Mind Games

Kaely Quinn Profiler, Book 1

By: Nancy Mehl

Narrated by: Traci Odom

Kaely Quinn's talents as an FBI behavior analyst are impossible to ignore, no matter how unorthodox her methods. But when a reporter outs her as the daughter of an infamous serial killer, she's demoted to field agent and transferred to St. Louis.

When the same reporter who ruined her career claims to have received an anonymous poem predicting a string of murders, ending with Kaely's, the reporter's ulterior motives bring his claim into question. But when a body is found that fits the poem's predictions, the threat is undeniable, and the FBI sends Special Agent Noah Hunter to St. Louis.

Initially resentful of the assignment, Noah is surprised at how quickly his respect for Kaely grows, despite her oddities. But with a brazen serial killer who breaks all the normal patterns on the loose, Noah and Kaely are tested to their limits to catch the murderer before anyone else - including Kaely herself - is killed.

©2018 Nancy Mehl (P)2018 Tantor

Pretty good

A good story. Didn't care for the narrator. Would have liked more references to God leading and directing her. Not just at the end.

Better Than the Score

This book is actually better than the score I gave it. The story itself is clever, exciting and twisted. The narration was a little stiff but actually got better as the book went on. The reason I gave this a lower score is because I truly believe the religious rambling was overwhelming, even obnoxious and would make me seriously question getting the next installment. I have great faith, I do not need a lecture on Christianity in my murder mysteries.

Religious overtones

Great narration and a reasonable story line but lots of religious overtones. The lead character is a new found christian which is admirable but it feels at odds with the story line about serial killers. Expect lines like - "I am constantly amazed at what god can do. Like healing a family"

A page-turner suspense

Loved it. Appropriately named book. tremendously interesting with twists and plot details and more than one surprise.

Ehhhh.

I have mixed feelings about this one.
Narration was decent but not great (and one particular pronunciation/accent quirk where many words starting with th being said like they start with d really wore on me). I'm also assuming that the person reading is an older woman while the characters were mostly in their 30s so it gave a weird "Grandma is telling me a story about her past" vibe.
Story was... interesting. it definitely kept me guessing and had some twists but it almost felt like it was trying too hard. There were a lot of things left unexplained. Seemed prime to show major character development because it discussed struggles... but nobody really progressed. There's a weird romance/not a romance/love triangle but not actually. There were quite a few things that made me wonder why they were included at all or never explained or just weren't realistic, which is jarring in this kind of book. For example, there are multiple mentions of a character's dead wife and tension around it but we get zero actual back story or explanation or anything. Why mention it repeatedly when it has nothing to do with the story?
The religion was a huge turn off and slap in the face for me. I listened to this book because my husband listened to it so I never checked reviews. I saw no indication in the summary or categories saying it's a Christian book and it absolutely is. I'm agnostic, raised Catholic with nuns in my family, so casual religious references don't bother me, but this was too much to not be mentioned as a big part of the book. It was shoved in pretty aggressively and in places that really killed the action that was happening otherwise and included a lot of gross "You'll believe in God one day, don't worry" narrative. I don't need a sermon about God in the middle of the final showdown scene when it has absolutely nothing to do with the storyline. There's also a pivotal plot point that makes no sense and is simply explained away by "It was God."
All in all, I finished it. I will not be reading the next one in the series. I would not recommend it to a friend.