Dead of Winter

Dead of winter by Sherry Knowlton.
Who would have thought that
Three friends Reese Michaels Alexa Williams and Tyrell Jenkins are out flying a drone for fun, would spot a corpse in a field?
This was a good read. I liked the story and some of the characters.
It was a little slow in places but I managed to read it. 4*.

Out test flying a drone, three friends discover a corpse. So behind a story that includes lots of action and suspense.

The book is well written, although slow at times. The ending is a surprise...worth waiting for.

This book is part of a series about attorney Alexa Williams. Which I didn't know at first even though this was a good read I do want to go read and learn more about Alexa because I really like her character.

There were plenty of twists and turns that had you engage I like that there were numbers of suspects that had you guessing to the very end.

I ARC received via NetGalley and in exchange for an honest review.

This book is part of a series about attorney Alexa Williams. This book starts out with her out with two friends out to test a drone when they happen upon a dead man with a note that suggests the killing is connected to a jihadist terrorist or terrorist cell. It's not the only one in this peaceful town of Carlisle, PA.

An easy read that hooked me right away and I couldn't wait to finish it. There were plenty of twists and turns, including a former-now-current love interest, a relocated middle eastern family that naturally becomes implicated in the killings and Alex's adjustment to returning to Carlisle after a successful career in NYC. Plenty of opportunity for guessing and nice surprises at the end.

What I couldn't understand was the interspersed story about John Brown. I kept wondering how the two stories were connected and I thought for the majority of the book that the John Brown story could have been left out. You have to read through to the Epilogue to really understand the connection and why the author wrote it into the book. I wonder if she did the same in the other books in the series.

I just don't give 5 stars on principle, but this was one of the two best books I've read this year. Very enjoyable if you like C/M/T and an author worth following..

An effortless read that hooked me right away and I couldn't wait to finish it. There were plenty of twists and turns, including a former-now-current love interest, a relocated middle eastern family that naturally becomes implicated in the killings and Alex's adjustment to returning to Carlisle after a successful career in NYC. Plenty of opportunity for guessing and nice surprises at the end.

Dead Of Winter by Sherry Knowlton is a murder mystery novel that follows Alexa Williams, a family law attorney with an unfortunate knack for discovering dead bodies. Alexa and her small group of friends are trying out a new drone that Alexa’s friend Tyrell has recently purchased. They are viewing the footage from the days initial test flight when Alexa spots an unusual looking anomaly in the footage. The footage seems to reveal a slumped figure in an open field behind a deserted house. The slumped figure is surrounded by a sea of what appears to be blood. Not wanting to alert the authorities to a possible false alarm, Alexa and her friends get back in the vehicle to visit the location where the drone caught the possible body on camera. When they find the location, their worst fears are confirmed when they discover the desecrated body of an individual who clearly met a violent end. The scene has aspects of religious overtones to it. Alexa and her friends soon become the focus of an FBI investigation only made worse by the fact the Alex’s friend Reese had already discovered a body with a similar signature. Few months earlier in the town of Harper’s Ferry.

While Alexa and her friends try and keep their distance from the investigation into the mystery body, circumstances draw them in as civil unrest peaks in a small town wary of the Syrian Refugees that have resettled into the area after fleeing violence and civil war in Syria. Alexa makes attempts to use her skills as a lawyer to assist a refugee family that Tyrell’s organization RESIST has helped relocate. When the family’s oldest son becomes a suspect in the murders, Alexa is hopelessly drawn into a complicated web of a vengeful murderer and a violent group of militant white supremasists. Will the murderer to be found before Alexa becomes a casualty?

I found the story to be very fitting to the current culture of this country. There was a storyline about a rescued slave boy named Elijah who escaped from slavery in the late 1800’s. The storyline did clarify some points in the current tale, but I did kinda miss the resolution to Elijah’s part of the story. I would have liked to know what happened to him in the long run. Overall, the story was engaging and fun to read.

Alexa Williams seems to have great capacity for falling headfirst into trouble. On this occasion she is out flying a drone with two friends and they spot a corpse in a field. Things rapidly go from bad to worse as law enforcement try to implicate her and her friends in the murder. With implied religious overtones at the heart of the death there is soon racial targeting against a Syrian refugee family who Alexa tries to help.

interwoven with the current day murder and violence is interspersed the tale of Elijah, an escaped 18th century slave, making his way North to freedom drawing on the links between John Brown and Harpers Ferry, where the modern day tale was set. This in itself was a really interesting and well written story but the link between the two tales was lost on me. I would love to read more about Elijah and his bid for freedom in a stand alone book, but interspersed in this thriller it didn't really add to the story for me.

Oh, this was a rather interesting book! It turns out that there are other books which feature these characters, but this is the first one I have read and it reads well as a standalone. I hope there is another book after this one, I would like to read more!

Alexa and her friends, Tyrell and Reese are out and about with a drone and they discover a body. As you do. What has been done to the body is particularly gruesome and the trio are questioned at length by the FBI as there appears to be a terrorist aspect to the killing, with an Arabic sign left with the body. What makes this more complicated is that Tyrell has Muslim clients he is trying to keep safe, despite attacks against them from the community, and emotions are running high. Alexa and Reese have a history but they are still attracted to each other, who knows where this will lead?

In amongst all of this, Alexa tries to get on with her job as a lawyer, whilst keeping herself safe and fit, learning martial arts. The people she meets through it though, are an interesting lot, but do they have something to hide?

The only thing that confused me was the story of Elijah. I enjoyed reading the story, but I think it would have been lovely to have had some link to a current-day resident of Harpers Ferry, his story just kind of petered out.

All in all, an interesting, relevant story with enough to keep my interest throughout.

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley, TBC and Sunbury Press.