Leslie Tentler: Edge of Midnight

 

This is the third book in Tentler's Midnight series, however, each book has been written as a stand alone and I did not find that I was confused or missing anything that occurred in previous books as this is the first Leslie Tentler book that I have read. In this novel Tenlter explores what happens when one of a serial killer's victim is able to escape and his obsession of continuing to complete his collection.

Mia Hale is a crime reporter for the Jacksonville Courier but Mia is about to experience the abductions she has been reporting on first hand. She is kidnapped by the serial killer known as the Collector. But somehow Mia is able to escape out of his realm alive, however, she has no idea how her memory after the initial kidnapping is blank. FBI agent Eric MacFarlane has been pursuing the Collector for a very long time and he has a personal vendetta against him as well. He believes that Mia is the key to finding the Collector but by using Mia he is once again putting her in danger. But as far as the Collector has is concerned Mia has always been his and he will stop at nothing the get her back.

This book was a pretty good read and was able to hold my attention from the beginning. I enjoyed Tentler's serial killer and Tentler's depiction of his family and life. The reader is able to see the factors that helped create Allen into the Collector. I see the Collector as an individual very similar to Casanova from Jame's Patterson's Kiss the Girls, though I appreciated that Tentler's Collector was more about about power, control, and not about sex. I think that Tentler did a great job of allowing the reader to see glimpses into the torture that the Collector inflicted on his victims but not too much that people would be disturbed. The main form of description comes through Mia as well as the state of the bodies when they are discovered.

The main interesting topic within this novel is the use of drugs in order to induce hypnotherapy to recover lost memories. I think that this is unique in books that I have read and the could very well be something that the military is trying to accomplish. I liked that Tentler was not afraid of adding something new to the genre and trying a new way of using a victim to uncover clues that could lead to the killer.

There was a little bit too much romance/sex scenes for my taste in books, but those who enjoy the combination of some thrills and romance will enjoy this book. I also found the interaction between the two main characters a little bit of a cliche now of days, FBI agent and victim falling in love is nothing new in these novels. There was also nothing very original about the main characters themselves that drew me in or get me emotionally invested as to what happens to them and this may be the flaw of writing a stand alone story. But for me the characters were just there interacting with the plot. I often find that authors will shelter their main characters too much and it leaves the story feeling flat. However, this is one aspect of Tentler's characters that I did enjoy was that she was not afraid of letting them suffer or get hurt.

Although there was a bit too much romance in this book for me and I was not able to connect to the characters as mush as I would like, I did enjoy the overall story of the book (and really it is easy to skim or skip over the sex scenes). I think that Tentler has a create mind and it shows in her ideas throughout the story. I think those who like their Thrills and Romance mixed together in a book will have a winner with Tentler. I would read another book by Tentler, probably from her Midnight series as I want to see what other type of serial killers that she has come up with as I think this is where she excelled the most within her novel.

Enjoy!!!!

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