Have You Seen Her?

Author: Karen Rose
Published Date: February 2004
Letter Grade: C+

Karen Rose is one of those unfortunate authors who seems to be very confused about what genre they are actually writing for. You see this often enough--Stephanie Laurens, for instance, my least favorite writer, seems to be laboring under the impression that she is writing some sort of detective novel, but really, it's just awful smut in obscenely large quantities, even by romance standards.

Ms. Rose's issue, it appears, is a decided confusion between "mystery" and "romance." There is such a thing as Romantic Suspense, but at some point you cross the line into just plane "Suspense" with a little "romance" thrown in for good measure.

The story's about Special Agent Steven Thatcher, a widower with 3 sons, the oldest of whom has taken a pretty sudden turn in attitude, the youngest of whom was kidnapped 6 months earlier, returned physically unharmed, but emotionally scarred (I haven't read it, so I can't be certain, but I think I might have seen a synopsis for one of her other books that eluded to this event), and the middle kid just likes turkey a lot. Anyway, Thatcher's trying to solve a series of disappearances/murders of local teenage girls, which brings us to the primary "mystery" part of our tale- Whodunnit? Whydunnit? Who-didn't-but-seems-to-havedunnit? What's with the detective from Seattle who's got an apparently personal beef with this case?

Throw in for good measure Dr. Jenna Marshall, Son #1's concerned chemistry teacher who has a thing against passing a failing student just because he's QB and his dad is determined that his kid be seen by college scouts.

What you get is a bunch of horny thirty-somethings acting like teenagers, a murderer who is a teenager, but thinks he's smarter than everyone else (they usually do) and a mess of false leads and Thatcher turning into Sex-y McSexSex the Jealous Type and various other things.

It was... eh. The book had its moments. The end made me raise an eyebrow (a little random? Yes, I think so) and Son #1's sudden and complete turnaround was undeniably random and abrupt, the reasoning behind it... eh. Not enough there to make me believe that a previously fabulous student could suddenly turn into a sullen, failing student.

I was a bit surprised by Whodunnit. I was figuring it wasn't going to be who they thought. I've read one other book by Rose (I'm Watching You) and am well-versed in the it-isn't-who-you're-expecting solution.

The book wasn't bad per se. Like I said, it had its moments where I really enjoyed it. I learned many new things about drugs. Don't quite remember if they ever really explained the little symbol they kept harping on. That, and props for writing a book with a redheaded hero. You don't see much of that. Plenty of redheaded heroines, though. And plenty of violet eyed ones--no props on originality for that one.

It's a decent read. It's long (499 pages) but it goes by fairly quickly. Both readingwise and book time-wise. (This one lasts about a month. "I'm Watching You" was a whole week. She's upping it, I see.) Like I said, it has plenty of mystery in to be at least somewhat interesting. And it's only 4.99. Y'all know how I feel about book prices...