Genre: historical mystery thriller
Date Published: A[ril 2016
Publisher: Pegasus Books
# Of Pages: 492 pages
Goodreads | Audible
Synopsis: Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.
While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.
Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.
My Rating:
★★★★
.....For being a good debut mystery novel, with a time-traveling twist and a lot of spunk!
My Thoughts:
I wasn't sure what I was really expecting with this one. I know I was surprised by the amount of research that went into this book. There was a huge amount of historical detail; I kept on looking up what I was reading to confirm whether or not it was true. Being a history fan, I found it fascinating to learn about societal rules and the running of a household during the Regency period; it was like learning about the behind-the-scenes in a Jane Austen novel.
I liked the character Kendra Donovan as well. It's always refreshing to read a book with a strong female character(view spoiler). She certainly had a lot of spunk!
The plot itself was also pretty good. It was a good mystery with a decent twist, and it was fun seeing modern investigation techniques being applied to an early 19th-century murder case. It was fairly well written as well, with great plot pacing. In a good story, you'll always end up reaching a point in the plot where you just can't stop reading and you must see it to the end. This one got me fully hooked about two thirds of the way in. I was almost late for work :)
Overall, it's a fun read. It's quick, interesting, and it would be excellent for a vacation read, I should think. Plus, it's the first book in a series! I know for myself I'm going to definitely read the sequal; I want to see what happens next!
A Note On The Audiobook: I would recommend reading it, rather than listening to it on audiobook. I tried listening to it at first and had to stop; I really didn't like the voice of the narrator. She had an okay voice, but she kept starting a phrase loudly, and then quieting down to almost a whisper by the end of the phrase. It was extremely distracting and sometimes difficult to understand what the end of the sentence was. The vocal dynamics eventually started to irritate me too much, and I ended up quitting about an hour in. So, this book is good for reading in an armchair with a cup of coffee, but not so much for listening while on the way the work.
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