From a New York Times bestselling author comes the chilling follow-up to the Thriller Award winner The Body Reader.Months after discovering the mastermind behind her own kidnapping, Detective Jude Fontaine is dealing with the past the only way she knows how: by returning to every dark corner of it. But it’s a new, escalating series of mass slayings that has become her latest obsession at Homicide. her latest obsession at Homicide.
At first, Jude and her partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, can see no pattern to the seemingly random methods, the crime scenes, or the victims—until they’re approached by a brilliantly compulsive math professor. He believes that the madman’s next move is not incalculable; in fact, it’s all part of a sequential and ingenious numerical riddle. His theory is adding up. The body count is rising.
But when the latest victim is found in Jude’s apartment, the puzzle comes with a personal twist that’s going to test the breaking point of her already-fragile state of mind. For all she knows, her number may be up.
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The Body Counter
Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, Book 2
By: Anne Frasier
Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
A good follow up book but it wasn’t as good as book one but still good! A serial killer and it is messing with her slightly unstable mind. I think it went too overboard on our gal’s weakness instead of her strengths. I was a bit out off by that. Although I liked the book, I don’t think I will read more in the series if she is going to cripple the heroine so much.
The narration was excellent!
I have not read an Anne Frazier book that I haven’t liked. She writes darker mysteries, but they are always page turning, interesting and your not quite sure what’s going to happen next. When I see her name on a book, I never hesitate to buy it. She’s on my top 10 list of authors. This book, is the 2nd book in the series. I highly suggest you read the 1st book The Body Reader. It tells you how Detective Jude Fontaine became who she is now. I can’t wait for the next book.
Our two broken detectives are back with a dark and twisted tale of a killer using the Fibonacci sequence – the sequence goes 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and so on.. So as you can imagine the body count – hence the title of the book – is pretty high in this suspenseful thriller. There are lots of twists and turns through out the book – both with the investigation and with the introduction to a new character who should make future books very interesting.
Homicide detective Jude Fontaine is still dealing with emotional trauma of past. One on hand she is a tough, motorcycle riding excellent detective – on the other hand she wakes up every night screaming from nightmares. The author chooses a very unorthodox way for Jude to deal with demons in this book but yet you can understand her reasoning.
Her partner Uriah Ashby is also still trying to get over the grief and guilt of his wife’s suicide. Even as hard as it is for him he is helping the community to start a new program for suicide prevention. He and Jude’s bond as friends and partners also grows stronger everyday. These two broken halves fit perfectly together and hold the other up when needed.
This author has a great voice in the suspense/thriller genre and I can’t wait to see where she is going to take these characters next and what twisted killer she will next have Jude and Uriah tracking down in future books.
The Body Counter (Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, #2), my eighth read from author Anne Frasier and the second book in the Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries. Outstanding psychological thriller/mystery. 8-hours 31-minute/304-pages. I’m voluntarily reading & reviewing it because every great book needs reviews. Narrator Emily Sutton-Smith’s outstanding narration adds to the book’s enjoyment. I look forward to reading more in this series & from this author, in fact I just went out and bought The Body Keeper: Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, Book 3. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
Smallish spoiler.
Great book. I really enjoy Jude and Uriahs chemistry, its balanced nicely without the romance. Now if further into the series they become more than just partners I think I’d be okay with that. And if they dont I’d be okay with that too. I wasn’t all that surprised to find out about a step sibling or who it was, although I can’t wait to see how Jude takes it.
Excellent! Love Jude and Uriah (and Roof Cat). Lots of twists and surprises. Great story!
The second book in a series with female detective Jude and her partner Uriah in the Twin Cities. I love this series and each book can be read as a stand alone but read each one to see and feel the depths of each main character. It is not enough that Jude is still suffering from a three year horrific abduction and Uriah is still in pain over his wife’s death….they now must work together to solve crimes based on a math sequence.
For flavor, you have the seasons in Minnesota along with the coffee shops, universities and the rich and famous. And as one of the best plotted police procedurals, you get a real feel for the police and what they deal with at a crime scene…including the nightmares and gory images of death…because death is rarely pretty in a homicide.
Elliot is a neighbor in Jude’s apt. building and becomes involved in the homicide case. The only thing he and Jude have in common is their cats….maybe more. Jude is trying her to be a “normal” person but in a case like this, someone thinking a bit differently is a plus.
Looks can be deceiving as people meeting Clementine discover at their deaths. And these deaths are right out of a scary movie….gory but not detailed enough to turn you off reading the book….the gore serves a purpose, it is not gratuitous but necessary to the characters involved….think Chatles Manson type killers.
I read this book in one long reading as I was so intent on learning what was going on and I felt protective of Jude snd kept wondering who was next to be killed. And in this scenario, there is no safety in numbers!! The scene involving a woman opening a door and letting masked people in is still fresh in my mind…..the author lets the fear of the unknown build up and she delivers the chills!!
Don’t read this alone at night…..really.
Love Jude!
She’s trying to solve another nasty case and her partner is trying to figure out if she’s a nut. What more could you want?
Second book in a series with a compelling main character with an unusual backstory. Jude’s history of captivity continues to influence how she is seen, and how she navigates her life as a police detective. This book is more of a slow burn than a page turner, but the suspense builds steadily. Not exactly for the faint of heart, though!
I loved the book. Will recommend to my friends. Using my fire I carry the book where ever I go. It’s that good.
The Body Counter is the next book that follows Anne Frasier’s popular The Body Reader about a homicide detective who survived a heinous crime and is trying to actually live in the real world again. For three years Jude Fontaine was a captive held in a small basement cell and subjected to horrific torture both of the physical and mental kind. When she escapes and manages to solve her own mystery it doesn’t lead to the happily ever after most people would expect. In The Body Reader, we find Jude still in homicide, still feeling unmoored and detached from emotions when another crime comes calling. This time it seems like a murder spree that has no rhyme or meaning. With her partner Uriah Ashby, who also suffers from his own tormented past, Jude must find out who the murderer is before more are killed. The Body Reader is a fantastic suspense thriller that keeps you on edge, not because of what the villain might do but more on how the protagonist acts when faced with the crime. Jude Fontaine is a complicated, intensely deep and emotionally strong but fragile character and its her journey that makes this series so perfect.
Great read.
This is a great series in the making. Be sure to read the installment, The Body Reader, first.
With the first book in this series I was blown away if you haven’t read or listened to it you really must. The Body Counter is full of mystery around numbers and how the bodies add up and are displayed. Never in a million years would I have worked the meaning of it was. The author brings to life an amazing story of a serial killer who leaves few clues and no rhyme or reason for the killings as well as some wonderful characters on the hunt for a mad man before the bodies start adding up. I really loved how the author laid this out, keeping you guessing, the mystery as well as how it twisted leaving you hanging on the edge. A great plot with some great characters, from the first moment that I picked this up I couldn’t put it down and listened to it at one setting. I didn’t feel the connection that I did with Jude in the first book in this series but I still was hooked from the first page. It was very hard to work out who did it but at the same time you work out people involved, there is mystery, danger along with a lot of excitement, thrills, a few chills that had my mouth dropping, a few shocking scenes, as well as an adrenaline rush that will keep you hanging on. It is a story you don’t want to miss and one that will keep you guessing until the end.
Emily Sutton-Smith does an outstanding job of narration. She pulls you in giving you wonderful character voices with outstanding emotions never leaving you guessing what each character feels. Her tones are right on the money giving you a power listen full of feeling. Not much has changed from the first time I have listened to her, she does an outstanding job on Jude’s character giving you the flat voice you would come to expect of a woman who has been through so much. This is one narrator that knows how to give you an adrenaline hush keeping you spellbound until the end. Both her male and female voices are a delight really giving each character the tones and emotions you would expect them to have. There are no background noises, no volume changes and no repeating of words, I could not tell when a break was taken it was just one smooth, clear audio that I got lost in. She gives just the right amount of pause so the story sinks in and holds you spellbound. Just as she did with the first book in this series she held me from the first word until the last.
Jude is strong she has to be to deal with all she has, but she is weak, she doesn’t like to show emotions of any kind and those she does show are real. She is complex but yet easy to get to know. She is unique in so many ways, she knows who she is but is still finding her way. The house she was kept in still plays a very big role in her life. You feel sorry for her but at the same time she is your hero. There are so many mixed emotions going through your head as you listen to this audio, but I still feel that she is the sanest of us all. The author gives you a well-balanced story of horror, shock, delight, laughs, smiles and sorrow than turns your world upside down doing it all over again. It is well written and thought out leaving me in awe at how her mind works. The story moves around Jude touching on her past, I don’t feel you have to read the first book to know what is going on, but I am unsure why you won’t. It is the most powerful story with a mind-blowing plot just as this one is. Her partner is a sweetheart with issues of his own, there are some very troubling characters that will pull you in and a few that will shock you. I know I set with my mouth hung open more than once. There are no words to tell you just what a very talented author Ms. Frasier is and just how much this series has touched me. What an outstanding move this would make having you glued to your seats replaying it all over in your head again. It isn’t a book you will forget very easy.
The Body Counter is intense, action-paced thriller/mystery that is the second book in the Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries. The lead characters are often intense and tragic but always engaging. Jude Fontaine is a unique, memorable lead for any mystery story. Abducted and escaped after three years, Jude brings a unique perspective to any case with her ability to interrupt body language. Her partner, Uriah brings his own tragedy with him into every case and the friendship blossoming between the two is the dynamic that really drives the mystery. A spree killer keeps murdering random people and the only link seems to be a mathematical series of numbers called the Fibonacci sequence. As the violence ramps up so does the adrenaline that keeps you on the edge of your seat. High octane and chilling the story unfolds sometimes unexpectedly and definitely twisted for an easily addicting series. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.