Friday, April 15, 2016

Book Review: UNSCRUPULOUS (Circle City Mystery Series Book 5) by M. E. May

Synopsis

Christmas is only a week away, but not all is merry and bright for Sergeant Brent Freeman and his partner, newly promoted Detective Anne Samuels. They find themselves facing more than a homicide when they discover the victim’s five-year-old daughter, Maricella, is missing. When suspicion moves to human trafficking and gang involvement, the FBI sends in two of their best to assist in the investigation.

In the meantime, two people who insist her mother didn’t want her anymore have transported a terrified little Maricella out of state. Fortunately, she finds solace in two older children. These two soon realize their captors are prepping Maricella for organ harvesting. Their main goal becomes to protect her at any cost, even if it means running away in the snow and bitter cold temperatures of December without any knowledge of the area where they’re being held.

Can Maricella’s newfound protectors get her out of the house and to safety before the doctor decides she’s a transplant match? Will Brent discover where these unscrupulous persons are hiding the children before it’s too late?


Review

The murder of the mother and abduction of 5 year old Maricella set Brent and others in the Police Department on a gripping journey along with members of the FBI Human Trafficking unit and local Gang Units. They soon identify a string of missing children. The stakes continue to rise as their only leads as the death count rises. 

May depicts the plight of children kidnapped, the stories they might be told, and the intended outcomes. May also portrays the tensions and potential issues of police procedurals including the potential toll on personal levels.  This is the second of the Circle City Mystery series I've read.  These can easily be read as stand alones. My only warning: Plan ahead as you won't want to put the book down.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review.  This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

About the Author

M. E. May (Michele) lives in the Far Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. The fourth of five children, she was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and lived in central Indiana for the majority of her life. It is no wonder she chose the capital city of Indiana as the setting for the Circle City Mystery Series. She attended classes at Indiana University in Kokomo, Indiana, studying Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her interest in the psychology of humans sparked the curiosity to ask why they commit such heinous acts upon one another. Other interests in such areas as criminology and forensics have moved her to put her vast imagination to work writing fiction that is as accurate as possible. In doing so, she depicts societal struggles that pit those who understand humanity with those who are lost in a strange and dangerous world of their own making. Michele belongs to several organizations such as Chicago Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. She is currently the Vice President and Program Chair for Sisters in Crime Chicagoland and will graduate to President in 2016. The first novel in the Circle City Mystery Series, Perfidy, won the 2013 Lovey Award for Best First Novel at the Love is Murder Conference in Chicago. Michele was approached by a representative of Harlequin in February 2014 about this series and six months later signed her first Worldwide Mystery contract for Perfidy, which was published in July 2015. She has since written three more novels in the series which will be published in mass paperback starting with Inconspicuous in October 2015. She was also one of the featured authors in the anthology Hoosier Hoops and Hijinx with her short story “Uncle Vito and the Cheerleader.”

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