Stay Dead (Elise Sandburg #2)

Like everyone else, I was sure I had missed a book or at least a short story bridge to explain what was going on in this story. It\’s bad planning of an author to take readers on a ride for a series and just throw random information in as if it\’s something they should know. Take the time, develop your back story, don\’t slip it in bits and pieces and act like we\’re supposed to know what the hell you\’re talking about. All it shows is make readers wonder what happened to that character they thought they knew. I loved the first story and this one just felt like it couldn\’t bother to give me any information or imagination.

As many reviews have already stated this installment of the Elise Sandburg series got off to a confusing start. I wasn\’t sure who the Organ Thief was either (he hadn\’t been mentioned in Book One), but I didn\’t think it detracted from the plot line or took my attention away from the book. I particularly enjoy the Elise character, finding her emotionally hard and soft at the same time. Put her and David together and it makes for an interesting juxtaposition. Both of them are damaged by death, their cases and their personal lives, but their differences are what really sets them apart and I think is the attraction. Elise\’s belief in the supernatural and the power of root medicine balanced against David\’s more grounded approach. I just began Book 3. It doesn\’t seem to have the time distortion that #2 did.

WOW talk about coming out of left field! What the heck happened to the 2.5 yrs since the last book? SPOILERS! Unlike Play Dead this book was all over the place and the author took a perfectly strong developed character and turned her into a TSTL (too stupid to live). First, I was sure that I had missed not one but maybe 2 books since the last one. So much so that I went back to kindle store 3 or 4 times searching for them. I was so lost for the first 1/2 of the book I almost did a review and didn\’t finish it. The author missed so much by doing the book this way that even though I have downloaded the 3rd in the series I may not read it. As stated earlier, this book takes up 2 to 2 1/2 yrs later so we have missed the ENTIRE development between Elise and Strata Luna bc now they are \’friends\’ and Luna perceives her as more of a daughter. We missed the entire segue with the daughter from living happily with her father, step brothers and step mother and not having much to do with her mother to now being so afraid for her she gets on a plane to come home at the age of 15 and this was her first trip, WHAT? I could barely buy car insurance much less fly home on an international flight at that age. And if she is living with her mother then WHERE have they been living bc the house is uninhabitable and under construction. Again, 2 yrs later. We missed the entire kidnapping (stupid though it was) and were left feeling like a fish out of water. David is still great but the rest of the book is just a mess going back and forth and there is no story development at all, we are presented with a Detective in the first book who did one stupid thing, to someone who is TSTL. She is tortured for days and she still is recovering with a cast on her feet, crutches etc and she gets mad and goes off on her own. OMG, really? And OF COURSE she is kidnapped again bc now she and David BOTH are TSTL. I am so disappointed in this book I just wanted to pull my hair out.

The start of this book is quite confusing, especially if you read immediately after reading the first book. Considering how the first book ends, it\’s almost natural, given what is happening, that you think almost no time has gone by, and yet there is a massive amount of time between the two books. I\’ll be honest and say I felt lost and had to double check that I hadn\’t some how skipped a book. Time also seems off in how things are described, almost as if Ms. Fraiser herself hadn\’t decided how much time had passed. In terms of the daughters age it seemed as if 2 years have gone by but then there are other things referenced that make it seem as if only 1 year has gone by. All that aside, it does end up being quite a good story. If not for the confusing start I\’d have likely have rated it 4 stars, but it really was jarring enough to make have to not it down a notch. Trust me, stick with it. It\’s worth it. And definitely pick up the 3rd one!

A homicide detective and her former FBI partner have a sickening killer to catch, one who seems to be dealing in body parts. that\’s the only part of the Mo that is consistent because the victims vary in every other aspect. The answers lie in their past they just don\’t know it yet. Elise is on sick leave following her abduction and tortured by a man thought to have been the killer, he now lies in a local hospital in a coma. She and her partner David wish he were dead and could so easily do it and no one would know but something stops them, a need for more answers Why the killing , why the body parts, why was she kidnapped, why wasn\’t she killed. determined to get back to work early Elise feigns readiness for duty placing her yet again in danger. Can David save her in time he fears he failed her the first time Did He? guilt is a terrible companion and he carries enough around for both of them. They have an unlikely faithful companion is a local madam who deals in the dark arts. Their individual lives and existence is all entwined in each other. This is a great read though I was a little disappointed in the ending as I feel story has not ended hence the wish I realised it was a series so I could read them in order. Can\’t wait for the next one. Elise and David need to know they belong together.

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