Mystery

I received this book as a one of my gifts from my children on Mothers day. They recognized the author as someone I read occasionally, but didn't realize this was part of a series. I haven't read a Patterson book in quite a while, and was unfamiliar with the series. I really liked it, enough so that I have added the first 3 books to my Amazon cart to purchase. I was almost hoping I wouldn't like it......I need another series to follow about like I need another whole in my head Lol! I'm a hopeless series fanatic Lol! I will add it to my ridiculously long list of series to keep up with...sigh.
Its the pretty standard detective-crime-thriller-suspense type plot. That said, the characters are likable, especially the main protagonist, Harriet Blue, she is a strong female done right. So, unfortunately, I will eagerly await future installments :) ( )

Note: Spoilers for previous books in this series.

This is the fourth book in a series featuring 36-year-old Sydney Detective Inspector Harriet “Harry” Blue. It begins four months after the previous book, when Harry killed serial killer Regan Banks, the man responsible for the death of her brother. Harry is now in prison at Johnsonborough Correcitonal Complex, where “someone tries to kill me at least once a day.”

Harry accepts responsibility for killing Regan. She respects the law, and acknowledges that “as a cop I shouldn’t have acted like I was above it.” But in fact, it seems that she is not the only one on the police force who stretches the law to achieve the desired ends. Nevertheless, as a cop in prison, she is now in danger every minute of every day.

Meanwhile, Deputy Police Commissioner Woods, who put Harry behind bars and suspended her partners, Tox Barnes and Ed Whittacker, is desperate. His 22-year old daughter Tonya and her 2-year-old little girl Rebel have been missing for eight days. He knows that Harry, Tox, and Whitt can get things done and he wants them to find his missing family. He goes to see Harry in jail and tells her he will let her out, and her team finds Tonya and Rebel, her charges will be dropped and Tox and Whitt will be reinstated. Otherwise they will remain suspended and she will go back to jail.

None of them are interested until other circumstances pull them in. For Harry, it is a murder in the jail for which her roommate, Dolly Quaddich, has been charged. But Harry knows the drug-addled and gentle Dolly could not have committed the crime. She wants to help Dolly, and needs to be on the outside to do it. Tox has his curiosity peaked, and Whitt needs a break from his punishing rehab regiment.

As the three pursue the case, they get help from the doctor, Chloe Bozer, who helped save Tox after Regan Banks almost killed him. They also find an unrelated mass grave while pursuing what turned out to be a dead end. But it leads them to an unexpected suspect, and a resolution to what happened to Tonya and Rebel.

Evaluation: As has been the pattern with this series, the bad guys tend to be non-nuanced and caricatured to say the least. The book is definitely a page turner, however. ( )

Hush, Hush was my favourite novel so far in the Detective Harriet Blue series. Now that Reagan Banks is dead, the authors were able to steer Harriet in a different direction which I thoroughly enjoyed and I thought the secondary characters played better roles than they have in previous books. I adore Pops! It was also lovely seeing poor Tox with a love interest at last. I hope it develops in the future.

I seriously like Harriet and she often had me smiling in this novel. She has grit, courage, persistence and compassion. She will happily bend the rules to breaking point (and sometimes beyond) to get 'her man;. She is also loyal to a fault to those she cares about. I liked seeing Harriet solve a missing person's case as it was different for her usual sex crimes but just as compelling.

As usual the pace was non-stop and the twist and turns were continual making Hush, Hush a quick, exciting read. I'm not sure where the authors are going with this series now, but I hope they continue writing novels which star Detective Harriet Blue; she is one of a kind. ( )

Harriet Blue is in prison for murder when Police Commissioner Woods offers her a way out. His daughter, Tonya, and his granddaughter, Rebel, are missing, and he want Harriet to find them. Harriet, along with Tox and Whitt, uncovers a drug operation, buried remains, and an extortion plot, as well as a murder at the prison.
I thought there was way too much going on in this story. But, it was a quick read, and I will read the next Harriet Blue novel, if there is one.
#Hush #JamesPatterson #CandiceFox ( )