The First Victim – JB Lynn

She was like all the other victims. Naked, flawed, helpless…

Fifteen years ago, Emily Wright barely escaped from a serial killer dubbed the Baby Doll Strangler. She wants nothing to do with the small town where she was abducted, but when her father is hospitalized she reluctantly returns home to care for her teenage sister.

When her sister’s friend is killed and left in front of Emily’s house, Emily begins to relive the nightmare she endured long ago. Soon she realizes that her sister, too, is in danger from the killer—and the only person who can help is the man Emily left behind: Deputy Bailey O’Neil. Together, Emily and Bailey must discover the killer’s identity before he claims his next victim…

72,000 words

This was a good one.  Very suspenseful and kept you guessing on who the Baby Doll Killer was until the end (I flip flopped a couple times on who it could have been).

Emily Wright was abducted when she was sixteen.  She spent three days with her abductor, but managed to escape.  She’s lived with the trauma from her three day ordeal ever since; abandoning her family, friends, hometown and her one time best friend and crush Bailey O’Neill in an effort to have some semblance of a normal life.

She’s called back to Lakeside Acres, Pennsylvania to care for her sister after a boating accident lands her father in the hospital.  She dreads it,  but goes for the sake of her little sister.  

JB Lynn wastes no time getting us absorbed and the Baby Doll Killer wastes no time with his plans to get the one who got away!

There were some places where little items would get thrown out there (like Bailey once working for the FBI, but no explanation on why he was back home), but those didn’t take away from the story.

Emily was a great character.  Despite everything that she has been through, she choked back her fear to come home for her sister.  As Emily went through the story, you sensed her fear and apprehension at every corner, yet she was there for her sister despite that.  And when her sister really needed her, she totally stepped up and sacrificed herself to ensure her sister never had to deal with what she had.

Would have enjoyed a little bit more of a relationship development between Bailey and Emily, but even with the lack of that, the story was still strong.

4 Cocktails