasoned manhunter whose gift for plumbing the depths of madness nearly drove him over the brink—she was able to help capture one of the most depraved serial killers in the country. Now, the discovery of a small human foot buried in the Pennsylvania woods will lead her to a decades-old cold case—and the darkest secrets of her mentor’s youth.

This one was great. It grabbed my attention from the very beginning and didn’t slow down. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy mystery/thriller type books.

Unputdownable and fast, with a good dose of chill inducing vibes, this book is a perfect pick for readers of this genre.

Exciting second book in Santero/Rein series

This is another great addition to this series after THE THIEF OF ALL LIGHT. Carrie Santero is now a detective for Vieira County, Pennsylvania, promoted after the events in the first book.

This story actually is about two crimes - one about a man who poses as a cop (or is he a cop) as a way to stop women and molest them. The main part of the story is about the remains of a child recently found even though she disappeared in 1981.

Jacob Rein, the man who has helped mentor Carrie, knew the young girl back then and was friends with her. Part of the story switches back to 1981, being told from Rein's point of view.

I am enjoying this series. The characters seem authentic and the story has a few surprises. I am now off to read book three BLOOD ANGEL.

I received this book from Kensington Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

This is the second in the series and I had not read the first. However, within a few pages into this book I ordered the first one. It is an interesting pairing between Carrie and Jacob Rein. You get his back story from chiildhood but doin’t know what has recently happened to him (probably will learn it in the first book) The characters and story were enjoyable, My only complaint was that it all wrapped up a bit to quickly..

This is a fantastic one! I dig detective thriller books and this does not disappoint. The second in the Santero and Rein detective thrillers-stand alone. His books are always well written and a fast pace. I love the author's perspective on policing, developed through his years as a police detective.

The past doesn't stay buried in this fast-paced police procedural/crime fiction novel. It kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish with its well-developed characters and interesting plotline. It's the second book in the series but I didn't really feel lost.
Definitely recommend.

*Possible trigger warning: rape scene*

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or remuneration.

In this second book in this series by Bernard Schaffer, Carrie Santero is a full-fledged detective after solving an incredibly vile case. Carrie then worked with a former detective, Jacob Rein, who remains her mentor, even though he is highly disillusioned and really down on his luck.

The case Carrie is working on is a cold one. A foot was found, and it looks like it might belong to a young girl who went missing thirty years ago. At first Carrie approaches Jacob for help, and then realizes she must head to a small town. In so doing, Jacob's past is unearthed. Carrie learns all about a young boy, J.D. Rein, and discovers the connection the little girl lost so many years ago.

Carrie leaves no stone unturned, and reveals some disturbing and shattering evidence. Discovering a connection between Jacob and the formerly missing girl raised a lot of questions. However, Carrie showed remarkable integrity and ingenuity in solving this case.

Even though An Unsettled Grave is the second book in a series, it does remarkably well as a standalone. However, I did read the first book, The Thief of All Light, first as I wanted to become familiar with the primary characters. I generally read books in one sitting, including both of these, back-to-back. I was thoroughly entertained, even with the often gritty delivery as things played out.

I admire the writing style of Bernard Schaffer. His brilliance and honesty in the sometimes less-than-perfect police force shines. Another effective thing in this book was the determination showed by Carrie. I like how her character is written, and also how her past shaped her into the person she is now. I look forward to following this series in the future.

Many thanks to Kensington Publishing and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

Everyone has a past, something that you'd rather not share with anyone. A story that should stay untold.
Bernard Schaffer has given us another story with his well defined, well developed cast of characters. As they work together to solve the current crimes, one of them will be exposed when our heroine digs into a cold case that could be connected. The story is VERY good, plan on reading all afternoon and evening when you pick this one up.

A solid police procedural, the book had me in its grips from the get-go. The story dealt with a cold case. 30 years ago, a girl went missing and a foot was found in the present times. Carrie Santero with her mentor Jacob Stein were back investigating the case which had haunted Jacob for decades.

My first book by author Bernard Schaffer, this was a follow up of the previous book, but I did not have a problem following the story. This was a new case altogether. The author had maintained the tension in the scenes so that kept my interest going.

Donning my Detective hat is always a favorite past time for me. This book too allowed me to look at everyone with suspicious eyes. The initial writing felt a bit choppy, but that could be because I didn't know the characters. The mystery was creepy, the perp anonymous. I went into the story blindly and found myself enjoying the ride into unknown territories of cops.

Although this book is fast-paced and just interesting enough to keep the reader's attention, I found at times that it bounced around, shifting not only time frames but character points of view without warning. This occasionally made it difficult to keep up with what was going on. I also wish there had been a bit more to the backstory of Santero and Rein (which I'm guessing was revealed mostly in book number one). I couldn't help but feel as though without even a glimpse into these two and their odd relationship that I was missing out on something.

There were a few other key points that missed the mark for me as well, just in the overall execution of this story. However, I would give this series another chance just to see how this odd duo continues to move forward. I'm also interested to see how Santero grows as a character as right now I see her making too many waves and not enough friends.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

5 Shining Detective Stars/5!!

“An Unsettled Grave” is a crime fiction novel that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way till the end. I just loved everything about it! The well-developed characters, the never dull plot, and the captivating and descriptive writing. Bernard Schaffer is a master at writing crime stories and I am looking forward to reading more of his books.

Thank you NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and the author, talented Bernard Schaffer, for giving me an opportunity to read an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Monica was stopped by a policeman on a lonely country road late one night. Then she was raped by the policeman. Carrie, the sole female county detective, is dispatched to handle the case. When she ruffles the local police force by asking for “voluntary” DNA swabs, Carrie is reassigned to a new case by her politically motivated Chief in An Unsettled Grave.

Old bones of a child are dug up by a hunting dog in the rural Liston-Patterson, Pennsylvania. Hope was twelve years old in 1981 when she went missing. As the only child that age unaccounted for in the small town, the bones are likely hers. When Carrie finds evidence of the crime overlooked at the time in old case files, she decides to solve the crime. The town’s police chief just wants to provide closure for the parents—not reopen old wounds. Carrie also learns of the deaths of both of the town’s police chiefs within a day of Hope’s disappearance. Is it a coincidence? Carrie thinks not and so also investigates those deaths, labeled at the time as a suicide and a shooting by a motorcycle gang.

An Unsettled Grave is unsettling but it is also an exceptional police procedural. It flashes back to 1981 to show the reader what happened while alternating with how Carrie is using evidence to prove it today almost forty years later. You can tell it was written by a former police officer. Carrie is frustrated by politics and apathy making her job more difficult.

The story has larger themes too. Post-Traumatic Stress from the Vietnam War is almost another character in the novel. It impacts two major characters from 1981 resulting in divergent methods to handle it back in the “real world”. Bullying is described in both the present and 1981.

While the story ties into the previous book in the series, this book can easily be read as a standalone. If you love police procedurals, you must read An Unsettled Grave. It is not only my favorite police procedural this year but of all time! It is a gritty and authentic take on police work and a great mystery to boot. 5 stars!

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Excellent psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! Well-developed characters and plot. Highly recommend!

A very interesting story. It starts out with the rape of a woman along a dark road and then escalates from there. Some old secrets come to light and Carrie is put into a position to right some old wrongs. Jacob has some old secrets that he has kept close but now have to come out. And Carrie is the one to expose them. All for the good. I haven't read the first story in this series, but I am very interested in seeing how Carrie and Jacob started out together. Good story.

An Uncommon Grave by Bernard Schaffer
Santero and Rein #2

Carrie Santero, recently promoted to detective is still not considered “equal” by the men she works with. Many assume she is not really capable and has achieved her promotion based on something other than her competency. In this book we learn more about Carie, the little girl in her life and how she goes about solving cases. We also see Jacob Rein again a few times both in the present and in a story line that takes us back thirty years to when he was twelve and living in a very dysfunctional family situation.

There are two criminal cases to be solved by Carrie in this book. One has to do with a rapist pulling women to the side of the road then violating them and the other crime is a missing person cold case that she picks up when the foot bones of a young girl are found in the forest. It is assumed the girl is Hope Pugh, missing thirty years, but then there is the mystery of how she died and what happened to her.

Jacob Rein is a mysterious character that seems able to get into the minds of criminals in order to catch them. He has spent time in jail for something I have a feeling he has probably not done. In this book we learn more about his childhood, some of his childhood friends, a young girl that disappeared and of his father and uncle and their part in his life. At around forty-two years of age Jacob has a lot of years left to accomplish much so I am hoping he will get his life back on track so he can officially assist in finding more bad guys in the future.

I was definitely taken back in time by mention of the Vietnam War in which Jacob’s father and uncle both served. That the two men came out so different at the end of their time in the service probably has to do with the jobs they held. I believe the two men cared for one another more than either told the other. Their part in this book was...very interesting.

I came away from this book satisfied that the bad guys were eventually caught but still wanting to know more about Santero and Rein and that means I am eager to read more by this author as soon as a new book is available. I found myself thinking about how a person can be bigger than life to people in theirr community and yet in reality they are not heroes at all. This was a thought provoking book. It made me think of the cop that pulled me over and hinted at taking me on a date and of another story...one in which my sister-in-law was pulled over by a policeman on her way to Wyoming...on a stretch where women were going missing...and when my brother woke in the back seat the policeman who pulled her over let them drive on. I know there will soon be another crime for Carrie and Jacob to work on and look forward to finding out what it will be. I am also eager to find out more about the backstories of both characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

I have thoroughly enjoyed Carrie Santero and Jacob Rein. An Unsettled Grave is the second in this series but is stand alone. This is a complex plot well concealed, a police procedural that takes place in the scarcely populated area where Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio come together. Lines for jurisdiction are vague, towns are tiny, and the farm-driven economy keeps everyone close to home. Sharing personnel, equipment, and blame across county boundaries and even state lines is the accepted norm. Carrie is a new recruit in the Vieira County detectives working under the aegis of the District Attorney's office. She is young, and female - the first in this position - and it is hard for the older residents and lawmen to accept that she got this rank, this job, on merit. She knows along with the learning curve there is also going to be the necessity to prove her worth in order to acquire respect.

Low man on the totem pole, she is into her fourth straight week on-call when she is sent to the neighboring town's hospital in the dark hours of the morning to handle a rape case, the perpetrator believed by the victim to be a policeman. She has made little headway on that case when a group of hunters finds the skeletal foot of a child and all Fire and Police personnel are involved in a search of the forested mountainside for the rest of the remains. Almost everyone is certain these are the bones of Hope Pugh, a 12-year-old girl who disappeared thirty years ago, the same week two of the towns lost their Chiefs of Police. And the disappearance of Hope is closer to the heart of the wide-spread communities than it first appears. Basically everyone still around is a potential suspect. That grouping would also include several of their men in blue. Even Jacob Rein.

I loved the little asides and snippets of police lore and even some unfortunate realities of the job included in this fine novel. Because he is on the job, there is an authenticity to this novel that shines through the work, but whatever the genre, Bernard Schaffer writes a finely honed tale that grabs your mind and involves your humanity in a way I found excellent. There is a reality here that you do not often find in this genre.

I am pleased to recommend this work to friends and family. Schaffer is an author I will follow.

I received a free electronic copy of this police procedural from Netgalley, Bernard Schaffer, and Kensington Books. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

Carrie Santero is an intelligent woman and a good cop. The last thing she expected when she took on a cold case is that it would open a box of worms about her mentor Jacob Rein. Those who read the first book (don't worry- this works as a standalone) know that Santero and Rein worked a case with a serial killer. We got a good sense of the relationship between the partners and about Carrie but not so much about Rein. This is his story in many ways. As before, Carrie has to deal with challenges with her recalcitrant colleagues and with Rein himself. What does the disappearance of a girl, the murder of a police officer, and the suicide of another thirty years ago have to do with events today? More than anyone, including Rein himself, thought. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Less over the top than the last one (I appreciated that) and Schaffer's law enforcement background shines through.

It doesn't happen to me often where I can't put a book down and when life makes you stop reading, you can't wait to go back. This book had me thinking about it when I couldn't read, it had me totally enthralled. An amazing book