Book Review: Abandoned (Max Revere #5) by Allison Brennan @MinotaurBooks @Allison_Brennan#Abandoned #booksonthebookshelf #partner #bookreview #bookblogger #bookreviewer #bookblog

PUBLISHER: Minotaur Books

PUBLICATION DATE: August 14th, 2018

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Thank you to Minotaur Books for gifting me with a beautiful hardcover copy of this book to read and share my review with my followers.

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SYNOPSIS:

Investigative reporter Max Revere has cracked many cases, but the one investigation she’s never attempted is the mystery from her own past. Her mother abandoned her when she was nine, sending her periodic postcards, but never returning to reclaim her daughter. Seven years after the postcards stop coming, Martha Revere is declared legally dead, with no sign of what may have happened to her. Until now.

With a single clue―that her mother’s car disappeared sixteen years ago in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay―Max drops everything to finally seek the truth. As Max investigates, and her mother’s story unfolds, she realises that Martha teamed up with a con man. They travelled the world living off Martha’s trust and money they conned from others.

Though no one claims to know anything about Martha or her disappearance, Max suspects more than one person is lying. When she learns the FBI has an active investigation into the con man, Max knows she’s on the right path. But as Max digs into the dark secrets of this idyllic community, the only thing she might find is the same violent end as her mother.

New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan weaves the intimate, unputdownable story of an investigator confronting the most important–and most dangerous–mystery of her career.

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MY REVIEW:

Riveting, suspenseful, addicting! This book grabs your attention and keeps you hooked from the very beginning. This was the first book I have read by Allison Brennan and I was very impressed. She has a fabulous style of writing that keeps the reader engaged and hooked in the storyline.

Although this is book #5 in the Max Revere series it can be read as a standalone. I haven’t read the previous 4 books and it was no problem to follow the storyline. However, after reading this novel I definitely am interested in reading the previous 4 books following Max Revere’s character. She is one bad ass woman and I loved that! We need more books with a dominant female character as the main character in the book and this book was definitely one of those!

It was interesting to read about Max’s past with her mother Martha and get an understanding of what life with her mother Martha was like. At a very young age she was left with her grandparents, whom she never knew or met before, with her mother promising to be back at a later time.

Fast forward to the present and Max is determined to uncover the truth of what truly happened to her mother all those years ago. Why did she disappear. Did something happen to her? Did she purposely go into hiding so no one could find her? Had she done something awful that she was afraid someone would find her?

In her search to uncover the truth, Max meets a man named Gabriel. She is convinced he is hiding something and Max believes her knows more about her mother than he is letting on. But what could he possibly be hiding? Max is determined to uncover the truth. Max gets the feeling that this man Gabriel is nervous and spooked by the fact that Max is in town asking questions about her mother, but why?

This book is written in different timelines – the past and the present. Parts are written from Max’s point of view, parts are written by her mother Martha’s point of view, parts are written by Gabriel’s point of view, parts are written from a few more characters’ points of view. The various POV’s in the book give us a clearer understanding of what is going on and it wasn’t difficult to follow along at all.

Overall, without giving too much away about the book, I absolutely loved this book! It was addictive from the very beginning and I found myself unable to put it down. There were so many things going on in the book I kept wanting to read more and more to see what would happen next.

A complex set of characters in the book add to the greatness of this story. Max was a very fun character to read about, she was a badass woman with determination, drive, wit and charm.

If you love a good crime novel, then definitely read this book. I am sure you will not be disappointed!

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MY RATING: 5/5 stars