Took awhile to get into this one. Lots of twists & turns and I sure didn't expect it to end the way it did. ( )

This book piqued my interest right from the beginning. Andre, the self-proclaimed Messiah, has his handmaidens carry out jobs for him scamming men for money and even killing. We do not know why, but he alludes to a long term aim which he doesn't want his handmaidens to know about. Terese, his favourite handmaiden, has killed twice that we know about, recently forcing a car off the road and killing her lover and his son.

Callie Cantrell is spending time on Martinique, where she spent her Honeymoon, trying to get herself together after her husband and son died in a car accident. She meets a young boy named Tucker and they begin a relationship of sorts, Callie using Tucker to help her heal, Tucker needing a substitute mother as his is an absent parent who lets him run wild. She has big gaps in her memory from just before the accident.

West Laughlin accosts her in an alley accusing her of being someone called Teresa and being involved in his brother's death. How are Andre, Callie and West linked? How is the little boy Tucker involved? He is a lovely character, so full of life.

It's exciting with lots of twists. Just when you think one thing might happen, something else does. The ending is quite a surprise and I was not able to figure it out until the last few pages. A very good story that was a quick read due to wanting to find out what happens next. If you have read any of Nancy Bush's other books, this is a stand alone thriller you will not be disappointed in. ( )

From Amazon:

Only Killing Stops The Pain. . .Callie Cantrell has only fragmented memories of the car accident that killed her husband and son. One year later, she's still trying to start over, yet she can't shake her unease. Especially when former LA cop West Laughlin barges into her life, searching for his young nephew. At first he thinks Callie's lying about who she is and what she knows. But soon it's clear that Callie and West are linked by a killer who has bent others to his twisted will. The worst night of Callie's life was just the beginning of his vengeance. And when her turn comes again there will be no escape.

My Thoughts:

An interesting suspense story. I only gave it three stars because there was some confusion on the timeline in a number of places, and different, conflicting back stories for the same character which frankly made the story hard to follow at times. In one spot she has the character killing his abusive alcoholic father at age nine, and in another spot she has the father dying from cancer when the character is sixteen. These type of things abounded throughout the story, but in spite of this it was a decent, worthwhile read. ( )

lots of twists and turns in this story - very enjoyable ( )