Caught between a sexy FBI agent and a sadistic serial killer, will single mom Rachel Montgomery make it out alive? After divorcing her abusive husband, Rachel Montgomery’s life is finally coming together. With a sudden promotion comes a catch: someone is using her new beeper to torture her with sick messages all hours of the day and night. Terrified to tell anyone about the beeper calls, Rachel … anyone about the beeper calls, Rachel suffers in silence. She could lose her job and who would believe her anyway?
Frank Tench, arrives in town as Rachel’s life explodes. As a Supervisory Special Agent of the BAU, he’s teaching the local cops about FBI methodology. His plan to use the outreach program to hide from the drama of his own divorce backfires when he meets Rachel. Fiery as she is fascinating, thoughts of Rachel haunt him, but when he’s asked to look into her best friend’s disappearance, he has to choose between his career and Rachel’s safety.
The moment Frank and Rachel get intimate, however, is a rude awakening–complete with its own graphic beeper message. Not only is she the killer’s next target, but he knows everything about her: where she lives, where she works, and where her children play. And now he’s pissed.
In this first stand-alone installment of the romantic suspense series by Angela Breen, we’re thrown into a world of difficult pasts, dangerous obsessions, and second chances. Rachel Montgomery, newly divorced mother of four, finds herself the dark obsession of a twisted serial killer.
Buy What’s in a Name? now to find out who makes it out alive!
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Single mother Rachel Montgomery has four young girls and had to have help to escape from her husband, after he almost killed her in an attack of jealousy and rage, which was not the first such event, but definitely the most extreme, has made a new life for herself and her girls, staying with her aunt. She is still in hiding from her ex and has a job at a local garage, but really wants to work in the back of the garage, working on cars, but her boss and one of the mechanics are both sexist and spend their time making rude comments about her and the fact she isn’t interested in either of them! Frank Trench is a Supervisory Special Agent with the FBI, who is off on a road trip, helping to educate local cops and sheriff’s departments on the work that the BAU do, and how to look at crimes from a profiler’s mind. He is also trying to avoid his ex-wife who also works in the same FBI office as him, after they divorced when he made it plain he didn’t want children and she did!
He stops off at the garage and meets Rachel and is struck by her and tries to ask her out, after asking for directions to the local police station. Another customer at the garage, who is turns out is her friend and colleague Crystal’s boyfriend, who no one else has met. Rachel is off men at the moment and concentrating on getting a place of her own for her and the girls, and finally be able to move out of her aunt’s place which is quite crowded. One of her daughters is missing her dad a lot and seems to have forgotten how he treated her mother, while the eldest daughter remembers it all ad tries to take the place of Rachel and help look after her sisters. She has to take on extra shifts as Crystal goes on holiday, but then she doesn’t reach her destination and is reported as missing, leaving Rachel being offered a temporary promotion!
The only problem comes with a bleeper she has to carry 24-7, to enable suppliers and others to get a hold of her whenever needed. Someone is using it to threaten her and leave sick messages! This person is obviously watching her and she can’t do anything about it as the police won’t believe her until she is actually injured! She doesn’t want to tell her boos, as he will just think her incapable of doing the job and she could lose her chance of moving out of her aunt’s. A horrific murder case in town keeps Frank at the local police station longer than he should and even though he finally asks Rachel out, each time, one or the other has to cancel due to work conflicts. When Crystal goes missing, he is asked to stay on and help with her case and it reminds him of an old case.
He starts looking for links to similar cases and they soon find a pattern of cases and even an old cold case his boss worked on. Women have been going missing, some have been found dead, and their boyfriends at the time could never be traced. Who is Crystal’s boyfriend and where is he now? Frank believes another stranger in town is possibly responsible, but the true identity of the perpetrator is even more surprising than you could imagine! The calls to Rachel’s beeper get more graphic and threatening, telling her that she is next and he is coming for her! As soon as Frank and Rachel get together and are in the midst of a romantic night, the person calls again and carries out a graphic and deadly act, as she listens in. She is his next victim ad he is terrorising her with this information. He wants her and will make sure no one else can have her. The fact that Frank is in the mix, now makes him a target for the killer’s anger.
Rachel has already had a hard life, with a biker ex who almost killed her and a mother that really doesn’t realise how bad a position she was in, and doesn’t want to even believe her either. Her new life is not perfect, with male work colleagues who think women are there for their gratification and don’t know how to treat women as anything but an object, and now she is the target of a serial killer, who has never been caught! Frank is too closely and personally involved in the case and this is affecting his judgement. He will do anything he can to keep her safe, even ignore his boss’ calls to return to the office. Two characters who have an instant attraction, but on paper should never work as they have such different wants for the future, but who are suffering and need a bit of company. That could become something more, but a serial killer is targeting them and they don’t know enough about each other to trust the stranger they have feelings for. How well do they know each other? Rachel doesn’t know who the strange caller is, it could be anyone and they seem to know a lot about her, where she lives and what her children are up to.
A fantastic read, with a lot going on, as Frank arrives to simply teach FBI methodology to the local cops and gets paired with an eager young cop with a desire to join the FBI in the investigation of a family murder in town and then a missing person case. Rachel is a strong woman who has had to escape severe domestic abuse, hiding in a new town away from her violent ex-husband, working in a dead end job and having caught the attention of both a charming FBI agent and a serial killer. The storyline just gets more and more complex, with a missing person case, a multiple murder case in town, cold cases finally being linked to a serial killer and a relationship becoming more than just a bit of much needed company. Great main characters and thrilling storyline with twists and turns to confuse the reader and leave you wondering until the end. Definitely one to recommend to others who love a thriller of a read! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
What’s in a Name? is the first book in the The Department of Second Chances series by Angela Breen. It’s also the first book I have read by Angela and I am sure it won’t be my last. I enjoy crime stories and with some romance thrown in and that was what it was.
Rachel is a single mom of four girls and works at the local gas station. She would love to work in the garage through and hoping to open her own one day. She just moved to town a year ago for a fresh start. To get away from her biker-clubbed ex-husband who was abusive. She doesn’t have the want or need to date. Her life is busy enough and even so, no one has caught her eye until he asked for directions.
Frank was in town to give a presentation on new equipment that can be used to catch a killer. He traveled for the FBI to train cops with new technology and know-how. He was only supposed to be there for a few days but when there is a family murdered, he wants to help. If he didn’t then he wouldn’t had been there when Rachel’s best friend and co-worker goes missing. They didn’t know if she left on her own or someone took her but he wanted to stay to find her. He felt something for Rachel the moment he saw her and he wants to be by her side. What they don’t expect is for Rachel to be the target…
Will they find Crystal in time? Will they catch a killer? And what will happen when the case is closed? Will he stay around or head back with life on the road?
Like I said I am a fan of crime. I am also a bit crazy about watching shows on serial killers so this was right up my alley. It had the suspense down. I enjoyed the romance as well. It was a good balance of the two. Rachel is a badass. Frank is intriguing. They have a banter. It’s definitely not a hearts and flowers love story. Its complicated from the start.
Quotes:
“Don’t be scared, Rachel,” he continued. “There’s no point in running. Or fighting what’s going to happen. You will be mine. One way—or the other.”
“Wait,” Jimmy said looking in the back seat. “Where are the stakeout snacks?”
“We don’t have time for snacks,” Frank answered, putting his seat back a little.
“Frank, you can’t stakeout without snacks. It’s against the law.”
“You’ve never—”
She shook her head. “I mean, I’ve had orgasms before. But never from—that.”
“No wonder you’re divorced.”
A good story with a well developed plot and with quite a few twists and turns to get you hooked till the end. Most unfortunately besides crime, the book also dabs at a reality that we quite often read in the papers – spouse abuse and children abuse. Too bad that even in the 21st century humanity is still so far away from being improved and people keep on being treated as property by some.
In spite of my above comments this is a good and entertaining book.
I downloaded a free copy of this book through Story Origin and this is my honest review.
Wow. Talk about a captivating, edge of your seat, and suspenseful story. If you love a good mystery that can keep you glued to your book, this is it. I was pulled in from the very first page and as the story continued to develop it got harder and harder to put the book down.
The storyline is believable and I have to say it is a bit unsettling knowing that something like this can happen (& probably has).
Rachel is a strong female lead and isn’t about to let some psycho control her, she is willing to fight and protect her family. Frank is a strong, determined FBI agent with an eye for crazy people. He won’t stop till Rachel is safe and the suspect is taken down or caught. He risks his job for her and doesn’t think twice about it.
This is an amazing start to the series and I am excited to see where Angela Breen takes it.
Rachel is a single mother of 4 beautiful little girls. She has escaped an abusive marriage and made a fresh start in another town. She has a job, friends and a place to call home. Rachel’s life is soon turned upside down when her friend goes missing, is believed to be dead and she begins to receive threatening messages from an unknown number…promising she’s next.
Frank Tench works for the BAU and happens to be teaching classes at the police station in the same town Rachel lives. They have seen each other around and are starting to move the flirtation to dating when Rachel’s life is thrown into chaos. It seems the threatening text messages aren’t from a stalker but a serial killer. Can Frank and his team figure out who he is before it’s too late?
Man what a read! I finished this one in less than 2 days . The writing is engaging and suspenseful…so much so I could barely put this down. I also enjoyed the romance portion as it did not take away from the story…it enhanced it. Rachel is a highly relatable character and I connected with her on so many different levels. I am definitely looking forward to more from this series.
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.