What an amazing book! Very well written. Very cinematic. It unfolds with twists and turns and held my attention throughout. Reincarnation, terrorist plot and science fills this story with suspense. It wouldn’t make a great movie, it IS a great movie!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

"𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚛."

Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, forcing you to read the rest to find out what's going to happen.

Cult. Terrorism. FBI. Reincarnation. All brought together to make for an interesting read.

The back and forth between the past, the present, the memory regressions, the book, and the connection between them all had me eagerly flipping through the pages to find out what happens next.

Some foreshadowing I've read before spoiled books for me. However, The ones used here successfully added to the mysterious and ominous atmosphere.

Sorrow Plagues- Redemption, went really well with the book. The building up to the climax made the revelations of the plot twists that much more gripping.

Thank you @netgalley & @crookedlanebooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review💕

ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.8

A wonderful and intriguing storyline. Loved the characters, the setting, the plot. Once I picked this book it was difficult for me to put it down.

This was an entertaining read. The book was well written, gripping and full of suspense until the end. I will read more by this author in future.

This was an enjoyable read. It started out a little slow and at times I was a little lost and confused. Overall it was a decent read.

The story of rookie Special Agent Vera Taggert and the Sons of Elijah is totally my type of story, but this one fell a little flat for me. Overall, I did enjoy the book, and I definitely see a lot of potential in Matt Miksa- he definitely tells his stories differently than his fellow mystery authors. Miksa definitely engaged me in the beginning, but I felt the buildup was too much for the eventual climax- I wanted it all to go just a little bit further. That being said, I like Miksa's writing and look forward to reading more by him

An interesting storyline. I think if your more into procedures you would enjoy it more. The characters were okay, nothing stood out to me. In the end it was an OK solid read.

Really enjoyed this thriller which was very unconventional - from setting, characters to the plot and narrative. It also managed to keep me interested right from the very first page to the last. Would recommend it to everyone who enjoys thrillers!

“Don’t Get Close” follows FBI agent Vera Taggart as she attempts to solve a cold case involving the Sons of Elijah, a cult of suicide bombers. Agent Tag is a recruit, so no one expects much from her in this cold case. Things take a turn for the better as agent Tag pursues a trail of evidence that leads her to finally unravel the mystery of suicide bombers. Only to find out that not everything is as it seems. I thought the notion was intriguing. I’ve always been interested in the subject of reincarnation and former incarnations, and I must confess that it fascinates me. It was fascinating to learn about specific persons’ prior lives and observe how they interacted with one another.

I found the novel to be extremely intriguing and enjoyable to read. From beginning to conclusion, the plots were well-connected, the questions were answered, and the people and tales were well-crafted. I thought the cult was fascinating, and I loved learning about the many lifestyles that the cult members led. Even with Vera, I enjoyed not knowing who to trust, who was right, and who was wrong until the very end. The plot’s bloodline is the characters. Every chapter reveals a mystery that will take your breath away.

The notion of eternal pure love not being flawless was revealed in a surprise at the end. The union of the perfect pair was what had the potential to bring the planet to its knees. We don’t sure how the last twist will be resolved, but it doesn’t appear to be positive. I always enjoy a good thriller, but this one is unlike any other thriller I’ve ever read. I hope you enjoy this book if you enjoy FBI stories with mystery, plot twists, and fierce sapphics.

This was a different type of FBI thriller and an enjoyable read. The plot was good and it was well written. There was an element of reincarnation which I found interesting.
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Vera Taggart is an agent in training and yet seems to have a better grasp on things than those around her. She’s strong-willed, determined, and quite entertaining when she wants to be. I liked her a lot, and that affection only grew as the story went on. Even her not-so-great decisions seemed to make sense to me after a time. Her partner, on the other hand, annoyed and aggravated me most of the time. Which I think is partly why I enjoyed her decisions to go off track more than I should have.

I loved the idea of using past-life regression therapy to solve the case. While I’m not sure I fully buy into past lives, it is interesting to delve into and read about. The way that the author connected all of Taggart’s past lives with those of others from the Sons of Elijah was seamless and believable in the story. It was an unusual way to progress the story and I thought it brought an interesting angle to solving the crime.

This book ticked a lot of boxes for me. Crazy cults? Yes! Psychology with unconventional methods? Yes! Cold case? Heck yeah. I was all in from the very beginning. Don’t Get Close starts off with a literal bang and keeps going. This is the second cult-related book I’ve read in the last several weeks and I’ve enjoyed them both quite a bit. But the way that the author combined the cold case with past-life regression to prevent a possible current crime is what did it for me in the end. It was also nice to have a female main character who wasn’t your usual FBI type. I’d highly recommend this to anyone who loves a fast paced thriller with unusual elements thrown in.

Don´t Get Close is a very intriguing story. It blends espionage, crimes, religion, real scientific discoveries, and fascinating characters. I got hooked from the beginning and the more I read the more I wondered what would happen next, and the ending is mind-blowing! Hopefully, a story like this one remains in fiction only. This is my first book by Matt Miksa and I'll be looking forward to reading other titles by this author. He has a fast-paced writing style and a generous mind leading to the fantastic which I enjoy!

This was such a clever story that gripped me from the very first page and didn’t let go until the twist at the end. Thank to the author, publisher and NetGalley.

It is very bad when one book wants to be everything for everyone. I am still not sure what this book was about, what it paid the most attention to. Matt Miksa runs off into very long-winded detailed explanation of lots of things detracting from the main plot and suspence.
Also, I found this book to be... evil. It is so meticiously dark and twisted onto itself that one is left gasping and lost as to what he/she just read and why.
I read this book till the very end just to make sure I can. Yes, the language and pace is fine. The book is easy to read. But the essence of the book, the plot development (and where it takes the reader) is not easy to grasp or comprehend.
It is an FBI thriller. It is reincarnation journey. It is power girls march. It is a bunch of twisted love stories... And the ending??? What the... honestly.
I gave this book 2 stars only because it was readable (language-wise)

I expected so much more from this book and I’m sorry I didn’t get it. For a thriller, it simply wasn’t very thrilling. The intensity wasn’t there, the pacing was extremely uneven, and the book as a whole was rather lackluster.

I actually loved the plot: it’s just the way it was executed that’s my issue. The breaks in the story to have us read excerpts of the psychiatrist’s book smacked of what I hate about books that purport to be plot-heavy instead of character-driven, which is to accomplish exposition by showing and not telling. I didn’t care that those excerpts were interesting in their own right, but huge chunks of exposition done this way is not different to me than presenting it in a flashback.

Miksa has done terrific research and obviously puts a whole lot of care in putting a great story together, but to be a thriller a book must be thrilling. This book wasn’t thrilling–it was simply mysterious and interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review. As per personal policy, since I have rated this book as 3 stars (or lower), this review will not be posted to any social media or bookseller website.

Don't Get Close is Matt Miksa's second book, but my first read. I'm not sure how to categorize this interesting read.. It's part dark fantasy, and thriller all rolled into one.
The story involves a cult which call themselves 'The Son's of Elijah' , and they believe that by killing in mass numbers their bodies will be reincarnated.
When FBI Special Agent Vera Taggart gets assigned to investigate the cult. she comes across psychiatrist Dr. Seth Jacobson who specializes in helping people remember their past lives,
It was slow to get into due to the detail of the visions that the patients were experiencing. Yet, I enjoyed the diversity of the characters.
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the oporrtunity.

A traditional FBI-new kid on the block-thriller with a twist in the cult involved. There was some new and some old. I wish there was more new than there was old, but it as about even. I was often wanting more in the cult aspect but was burdened with the procedural and rookie-makes-a-splash aspect.

This is not your typical FBI thriller. Newly graduated FSI Special Agent Vera Taggert led the efforts to determine whether a dormant doomsday cult is reemerging and planning another mass casualty event. She became obsessed with a psychiatrist claiming that he could help patients tap into their past lives, and she volunteered to be hypnotized herself. The rest of the book explored reality vs imagination as the plot progressed. A mysterious capstone appeared throughout the story and was captivating. While the premise was fascinating and the plot was delightfully twisty, the execution failed to deliver the punch.

There’s too much exposition. Each vision session went on far too long and in such minute detail that the overall plot became lost. I skimmed over many of the visions because of the length and repetition.

I struggled to follow some plot holes. The author would bring up a previous conversation between two characters, but it sounded new to me. He suggested that Tag was in closer contact with her FBI team, but those interactions weren’t more prominent in the plot.

I also had problems with some of the characterizations of the male FBI agents on the case. Their dialogue was over the top and full of cliches. They’re reduced to crude pigs with their traces of competence hidden behind crass words and actions. I get it - they’re jerks - but they spend so much time dumping crass references to genitalia that I ignored the characters.

One strength was the resolution of the capstone. It had been referenced throughout the novel as a great treasure, and that could have led to a big letdown once its nature was revealed. It ended up being a well-defined solution that explained why it had been so valuable to so many people.

Another strength was that it kept me guessing until the last page. What was real? What was contrived? Was justice served? These questions were answered in a way that kept me thinking through them well after I had finished the novel. I had been tempted to put it aside, but the end was a satisfying reader payoff.

I wish the novel had been tighter, with shorter vision sequences and better characterizations. While I enjoyed the resolution, I questioned whether it had been worth it to stick around to the end.


Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a review copy.

Hmm - I am having a hard time reviewing this book, because I don't really know what I think about it.

Genre-wise it is some kind of mix of thriller, a little fantasy and something...
The plot was okay - but perhaps just not for me.