My goodness. First time reading this Author and will not be the last. Run....don't walk....to get this amazing book!!!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing this digital copy in exchange for a review.

A World of Hurt is the sequel to To Catch A Storm, and the story is picked right up from the conclusion of the previous book. This story focuses almost solely on Iowa City Detective Max Summerlin and trafficker turned informant Kara Johnson (both secondary characters in the first book). Summerlin has joined a DEA Task Force, searching for a hidden cache of drugs, and the task force enlists Kara to assist them. There’s a lot of introspection in the private lives of Max and Kara, while central to the characters’ actions here, it slows down the flow of the book and becomes repetitive. But Kara’s character saves the day, with her brash, take-no-prisoners badassery carrying the plot. While you could read this as a standalone, it would be beneficial to read the first book (although there are enough references to get new readers up to speed and refresh the memories of those who read the earlier book). I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. You should read it!

I really enjoyed the second installment of Mindy Mejia's characters (new series alert? yes please!) in "A World of Hurt". I liked the happy ending of her characters from "To Catch A Storm" and the continued plot of a massive drug ring in the midwest. 5 starts

I was given the opportunity to read and review an ARC via NetGalley by Atlantic Monthly Press New York.

I really enjoyed To Catch a Storm and was very excited to learn there’d be a sequel, hoping to read more from the characters I’d gotten to know. Finding that this featured other characters made me a little nervous but I dove in and enjoyed the ride.

It’s only been a few years since the pandemic, so novels either brush past it, time skip it, or pretend it didn’t happen and I understand that. There was a lot of depth of emotion to explore and if it’s not relevant to your story, it’s too much to get into. Mindy chose to face it head on. From the varying viewpoints on policies to the fears of parents to the chaos of the unknowns in hospitals and prisons, I felt she handled it with care. She captured both the fears and the small pieces of community hope that people clung to. Then this is a book featuring a police officer and she also faced the George Floyd protests, BLM movement and answering Blue Lives movement. She didn’t shy from it and utilizing it pushed this story forward in a sensitive way.

Too often police procedurals feel like “copaganda” and they’re infallible, perfect investigators, but all of the officers involved were flawed and real people. The criminals were doing bad things but had sympathetic back stories. We did get to see characters from the first book, but new characters were featured and I enjoyed the new “odd couple.” The twists at the end were excellent, I didn’t see it all coming together like that but it all fit with the theme of the book. I really hope this series continues!

It’s December 2019 & our story picks up right where it left off at the end of To Catch A Storm, focusing this time on Max & Kara instead of Eve & Jonah. Max is still at the snowy scene of the interstate pileup & an injured Kara finds her way to a veterinarian she trusts to fix her up on the downlow. A few other shocking reveals are made in the aftermath of the drug trafficking ring’s demise (I won’t spoil it for you) & then we go through a major time jump to August of 2020.

Not even a full year later, we all know that the world changed pretty fast in those few months: the Covid-19 pandemic & everything that came with it was fully dealt with in the midst of this story, & I really respect the way the author incorporated it into the plot.

After reading the first book in this series I wanted more Eve & Jonah (& Earl!) - even though this second one wasn’t about them I did appreciate a peek into how they were doing, & found myself enjoying Max & Kara much more than I thought I would. These two characters have some very interesting attributes & once I picked up this book I didn’t read anything else until I’d finished (which is saying something, because I normally have multiple books going at once & tend to jump around). It was bittersweet learning about the origin story of Kara & Celina, & the new character of Jillian was a perfect addition. Also love that this book, like the first one, was largely set in my home state of Iowa.

I would love to read a third book in this series! Hopefully more to come in the future. Thank you to NetGalley & Atlantic for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A World of Hurt is a bit of a strange one - in the first few pages I was ready to be very critical as it seemed like a bit of a try-hard bad-ass cop procedural, however there were some strange twists and turns along the way and I found myself easing into and enjoying the book a lot!

To elaborate - World of Hurt follows "Kara" a former drug mule with a medical condition where she feels no pain, and Max, a local detective, who, well. Truth be told Max is a bit of a dud character as I'll explain later, but he's a relatively morally staunch lawman which does make the pairing a little interesting.

So some of the weird stuff...

There's psychic powers?? Kara's love interest is a sort of pain-taker/healer, and Max's former partner is a prophetic dreamer! The tone of the book doesn't really prepare us for these supernatural elements, and oddly they aren't particularly major parts of the plot either, its just a bit of flavour to the action which is somewhat run-of-the-mill drug bust type plot.

It's not necessarily negative, but I have to say its rather unusual to have elements like this as a very minor detail in an otherwise quite 'gritty' story - the physic stuff doesn't really affect any major plot points so it really was just for flavour which I simultaneously liked as something a bit oddball but also had a strange sense of I think the author believes in this stuff?

Anyway other odd additions - a LOT of Covid-19 references, this presents a strange conundrum. It's certainly was presented realistically - social distancing, masks etc etc but again didn't have really anything to do with the story. It could have been set in 2019 and had no bearing, or set NOW and had no bearing. The drug plotline as far as I could tell didn't have any metaphorical link to Covid-19 so it was weird to have so much grounding in pandemic prevention measures.

A final weird is just a comment on our MC Max. He seemed to lack anything resembling a personality and for some reason this story deep dived into his home-life which oscillated between idyllic and cutesy to borderline criminal but also somehow shallow and weirdly token. As I write this I realize that both MC's are given quite a bit of page-time to their more personal endeavours, but where Kara's story is interwoven smoothly and 'fits' Max's scenes of family life just seem almost seem like afterthoughts - 'oh btw this is what Max's life is like at home'

It does feel like I'm being overly negative but it's important to note that the drug-bust type crime plot is actually a good romp, its more the subplots that can be a bit distracting in their oddness, I really enjoyed World of Hurt!

This was an interesting book about a crime where a criminal and cop work together in Iowa to solve a crime which features all the banes of our life like Covid and cryptocurrency.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

I felt immediately intrigued by Kara and her disorder (the inability to feel pain), but Max's chapters took more time to catch my attention. Overall, this was a smartly plotted book with several twists and reveals that I didn't see coming and that kept my eyes glued to the pages to see how everything would play out. I'm not sure if Mejia is intending to write another book in this world and with some of these characters, but I would've liked a little more of Jonah's story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this amazingly enjoyable and clever eARC.

A World of Hurt by Mindy Mejia is a gripping thriller that explores the complex dynamics between a cop and a criminal, both haunted by their pasts and driven by their quests for justice.

This story follows Kara Johnson, a former drug trafficker who agrees to go undercover for the DEA after her girlfriend is killed by a rival gang, and Max Summerlin, an Iowa City police officer who joins the task force to find the elusive kingpin behind the drug empire. The two must overcome their mutual distrust to work together and infiltrate the dangerous underworld of drugs and violence, while also dealing with their own personal demons and secrets.

Mejia's writing is fast-paced and engaging, with vivid descriptions and realistic dialogue. The characters are well-developed and flawed, making them easy to empathize with and root for. This is one of my favorite modern writers.

This novel tackles relevant and timely issues, including addiction, trauma, corruption, and redemption, without being preachy or moralistic. A World of Hurt is a compelling and satisfying read that will appeal to fans of thrillers, crime fiction, and character-driven stories.

Personally, I DELIGHT when this author writes a new book, I am CRAZY about her writing!

She is incredibly talented, unique and imaginative (and I love when her books are set in Iowa).

If you haven't read her yet, make this the year you do (betcha you too will become a rabid fan).

A cop and a criminal work together in the aftermath of a major drug bust near Iowa City (which forms the plot of an already published novel). You don't have to read that book to enjoy this covid-based thriller that has all the trappings of the era: crypto currency, masking political conflicts, dirty cops, and social distancing requirements all play heavily into this story, where the duo are at times working at odds with each other. There are lots of other colorful characters to keep the story moving, and the criminal's congenital disorder of inability to feel pain has some interesting implications as they get into various nasty scrapes with bad guys. I found the Iowa setting to add to the novel's drama and verisimilitude, and I would recommend the book highly for mystery readers.