SERIAL DATE by DV Berkom
I always love to find mysteries with a female heroine with a unique fatal flaw, because that’s the way to a well-rounded character instead of a cardboard one. Madeleine “Leine” Basso, the main character in the series of the same name (11 books so far and counting) is a retired special operations assassin with more than one flaw.
Her past makes her present and future more than a little troubling.
SERIAL DATE, number 2 in the series, is a great introduction to a woman trying to shed her past, yet having to revisit it in order to survive. This makes for some raw psychological twists as well as page-turning action.
Determined to get her life in order, Leine leaves a dead-end situation in Seattle for Los Angles and the offer of a job as a security consultant to a hit reality TV show called Serial Date. On the show, beautiful young women get to date ex-cons posing as serial killers. Think The Bachelorette meets Dead Man Walking.
The premise is a brilliant poke in the eye for reality TV.
Right away, one of the female contestants is brutally murdered and her body hidden in the prop closet. This is not only the first crime, but the first clue that this story is going to have some dark, gruesome moments.
Ratings go up for Serial Date, which is as important to the show’s producers as finding the killer. The obvious choice of murderer is one of the bachelors on the show, but the detective in charge of the case is smarter than that.
Meanwhile, Leine’s past catches up to the present. Her estranged daughter April, whom she hasn’t seen in years, asks to stay with her. In short order, April goes missing. Leine sets out to find her.
April’s abductor claims to be the TV show’s real killer, significantly upping the stakes. Leine soon realizes that she will need every ounce of cunning she ever had to stop a killer and rescue her daughter.
Leine has a complex backstory (special operations, marriage, divorce, troubled daughter) and snippets are doled out so you don’t get lost in the narrative. Along the way she becomes a nicely 3-dimensional character, grappling with failed relationships and trying to find her place in a world she once took for granted. Leine is tough, but vulnerable,
especially when it comes to her daughter.
There’s a bit of mutual heat with the handsome police detective, adding more layers of complication and humanity to Leine’s character. Given all her baggage, will Leine ever have a normal relationship?
This is a hard-charging story with many moving parts and dark, heart-stopping scenes. Most characters are painted in shades of gray as they skate on the fine line between good and bad.
Take a deep breath and turn the page.
