I love romantic suspense and I am always on the look out for stories in the genre. 🎧︎ Finding Alex has been on my TBR for sometime now. However, the right time to read it never materialised until now. New to me author Helen Starbuck kept me engaged and entertained with her slow burn romantic suspense featuring an amnesiac heroine and a commitment phobia detective.
Title: Finding Alex
Author(s): Helen Starbuck
Narrator(s): Sebastian York, Tiffany Williams, Michael Pauley, Amy Deuchler, Johnny Heller
Published by The Audio Flow LLC on July 23, 2021
Pages: 342
Length: 10hrs 1min
Genre(s): Romantic Suspense
Source: Caffeinated PR
Format: Audiobook
Purchase: Amazon|Audible
Rating:
Heat Level:
Listening Length 10 hours 1 minute
Not Knowing Can Be Lethal
Assaulted, left for dead, and amnesic, the woman who thinks her name is Alex, may be the only surviving victim of a killer who's targeting prostitutes and leaving their bodies without fingertips to complicate their identification. Denver Homicide Detective Blake Halloran is sure she is connected to the other killings but he can't identify her, even with her fingertips intact. And she can't remember anything-including the face or name of the man who tried to kill her.
With each new victim, it becomes more crucial for Alex to remember what happened to her if Blake and his partner are to solve the murders, but how do you force someone to remember? As Blake's strong attraction to her and his need to protect her grows, so does his uneasiness about the inability to identify her, whether she's a villain or a victim, and whether her amnesia is real.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Summary
🎧︎ Finding Alex centres on detective Blake Hallaran and personally his life is riddled with emotional issues resulting in his keeping everyone at a distance. However, his unexplained pull towards the mysterious woman has him taking more than a professional interest in her safety.Â
Despite the predictably of the story, I enjoyed the time spent following the investigation. From the outset, I had a finger on the suspect, so the revelation came as no surprise. However, unexpected twists, coupled with some suspenseful moments, delivered some surprises.
The romance that developed between the protagonists was complex. The circumstances of the couple’s meeting, memory loss, Blake personal issues and the serial killer investigation added levels of ’complexity to their romance. They helped each other in working through their issues, although Blake didn’t make it easy.
Jane Doe was an interesting character. As information about her comes to light, the reader learns she suffered a lot in the past. Her experiences toughened her and taught to protect herself. The reader believed that her survival instincts honed from an obviously rough past kept her alive and aided in her escape from a deranged killer.
I had a great experience with Helen Starbuck and would definitely read more of her work if the opportunity arises.
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Narration
All the narrators, except for Sebastian York, are new to me. I enjoyed this full cast narration. Sebastian York was the voice of Blake and, like the seasoned narrator he is, he brought him to life. The other narrators also did their part in giving life to the story and voice to the characters.Â
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About Helen Starbuck
Helen Starbuck—no relation to the coffee bunch—lives in Arvada, Colorado, with her two cats and is a multiple award-winning author of Legacy of Secrets, Finding Alex, The Woman He Used to Know, and the Annie Collins Mystery Series.  Helen likes stories about strong women and interesting men. She writes her mysteries from the perspective of an OR nurse and relies on her love of suspense and romance to write her standalone romantic suspense novels. Her theory is, if you don’t like life as it is, you can always write a different ending.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
I have not read a book by Helen Starbuck, but she sounds good. Lovely review, Nadene!
Yes, it was a good one.
I enjoyed this one, too. I figured out the suspect early, but was into the characters and them getting it figured out. I’ve enjoyed another by her so I should get to her backlist of books some day.
Yes, the suspect was easy to identify. Its my first time reading her work and after this experience I do plan tp pick up more of her books.
I enjoyed this one too Nadene! Great review.
Thanks Kim. It was good a read for sure.
This sounds like one that I should pick up. I do love a full-cast audiobook.
Carole, I do believe you would enjoy this audiobook.