The follow-up to Where the Blame Lies—Where the Truth Lives is a gripping, page-turning, romantic thriller that will leave you gasping for breath.
When the director of a local mental health hospital is found murdered and mutilated, Homicide Detective Reed Davies is first on scene. What was done to the body is gruesome. Inexplicable. But Reed is dealt another curveball when he finds that the … that the doctor who discovered the victim is someone Reed is intimately familiar with—a woman with whom he shared one passionate night weeks before.
Dr. Elizabeth Nolan is somehow tangled up in the crime, and even while Reed must now question her possible involvement, he can’t help being drawn to the beautiful, enigmatic woman.
As more bodies appear and the devious killer terrorizes Cincinnati, a shocking connection begins to emerge, one that not only involves Dr. Nolan, but Reed himself. A connection more twisted and elaborate than he can imagine. Now Reed must hunt the monster down, a killer who will stop at nothing to see his diabolical plan to its final, deadly conclusion.
more
Another amazing romantic suspense storyline! Filled with twist and turns that will have you hooked from beginning to end! I highly recommend you read Where the Blame Lies before reading this one to get the full experience. I loved Reed and from his past experience, he helps Liza realize her strength. A definite must read.
“There was a strange, terrible, beautiful, complicated universe inside them all where nothing was simply black or white.”
Wow! That was an exciting and suspenseful ride! The attention to detail left me feeling as if I were in the scene. The romance and suspense were tightly woven, equal in their capacity, to tell the story. Reed Davies was just the right blend of caring, thoughtful, intelligence and patience. Liza Nolan is strength personified. And just when I thought I had it figured out or what may be coming next – BAM – another crazy twist. Grappling with what’s right, just and unjust, and all those areas in between had me holding tight until the very end.
4.5/5 STARS
I loved Where The Blame Lies, so it was wonderful to read Reed’s story.
Yes, this book holds all the darkness and light of its prequel, and I loved how Mia Sheridan brings back beloved characters and how their lives and pasts collided with Reed and Elizabeth’s’.
A great thriller, haunting, dark, heartbreaking and yet, beautiful and hopeful, with the worst of the human being, but also the best; some people embrace darkness, some hold on the goodness and humanity…
Love, forgiveness, redemption, closure to overcome cruelty, tragedy and devastation.
It all comes full circle.
A must read.
***ARC Provided by the Author for an Honest Review***
Visit my French blog: https://isalacroqueusedelivres.wordpress.com
I feel like I’m at a loss for words after reading Where The Truth Lives. Every time I finish a Mia Sheridan book, I find myself saying this is the best book she’s ever written. But then she goes and outdoes herself and trust me when I say that Where The Truth Lives is no exception. This romantic thriller is one hell of a mind fuck and so emotionally crippling at times that I felt it deep down in my bones. The mystery, angst and suspense of it all and jaw dropping plot twists is beyond powerful. The storyline is raw and gritty and brought me to my knees. I was deeply engrossed from the beginning and consumed to the very end.
Everything about Reed from his noble, honorable, wonderful, heroic character and kind soul and Liza with her fighter personality, survival instincts, huge heart, brilliant mind and her selfless behavior was amazing. These two were more than deserving of each other and happiness. Their chemistry was immediate, undeniable and they made an exceptional couple. Where The Truth Lives is precisely executed, absolute perfection and without a doubt one of my top favorite books of 2020.
A chance meeting leads to a one night stand…and then to an unexpected murder mystery.
Liza Nolan never expected to see the hot man she picked up at a bar again. But she also never expected the hospital she works in would soon become the scene of a crime. Her past is tragic and she has overcome a lot to get where she is. She is an empathetic psychologist but has her own demons and issues. She has anxiety, fears, and considers herself damaged.
Reed Davies is a detective on the case. His past is also complicated and violent through no fault of his own, but ultimately he found himself in a good place due to the love of his family. But he still keeps trying to be the good guy and give back to the community. He is smart, sensitive, intuitive, loyal, and protective.
Their lives seem to keep getting intertwined as he searches for a serial killer. Connections are forming. Theories are evolving. A frightening picture begins to develop. But during the process, he is becoming fascinated by Liza’s strength and bravery. She has never had someone to actually lean on and have her back like Reed does. It is not a good time to get attached, but it begins to happen all the same. But they are in the midst of a dangerous dilemma with an unknown predator and no idea why people are being targeted.
This is a romantic suspense thriller coupled with a love story based on hope, acceptance, and trust.
It is full of connections, twists, surprises, questionable motivations, and danger. It makes you think. It shocks you. And it also makes you feel. Not everything is always black and white and this definitely has some situations in the grey territory.
But at the core of the story is the healing power of love and support and the strength that it can provide. And these two need all their wits about them and tenacity to solve this case…and survive.
It does have some familiar characters and is a follow up to Where the Blame Lies but it can technically be read as a stand-alone as pertinent details are explained. But I think the flow of the stories and characters really does work best together. I love who the hero in this book turned out to be. And I also felt like I got some needed closure from the first book as well.
I’ll start my review by saying…
WHAT A PROLOGUE!!!
If you’ve read Where the Blame Lies, this is the follow up to that book. You will enjoy this book so much more if you’ve read that book before because you get more information about the characters featured in that story. BUT, if you haven’t read WTBL, Where the Truth Lives can totally be read as a standalone. I just love these books as a pair and totally recommend both of them. Just trust me!
Where the Truth Lives hits all the right notes in everything I want in a romantic suspense. It is heavy on the mystery, ties in characters from past books, and shows character growth with the main protagonists while sprinkling in some romance. You get to see a woman confront her fears and her past, while trying to find her place in the world. You also get a man that just may be too perfect, but also has a past the contains his own darkness.
“You don’t have to be perfect to be good at your job. Maybe it’s better that you’re not.”
The book starts with a prologue that chills you to the bone. It is the foundation for everything that is to happen in the story from there on out but many years later. That is how Mia Sheridan connects the first book to this one. We get to visit past characters in Zack and Josie and are introduced to two new main characters, Reed and Liza who have a whole new mystery to solve.
This journey was intense and quite the roller coaster of emotions. It’s darkness seeps into your bones. There is evil in many characters that I was trying to keep track of “who could’ve done it”. Just when I would think one thing, I was thrown off my game. Not only did we get fully immersed into the story with such great characters (evil and not so evil), but we got to see a relationship blossom in the midst of the mystery taking place. The story was well crafted and the perfect combination of thrills and romance. The chemistry was undeniable and it was allowed to grow even as murders were taking place. While I especially liked following the detectives to each new murder, I really enjoyed being able to feel as if I was a part of the story and watching the characters piece together the mystery of the past and future.
Where The Truth Lives is a brilliantly composed story that will leave you feeling a bit creeped out, angry and sad, but yet vindicated with a sense of relief. I think the part that summed up the book for me was……
“Sometimes an evil man acted as a hero, and sometimes a victim became a tormentor. Criminals exhibited unexpected grace, and honest men had moments of great weakness. There was a strange, terrible, beautiful, complicated universe inside them all where nothing was simply black and white.”
A story of darkness and light where the gray wins. Enjoy the ride and come out stronger on the other side.
I’m loving the romantic suspense stories this author has been writing recently and after reading the fabulous Where the Blame Lies I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the follow up book, Where the Truth Lives. Although some characters from the previous book appear here, they’re woven into the story in exactly the right way without their roles becoming overwhelming. The plotline is very different and I absolutely loved both it’s unique complexity and labyrinth of twists and turns.
There is more of a mix of romance and suspense here I felt, but with an emphasis on the suspense side. The intricate plot is dark and intense at times and so cleverly multilayered it had me firmly in its grip. Once again I was permanently perched on the edge of my seat. It truly is that captivating. The crimes committed here are quite atrocious but I can’t even say I changed my mind about the perpetrator, because I seriously had no idea who it could be. What was the connection between the victims, other the way they met their demise and how far would the killer go before he, she, or even they, were caught? Of course, I’ve come to realise that with this author, and her love of the unexpected, (mine too), there’s no guarantee they will end up behind bars!
“Somewhere in there, Reed, in the midst of all those twisted pathways and shadowy corners is . . . where the truth lives.”
Gradually things began to unravel, as they did I wanted to pat this author on the back and congratulate her in some way, because the motives she created, the whys and wherefores were so inventive, and skilfully thought out they had me clapping my hands in glee. The revelations when they came were so satisfying.
I’m blown away by the versatility of this author when it comes to delivering such varied subject matter. With Where the Truth Lies, Ms Sheridan has created a fantastic whodunnit, one which kept me up late turning the pages. I sincerely hope she writes more of these wonderful thrillers in the future.
– 4.5 stars –
Where the Truth Lives is a great follow-up to Where the Blame Lies. I was already impressed by Mia Sheridan’s ability to write a romantic suspense, so I was pretty excited when she announced that she was writing another book in this subgenre. This book takes place in the future and focuses on Homicide Detective Reed Davies and Dr. Elizabeth Nolan, but you’ll get to see what the previous main characters are up to. The story was very intriguing and kept me guessing until the end. I think unpredictability is very important in this subgenre, and I think the author did an incredible job in that aspect. The suspense was also done really well, and I enjoyed seeing the detectives try to solve the case. It definitely wasn’t easy and I enjoyed not knowing what was going on, and trying to figure out how everything was connected. There were also a couple of unexpected twists that were incorporated perfectly into the story.
The chemistry between Reed and Elizabeth was strong and I thought they made a great couple. I loved that the main characters were wrestling with their own demons, and that the author really took the time for them to overcome those. There was no rushing and everything felt organic, which made me enjoy the development of the romance between Reed and Elizabeth more. Reed was just such an incredible guy and so supportive of Elizabeth. I completely fell in love with him. Where the Truth Lives is a very suspenseful romance novel. There were even moments where I couldn’t contain my tears, and that really shows how connected I was to the story and characters. I loved everything about this book, however I would’ve wanted for the main characters to spend more time together. Mia Sheridan is so talented and I really hope she will continue to write more books in this subgenre.
Where The Truth Lives is not for the faint of heart. It deals with abuse in its many forms among other. It’s also an edge of the seat, ball of dread in the pit of your stomach type of read that I enjoyed. I definitely recommend it.
Copy provided by author
What an amazing follow up to Where the Blame Lies!! From the minute I started reading the prologue of Where the Truth Lives, I knew I was going to be totally engrossed in this story. Talk about a heart stopper!
Mia is such a master at creating arresting characters that I cannot stop thinking about. I really loved both Reed and Liza. Reed is a police detective who is assigned the case of a murdered Director of a mental facility. When he arrives at the scene of the crime, he runs into Liza, who is a Psychologist working there. Lo and behold, these two have met before, having shared a passionate one night stand recently. Reed had felt an immediate connection with Liza, but he had woken up alone after their tryst and believed he would probably never see her again. And now, to find out she is the person who discovered the dead body of the case he’s working on? He’s torn between remaining professional and doing his job, and trying to get to know Liza more.
After reading Where the Blame Lies, I couldn’t stop wondering how things played out going forward for Josie and Zach. I mean, I pretty much knew how their lives together were going to be, but there was a loose thread dangling that I just could not stop thinking about. And Mia ties that loose thread up in the best of ways in Where the Truth Lies. My heart was so, so happy visiting with Josie and Zach twenty years later. For me, Josie is one of the strongest, most resilient characters that Mia has ever written, and it was so wonderful to see that she was still the strong, tenacious woman who had survived so much horror in her young life.
Once again Mia brings us a suspenseful, twisted story that had me guessing at every turn as to what was going to happen. She is such a master at leaving subtle clues along the way that as a reader had my mind spinning a mile a minute with all the possible scenarios that could be playing out.
I’m not going to lie, some parts of the story are not for the squeamish. Murders are occurring and they are gruesome. And it is up to Reed and his partner to solve the crimes before any more bodies pop up. I really was fascinated with this story! Being a Psychology geek myself, it was so interesting trying to get into the mind of whoever was committing these crimes.
Someone else pops up in this story that I wasn’t sure we would ever hear from again and those parts were the most fascinating of all for me. I feel like we finally got the closure we needed in regards to that previous storyline. Wow, just wow!!
The reader really gets taken on an emotional rollercoaster ride with this story. There’s a little bit of everything before the last page is turned. Mia always manages to suck me straight in and all I can do is hold on tight until I’ve read the last word. It’s a pulse pounding, nail biting read!!
I really think these suspense stories of Mia’s are becoming my favorites! I hope she plans to write more of them in the future!