I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion. Sam Jazz is a detective who is working a difficult case with the help of her partner, Lang, and her ex, Wade. I like the way the three worked together. There are some twist and turns throughout this suspenseful thriller. I enjoyed it, very much

I found this book so interesting and entertaining. This is a different style of book than you may expect from Ms Jones. This one is more thriller/mystery/crime genre than her other books that have suspense, mystery and drama with a personal relationship involving the hero and heroine. Samantha Jazz is a police officer who has been tasked with finding a killer who leaves a calling card in the form of a poem on the victim. She feels she knows who it might be. Samantha is very versed in poetry and feels it will help her with this case. I found myself pulled into the story wanting to know what would happen next, who did it and whether Samantha will be able to stop the killer.

I voluntarily read an ARC of this book.

If you're looking for a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this is it! Detective Samantha Jazz has much to prove to her squad after the murder of her last Captain happened right in front of her, and since that Captain had been her father, who has since been outed as a "dirty cop", the stakes are high for her. Now she and her partner Lang have been given a murder to solve that turns into a serial killer. Dubbed "the Poet", the killer sets his sights on Detective Jazz and lures her into playing his game. As Samantha begins to question herself and her instincts, Lang and her "boyfriend" Wade, who is in the FBI, try to help her in sorting things out. The twists in the chase make for a thrilling storyline where the past can come back to haunt you in mysterious ways. The characters in the book all played off each other very well, Samantha is a strong-willed and outspoken woman, who s ometimes leads with her guts instead of her brain, Lang is her protective partner who can also get in her face when needed, and Wade is supportive of Samantha's job and hopes to entice her away to the FBI. A well-written book that pulls you into the characters and the need to find "The Poet" before he strikes again! All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC: Amara for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. #NetGalley #ThePoet

I love the murder/mystery type books that this author writes. This one was a bit slower for me to get into, but as usual the writing was incredible and the characters were both likeable and relatable for me. I enjoyed the banter between Samantha Jazz and Detective Lang and it quite often made me laugh out loud while reading. It appeared that the author did her homework on this type of book which left me with a quite enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book, I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

If you enjoy Murder/Mystery/Suspense books, then you will love this one.

We have the prologue to start us off with. Is the killer one of the kids that we briefly meet? All will be revealed, be patient.

Detective Samantha Jazz has being assigned to a serial killer case, it wasn’t hers to start off with, but the detective on this case has been relocated! (I know, strange right?)
The reason why Jazz gets the case, her love of poetry (I’m already shouting at my kindle, YOUR GOING TO BE THE TARGET)

We get both sides of the story in this book (the killer and the detective) and I liked that idea, so often it’s just kill or apprehend the killer and then he/she is carted off....
So to see inside the killers mind made for a different angle.

So...... We have a serial killer who likes to leave poems for the police. Is there a significance to the type of poem? Are the victims known to one another? And why does Jazz have a feeling she’s going to be a critical piece of this puzzle?!

I was so engrossed in trying to figure out who The Poet was along with Jazz that I didn’t want to put the book down. Thank goodness my kindle was fully charged!
I also liked the secondary characters, Detective Lang made me chuckle at some of his comments, and her grandfather was just lovely.

I will admit that the prologue did help a little with figuring out who the killer was, but as we didn't have a name to go on, we could only put the clues together, and that’s how I couldn’t put the book down, you know it’s on the end of your tongue, it’s almost at the front of your mind, you need just one more piece of the puzzle and your done.

It’s a really well thought out and executed book. The authors attention to detail is very precise, we get all the process, and you feel like your working alongside the police. Very much like a CSI episode.

Oh, and by the way, this would make a great movie.

And rumour has it, Detective Samantha Jazz is a first book in a new series. Keeping my fingers crossed, love a strong and intelligent woman.

This book had me caught in its web from the second that I picked it up. It is a thrill of a ride that will keep you reading and guessing until you get to the end. It moves along at a great pace, making for an excellent read. You will love these characters and you want to see them succeed no matter what. The story will keep you reading till the end and will not let you go. This is a book that needs to be read, no doubt about it.

This is another side to Lisa Renee Jones. If you are familiar with her work, you know that she enjoys writing romamntic suspense. The Poet is definitely full of suspense but does not include the romantic aspect. Samantha Jazz is a detective in the Austin Police Department. She entered law enforcement to follow in her fathers footsteps. Throughout the book, Sam is taunted by a killer whose calling card is poetry. Poetry plays a significant role in life. And the killer knows this. She’s intelligent mixed with a bit of a feisty tenacity that can sometimes get het into situations that could end her career.
The Poet is an intensive thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Full of edgy twists and turns, The Poet makes you believe that people are not always who they appear to be. The investigators, the victims, and other supporting characters have their own secrets whether they are revealed or kept within the realm of your own imagination. There is also a complexity to this story that has you second guessing what you believe to be true for not only the killer but the investigators as well. 5 Thrilling Must Read Stars
I received an advance copy from Netgally in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and we’re not influenced by the author or her promotional team.

Omg!!!
I absolutely adored every second of this book. It was the exact mind bender of a book that this self proclaimed suspense junkie needed.
I haven't read this author in a few years, and definitely won't be making that mistake again, this book definitely reminded me of why I loved her so much when I first started reading suspense ebooks.
This book may be huge, but I wouldn't change a sinsingle moment.
This wasn't a romance, and I think that's one reason why I loved it even more.
The characters, plot and abundance of red herrings will keep you on the edge of your seat from cover to cover.
Cannot wait to see what happens next in the series.
Would give more stars if I could.

The Poet is a thought-provoking thriller/mystery that not only keeps you on your toes but challenges you with puzzling poems. Lisa Renee Jones gives readers a serial killer thriller that is intellectual, mysterious, and alluring.

The story follows Detective Samantha Jazz as she is assigned the case of stopping a serial killer she calls The Poet. We really get to know some of Samantha's past and we also get to see her in her everyday life which really helped us understand her character and thought process. Readers also learn that her background in poetry is what helped her become the lead detective on the case.

The Poet is a serial killer that can't be stopped. Why is he called 'the Poet' you ask? Well, he leaves poems in his victims and challenges the police to try and figure them out.

Lisa Renee Jones made this thriller interesting by making a connection between Detective Jazz and The Poet. The Poet is smart, heartless, and conniving. These murders are like a game to him and yet he finds a way to justify his doings. I like that this book is full of poems that make you want to figure out their purpose. That made the story really engaging. I did think that the ending was a bit expected and wished there could have been a more complex reveal.

I give The Poet 4 stars. I think this is a good take on a serial killer thriller and the authors writing along with puzzling poems made the story so engaging. I enjoy reading Lisa Renee Jones and definitely want to read more of her work.

If you’re looking for a page turner that’s smart and haunting look no further. The plot is fiendishly clever, and unexpected with twists and turns, and shocks along the way just as you think you know where the story is headed. A pure non stop adrenaline rush from beginning to end. If you’re looking for a cat and mouse thriller that brings plenty of chills, this one’s for you.

This was such an experience, I was absolutely engrossed, sucked into this incredibly intricate, captivating, thrilling story. I had no clue where the story was going to take me but I was in for the ride!! And Gahh, the anticipation of what was to come with each chapter just hooked me into the story more and more. I loved getting to try to use my detective skills when it came to trying to figure out the connection between these characters would be at the conclusion of this book and WOW, what a surprise it was. But that’s what I both expect and need from this author. I don’t want the usual and Lisa Renee Jones delivers impeccably once more.

A real intense, addictive, page turner! An emotionally gripping book that I won’t soon forget. This five star read will blow you away. So lock your doors and windows,and sit in the corner as you read this one, because The Poet is watching, he’s judging, and some will be judged unworthy!

Received an early copy for a honest review.

The Poet is the first book in a new romantic suspense series by this author. She’s a new-to-me author in the sense that I’ve never read any of her books, but I’ve seen her name around a good bit, and I’m a huge romantic suspense junkie, and the blurb sounded pretty amazing, so I jumped right in. Too bad I chose to do that at 9 pm.

Samantha Jazz is our complex heroine. She’s reeling from her father’s recent death and has a lot of emotional events surrounding that death that are pulling at her. She’s a no-nonsense detective, so she’s desperately trying to compartmentalize it all and find this insane serial killer. Assisting her are her partner, Lang, and her fairly recent ex, Wade. There were moments where I thought maybe her relationship with Lang would go differently, but I was happy to see that it didn’t change trajectory in the end. And Wade is just swoony. Lucky gal to have both of these men care about her. I would love to see Lang get his own book, though. Something about him reminded me of Don Johnson’s character, Crockett, on Miami Vice. I was pretty young when I watched that show, probably too young for its content, so that that memory might be a bit through rose-colored glasses, but alas, Lang did appear in my head as a young Don Johnson. Not sure what that says about me, but there it s.

The story’s prologue had me a bit confused, and I wondered if I was going to be able to enjoy the book, but chapter one pulled me in from the get-go. When I finally reached the end of the story (because there was no way I could put it down for something as trivial as sleep), I realized this story had quite literally kept me up almost the entire night. As an avid (rabid??) romantic suspense reader, I’m pretty picky about those stories having to meet high standards in order for me to say that I love them. At 4:45 am, it was easy to say that The Poet met, then proceeded to exceed some of my high standards. The timeline isn’t quite 100% linear, but that’s a very effective writing strategy to build the mystery and anticipation in good romantic suspense. And I couldn’t quite figure out our villain’s identity before it was revealed, which is a very good thing. Suffice it to say that I’m very much looking forward to what comes next in this series.

NICUnurse’s Rating: I give The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones 4.5 out of 5 stars!

4.5 stars

Detective Samantha Jazz is called to take over an investigation of a murder case in Austin, TX that involves poison as well as poetry. Her wonderful grandfather taught her about poetry when she was younger, and infused a love of the genre within her. It turns out that the perpetrator loves poetry as well, and has a desire to match wits with Samantha on this case. For support, Samantha pulls in her work partner, Lang, as well as an ex-boyfriend, Wade Miller, who is an FBI agent working in Austin. Working together with others in the APD, they hope to outsmart this killer before he or she kills again.

This book draws the reader in from the start. The various threads are woven together expertly in the way that Ms. Jones is known for throughout her successful writing career. The tension picks up at times when needed, but stays fairly normal for much of the investigative portion of the book. The killer always seems just a half a step ahead, and Samantha can't figure out how or why this keeps happening. The pace is steady for the most part; however, there are a few times when it slows as readers are given necessary information, The book seems long, but this is not a reflection on the author, but rather on the myriad of different things happening while reading this book (polar vortex leading to loss of power and water, a flooded home, covid-19 escalation, vaccine distribution, political unrest, etc.). In spite of everything else going on, this story held the interest of this reader, and propelled me to the end.

The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones is the first book in a new series and gives us a suspenseful story about a serial killer and the detective out to solve the case. But is it more personal than Detective Samantha Jazz knows? When the lead investigator goes missing, Samantha takes the lead and must work to understand the words left behind by the killer. With baggage she carries from her past, she has a lot to prove as well. Now Samantha must find the connection to the killings and to her. How will all end?

The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones was intriguing and captivating.

Happy reading!

There is a serial killer on the loose who is leaving poems with each of his victims. Detective Samantha Jazz takes over the case when the lead detective suddenly resigns in the middle of the investigation. So, it doesn't hurt that she knows a thing or two about poetry,

"The Poet" as she dubs him, begins a cat and mouse game meant to leave her unbalanced and not sure who to trust outside of her tight inner circle. These lessons are to help her see what she's meant to be.

Pretty intense. There were quite a few scenes that had me holding my breath. If you love procedural crime, you should pick this one up. Looking forward to seeing what else comes from this series.

I was looking forward to read this thriller as I’ve seen it around a lot and I enjoyed other books by the author in the past.
It’s a very slow start but I think it’s expected as we just get to know the heroine and all the details and crimes are starting to pile up and more questions arise . Questions that will be answered one way or another by the end of the book.
To be honest, I predicted who was the poet after the prologue, better said , I had my theories that one of the two people will be the culprit of this story but I that didn’t stop me from enjoying the story.
I’m looking forward to read more about detective Samantha Jazz and her team in the next books ( that’s just my hope that there will be more)

Arc review

In the last third of the book, Detective Samantha Jazz thinks “…something about this doesn’t feel like the end. Something feels wrong.” That statement describes how I felt throughout the entire book.

The novel felt like it was simply following a chosen narrative, merely going through the motions as all the pieces were fit into a specific template. Samantha tells us all about who she is during regular info dumps. Overall, she falls into the category of super smart (at one point she states “I have the highest solve rate of the department and one of the highest solve rates in the country”). This is supposed to set her up as a worthy adversary of the killer (who is also extremely intelligent). She continually examines her own motives but only in a superficial way, thus causing the character revelations to appear forced rather than functioning as natural occurrences.

Some might feel I am revealing too much about the plot, so those worried about potential spoilers should not move on to paragraph four. My overall feeling on this book is that it is predictable and that the police procedural scenes resemble those television shows and movies that might be entertaining but have few roots in everyday reality. It is also obvious when the author is pushing us in the wrong direction in order to set up the Big Reveal.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS: The errors in the book battle credibility. The author’s detectives are chomping at the bit, ready to arrest a suspect based on hunches alone and not a thread of evidence. Detective Jazz enters a murder scene first, then tells the CSI team they cannot enter until she has completed her personal search of the crime scene. Samantha also removes crucial evidence around in the crime scene, negating the effect of matching two different murders to one potential suspect. Additionally, her disregard for proper chain of evidence is mindboggling. If Samantha was truly in charge of the crime scene, her focus would have been more on observations and then preserving it rather than personally disturbing it. The conversation with medical examiner Hazel Lee would lead one to believe that those in Lee’s profession travel to every murder scene, while reality is that the majority of their work is performed away from the scene of the crime. Actions of the characters in this book reflect what television and movies would have us believe. And as there is no evidence against her main suspect, why would Samantha and her partner Langford talk seriously about shooting someone who was fleeing from a murder scene? Whether she shot while facing him or at his back, there was still no legal justification for doing so, yet Samantha more than once berates herself for missing this “opportunity.”

Ms. Jones sets up evidence to lead us in the wrong direction, but it’s so heavy-handed that a reader can’t miss that she is leading us in the wrong direction rather than dropping clues and allowing us to pursue the red herrings we choose to follow. I prefer when an author drops clues but they are left so casually, many times I miss them. Unfortunately, this did not happen in “The Poet.” Combined with convenient coincidences and the police procedural errors, it is difficult to award this book more than two-and-a-half stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for a complimentary electronic copy of this book.

The Poet starts off slow, but stick with it because Lisa Renee Jones picks up the pace. The Poet is a serial killer who leaves poems inside the victims. Detective Samantha Jazz gets the case after the lead Investigator vanishes!? Samantha, of course, knows poetry, having run a poetry club, making her the perfect person to take the lead.

As the Poet continues to kill, it seems that the poems left behind are now being "written for Sam." We get a number of possible suspects to consider and some twists in the story. Sam, herself, has an interesting backstory. Her father was a corrupt police captain, and she feels the need to prove herself.

This book was more police procedural than thriller. I will admit that I enjoy the author's Lilah Love series much more.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The review is my own opinion.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones is a crime thriller.

The story is about a homicide detective Samantha Jazz who tries to arrest a serial killer "the Poet".

A few months after her father's death a detective goes missing and Samantha gets his last case because she had a good knowledge of poetry.
The serial killer was leaving little poems inside his victims' mouths and Sam was the only one who could solve these puzzles in order
to arrest him. Not long after her involvement in this, she realizes that this case is more personal than she thought. The guy seems to
have an obsession with her and he tries to trap her. That makes her more determined to catch him, even if she has to follow her father's
steps to do it.

It is a well-written book with a great, gripping storyline. It's filled with mystery and action. The descriptions of the scenes are very
detailed that makes it easier to visualize them. You have to invest time in this book because it's not easy to follow with the constant
loops that the author throws you. There are three things that make a good mystery for me: 1) the enjoyment of the "hunt", 2) the doubting
of yourself, 3) when you don't find the killer until the very end. This story has all of them. What I liked the most was the fact that
the Poet appeared so classy and clean but also obviously crazy. Also, I loved how this case was connected with her personal relationships,
(friends, lover, family).

From the moment I started reading, I was so engaged with it and I couldn't wait to finish it. I will rate it with 4.5 stars.

The Poet was too slow for me and extremely procedural for me. I was looking forward to the crimes and catching the murderer but I predicted the killer early on and it was a bit repetitive at times. Overall the story itself is intriguing.

The Poet is a psychological thriller. It is filled with many twists and turns and devious characters. Lisa Renee Jones had me guessing until the very end of this book on how it would end. I will definitely be reading more books written by Jones.