Laura Griffin is well known for her romantic suspense novels, but this is the first book I have read by her. I must admit that romantic suspense isn’t really my go-to genre, but this novel’s synopsis seemed appealing so I decided to give it a try. I honestly think I’m a bit of an outlier with my review, and my inability to suspend disbelief for certain choices made this book not resonate with me as much as it would with those who really like romantic suspense. So take my review with a grain of salt and if you like the genre try it for yourself.
Last Seen Alone is a September 2021 release from Berkley Publishers
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
Up-and-coming attorney Leigh Larson fights for victims of sexual extortion, harassment, and online abuse. She is not afraid to go after the sleaziest targets to get payback for her clients. Leigh is laser-focused on her career—to the exclusion of everything else—until a seemingly routine case and a determined cop turn her world upside down.
Austin homicide detective Brandon Reynolds is no stranger to midnight callouts. But when he gets summoned to an abandoned car on a desolate road, he quickly realizes he’s dealing with an unusual crime scene. A pool of blood in the nearby woods suggests a brutal homicide. But where is the victim? The vehicle is registered to twenty-six-year-old Vanessa Adams. Searching the car, all Brandon finds is a smear of blood and a business card for Leigh Larson, attorney-at-law.
Vanessa had hired Leigh just before her disappearance, but Leigh has no leads on who could have wanted her dead. Faced with bewildering evidence and shocking twists, Leigh and Brandon must work against the clock to chase down a ruthless criminal who is out for vengeance.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 2.5 stars, rounded down for a stupid armchair detective attorney
The premise of this romantic suspense novel is pretty good. “Missing without a trace” books are my catnip, I can’t resist any of them. I’m honestly not a fan of romantic suspense, so maybe that’s where this book lost me. I love romance and I love suspense, but the two together often feels like one or the other is not given the development it needs. In this case, I thought both were kind of lacking.
The good:
Like I said, I liked the premise. At the beginning of the book we meet Vanessa who is being chased through the woods (after buying a gun) and disappears. The police find her abandoned vehicle and belongings and a large amount of blood in the woods, but Vanessa has vanished.
The overall suspense story and its conclusion, although a bit predictable, was decent. It flowed well and made sense, most of the dots were connected in the end.
The not-so good:
I didn’t feel any chemistry between attorney Leigh and detective Brandon. The first part is all about him investigating and getting distracted by her legs, her perfume, her chest, etc. Then all of a sudden without any development they kiss and then the next meeting they have sex. I didn’t get a sense of attraction growing between them other than the lust. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it just felt forced.
Leigh is a stupid armchair detective. She is repeatedly in danger, repeatedly told to step back into her lane as an attorney and leave the detective work to the police. Yet she ignores it over and over again. (Yet still Brandon is attracted to her, go figure). All for a client that she barely remembers and that she received a paltry retainer for. She obviously had a death wish or was just incredibly dumb to keep confronting suspects and investigating on her own.
If not for those things, I would have graded this book a bit higher. I just hate armchair detectives overall, especially when they are intelligent people who should know better. If readers do feel chemistry between the main characters they may be able to overlook the shortcomings of the investigation.
A side quirky thing I noticed, and it happened at least three times, if not more. There are scenes when Character One is either preparing food or has purchased take out. They offer food to Character Two (whose stomach is usually growling) and Character 2 declines. The food offer is presented at least once or twice more before the Character 2 finally gives in and eats (or they leave or get interrupted). It started to become a kind of joke for me because it happened over and over.
I divided my reading of this book between the print copy and the audiobook. I liked the narrator, Cynthia Farrell, and thought she did an excellent job giving voice to both the male and female characters. She kept me engaged and interested in the story.
Overall: I’m just not the right reader for this book. I overanalyze things that maybe some readers would let go. If you like romantic suspense and have enjoyed other books by this author, then you will probably enjoy this one.
