When twelve-year-old Sophie Williams went on a Girl Scout summer camp, she never returned home. Three months later, her body is found inside her sleeping bag in the most frequented area of Cocoa Beach, and the town is outraged. The girl isn’t just any child. She’s the town’s most beloved surf idol, and it was believed that she could be the next Kelly Slater. As another child, the son of a …
As another child, the son of a well-known senator is kidnapped, and the parents receive a disturbing video, FBI profiler Eva Rae Thomas — who has just returned to her hometown, divorced and out of a job — plunges into the investigation, breaking her promise to her children not to do police work again.
Local law enforcement, with her old flame Matt Miller in charge, are the ones who ask for her help in a case so unsettling that only she can solve it. But the deeper they dig, the deadlier it becomes for Matt and Eva Rae. Soon, everyone she holds dear is in grave danger as this case hits a little too close to home.
DON’T LIE TO ME is the first book in the Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Series and can be read as a standalone.
Scroll up and grab a heart-pounding mystery today.
more
Don’t Lie To Me is the first book in the Eva Rae Thomas series by Willow Rose. I found the book rather addictive and ended up reading into the early morning hours to learn what happened. Eva Rae, recently divorced, quits her job with the FBI. She returns with her children to her hometown, looking for a fresh start. She suddenly finds herself involved in a local, missing child case. The actions of her own children, reacting to the divorce, complicate matters.
Eva Rae returns to her hometown as an ex-FBI profiler. She has promised her children she is done with police work, but when one child is found dead and another is kidnapped she can’t help but get involved. Matt Miller, the local law enforcement asked for her help. He is also an ex-flame of hers. The more they investigate, the more dangerous it becomes, especially for those Eva hold near and dear. Can they stop this person before it is too late? You will need to read the book to find out.
This is my first book by Willow Rose and I really enjoyed the many twists and turns and the fast pace.
The main character is intriguing and we catch her when she’s on the rebound from a devastating divorce and some kind of mysterious mistake that cost her her job as an FBI profiler. She’s moved home to a small town in Florida on the eve of a murder of the town’s biggest surf star.
The mystery twists tighter and tighter, and we come to watch how it hits very close to home for our heroine. There were many surprises in this story that delighted me.
While the mystery was well done, so was the life of our hero as a struggling single mom. As a working mom, I could relate to her situation. As a reader, I would have wanted more of an escape from my mommy life, but I’m sure lots of readers will love feeling at ease with Eva Rae because she comes off as so easy to empathize with. Haven’t we all forgotten to buy groceries or remember what time to pick our kid up from an activity?
Because of all the turmoil this mystery brings to Eva Rae’s family, I can hardly imagine how she’s going to pick up the pieces of her life and move on in the next book in the series. I also wonder if she’ll start working again or only dabble from the sidelines, like in this book.
I’ll definitely read the next, and I see there’s quite a backlist from Willow to enjoy!
I’m an author who shares some of the same readers as Willow Rose so I decided to read her book, Don’t Lie to Me. I was impressed. This was a suspenseful mystery with an ending I didn’t see coming. Her characterization was right on. Some of the transitional chapters were confusing. That could be easily remedied by putting the character’s name in the chapter heading, like Then worked for the past. Highly recommended. I’ll read her again.
This was a fast paced but choppy story about Eva Ray Thomas investigating some missing and murdered children. Eva Ray is a newly divorced single mother who has also just left her profession as a FBI agent to work on her book writing. I had a difficult time liking Eva Ray. She was a forgetful, even neglectful, mother and a non-methodical investigative agent. Her profession as a FBI agent seemed implausible given her scattered actions. The romance with Matt also seemed unrealistic as there was no romantic interactions between the two. I liked the twist at the end however the reactions upon the discovery of the shocking news was so underplayed, it was absurd.
I received a free copy from Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.
An FBI thriller. keeps up the tension and horror.
Willow Rose has a wonderful ability to write these complex storylines with multiple characters and pull them all together for a stunning conclusion. They are fast reads that keep you guessing until the end. If you enjoy stories that keep you involved these are for you. This particular book was inspired by the author’s admission of reading about Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. I think this is the first book that I have read where this is part of the story. It was a wonderful inclusion and it was a surprise as to which character was the victim of their mother’s disease.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for an unbiased review.
Eva retired from the FBI and now is a newly single mother of three kids. She finds the body of a little girl that went missing from a summer camp. Eva comes out of retirement to help Cocoa Beach Detective Matt Miller to solve this murder. Honestly this is the first book i’ve read by Willow Rose, enough tho I collect her books when they are free on amazon. I like Eva, she is so relatable. Trying to be super mom, working and raising kids. I like detective novels and I surely will be checking out the rest of this series and the other series that WIllow Rose writes. I was previously interested in the Rebekka Franck series and kept putting further down the tbr list, now is the time. I highly recommend this book.
A woman that had been missing and presumed dead is pulled from the lake by a fisherman. Nancy Henry had been missing for five years she has returned to find her husband has remarried to his secretary. Her children have moved out and on with their lives.
Nancy has no memory of that awful night five years ago. But her memory is slowly returning to her. No one knew or heard a thing on that night so long ago. But now five years later witnesses are coming forward. As her memory returns Nancy remembers that her husband tried to kill her on that horrific night without success he kept her locked up.
Before long more bodies start to turn up, someone is taking out the witness. Someone wants what happened on that awful, awful night to stay hidden forever. As more and more of that night comes out so does the truth.
The deeper Eva Rae gets into her investigation as to what happened to Nancy on that awful night and the more people she interviews more and more of the story is revealed and once all the cards are laid out on the table and the more secrets are revealed and you have all the answers it will shock you to the core.
Not Dead Yet was so very intriguing with all its twists and turns that there was no way I could put it down until I had read the last page. I honestly could not turn the pages fast enough with all its suspense I had to know how it all turned out.
I highly recommend Not Dead Yet to mystery and thriller fans. One-click your copy of Not Dead Yet!
Great Read! The whole series was worth every second of my time. I’m excited about this new author I found and I’m flowing through all of her thriller series at a cant stop reading speed.
This review is for the audio book.
I have listened to all the author’s Jack Ryder books, so thought I would give this series ago too. The book is written in the same style as the Jack books with the story jumping around in time, explaining why the killer turned out that way. This does mean the story can become confusing but it is worth it in the end and I never saw the out come coming. The story is very much based around the main character and her family as she tries to find the missing children, home life isn’t simple and with the main character damaged by an event in her past it makes for a roller coaster ride. The killer has a strong message to get across and it does make you think about the world we live in now. Off to start the next book to see where the author takes us next.
FBI agent Eva Rae has given up her high demanding job after her husband leaves her as a single mother of three to return to her home town and family. She doesn’t get the quiet life she planned for because her home town is hiding a deadly secret. Children of divorced parents are going missing. Some have never turned up and others there bodies are being put on display. Eva is asked by her old boyfriend and the detective on the case for help. Especially when he receives a video of his own son trapped in a box. Can the pair out wit a deadly killer that likes to play games with children lives? Eva being a single parent herself starts to worry just what kind of place she has moved her children to and with time running out on the latest missing child, just who has the killer got his eyes on next?
The I liked the narrator she uses her voice well adding excitement and tension to the story, as well as a number of voices for the characters
This was my first book by Willow Rose and it was a first in the series. That being said, I might give this author another try after this book. I did enjoy the mystery surrounding the missing children and murders; but the transitions from ‘then’ to ‘now’ and sometimes from one character’s perspective to the next got a little perplexing. With an ‘retired FBI’ profiler just popping into an investigation was also not easy to understand as to why law enforcement in that area would accommodate so quickly. Not in real life….would they give so much leeway, one would think.
It does have an Interesting plot, but way too many subplots!! And that was one other thing that kept me confused at times. Backstories are good, but not so many at one time, maybe. Save them for the next books.
I can see the ending being a ‘hook’ for more to come about the dynamics of the family, Sydney’s disappearance, and the love life of the main characters. Even though this book on my Kindle was 277 pages with 91 chapters, it felt too long for my taste.
Love this series! I’m totally hooked.
This was my first introduction to the author, Willow Rose. I’m excited to check.out some of her other books.
Willow Rose is an incredible writer. Each novel is original; nothing is repeated, and the mystery is always mysterious! Love her!
This book was pretty good, except that the author keeps jumping back & forth in time & going to different characters’ point of view suddenly…it’s very hard to keep track of & confusing. And the ending doesn’t say what happened to Sydney – why??
This author writes complicated, layered read and sometimes that can be a bad thing. In this case I am on the fence. While I loved the mystery and the lies and the reasoning behind it all it really doesn’t put Eva or Matt in a good light. Seeing that their job is to catch the bad guys it’s really hard to believe that all of the revelations in this story weren’t somehow seen sooner. Even the explanation that was kinda thrown in there at the end was weak. The thing is even with that it turns out a decent read. I haven’t read much of this author’s work but I thought I would work my way through this series. I do love a good mystery and so far she has shown she can do that well. I also love that the side stories while it didn’t really help me believe in Eva’s skills it did keep me tuned in and that’s always a plus. I turned to this book when 2 others failed to hold my interest and I can say I am glad I did. That fact alone earned it an extra star. One things for sure, there is a whole lot going on so be prepared to keep track.
I’ve read many of Willow Rose’s books and I’m a fan of her writing styles. This new series with Eva Rae had subplots and characters that kept me absorbed and turning pages. Twisted with a shocking ending is what Ms Rose does best and Eva Rae Thomas Mystery book 1 does not disappoint. I look forward to book 2, and more mystery with a shock.
Willow Rose has weaves her hair tingling stories into my soul. After finishing my 2nd book by her, she’s just entered into my small list of favorite murder mystery authors.
Don’t Lie To Me, Eva Rae Thomas Series, was phenomenal, a mind blowing, nail biting- child-abduction story.
As each child goes missing, Eva is pulled back in, even though she’s moved back home and away from Washington D.C. and her FBI role, she can’t let her gut instincts stop her from getting involved.
As the abductions turn personal she knows she has to move fast.
Do not miss this 1st book, it will fuel your love of suspense.
I didn’t guess the ending.