The Murder that Never Was by Andrea Kane Review!

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Bonnie Meadow Publishing LLC
Publication Date: May 17th, 2016
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN: 9781682320006
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Given the opportunity, would you assume someone else’s identity and leave your old life behind? A serendipitous crossing of paths between Lisa Barnes, a down-on-her-luck job seeker, and Julie Forman, a personal trainer to an Olympic hopeful, forever changes the course of both women’s lives. 

One winds up dead and the other finds herself a fugitive, hiding behind one lie after another as a cold-blooded killer methodically hunts her. Desperately trying to stay alive, the terrified woman enlists the help of Forensic Instincts, a rogue investigative team that clandestinely operates in the gray area between legal and illegal. 

Safeguarding their client’s deception, Forensic Instincts digs into dangerous territory as they try to find out who’s after their client and why. Meanwhile, bodies are piling up in Chicago, New Jersey, and Vermont as a megalomaniacal genius will stop at nothing to eradicate anyone who threatens the success of his medical breakthrough. 

With an unhinged client and a monstrous criminal enterprise as its adversary, Forensic Instincts is forced into uncharted territory to protect their client and save one of their own from becoming the next corpse. Forensic Instincts is an unorthodox, criminal investigative team that carefully navigates the fine line between legal and illegal. 

The team consists of a behaviorist, a former Navy SEAL, a techno-wiz, an intuitive, a pickpocket, a retired FBI agent, and a human scent evidence dog.”

Lincoln Park

Chicago, Illinois

May 17th

Lisa opened the front door and peeked down the street. The sun was starting to dip down toward the horizon, and there was still no sign of her benefactor.

The May evening was still warm enough to sit outside, and Lisa needed the air anyway. After a full day of waiting on rich women and a few hours of deep house cleaning, she was ready to relax.

She poured herself a glass of ice tea and went out to the front porch, sitting on the top step to enjoy the evening and wait for Julie to arrive.

About a half hour later, she spotted Julie coming down the street. She was striding angrily, gripping a bag in her hands. Even from a distance, Lisa could see that something was very wrong. As she approached, Lisa could see that she was shaking.

This wasn’t a bad mood. This was bad.

Lisa’s stomach clenched. She rose and put her ice tea on the small outdoor table.

She was just about to hurry down to see what was wrong when a car sped down the street, stopping right next to Julie. The passenger door flew open, and a barrel-chested man with tattoos on his arms stepped out. He was holding a gun.

Julie turned, startled, and dropped the bag she was carrying to the sidewalk.

She didn’t even have time to scream.

It happened in two seconds. Pop. Pop. Two muffled gunshots, straight into her head. The killer grabbed the bag off the sidewalk and jumped back into the car, which then screeched off.

Julie had crumpled to the street, blood gushing from her skull, the contents of her purse spilling out around her. Cosmetics, wallet, cell phone—everything rolled onto the street.

For an instant, Lisa froze, bile rising in her throat.

Then, she raced down the stairs and straight to Julie’s lifeless body.

She squatted down. No pulse. No sign of life. Julie was gone.

Had those bullets been meant for her? Had they found her after all these years?

Lisa’s head flew up, and she looked all around. The block was deserted. The killer had used a silencer, and no one had heard the shots but her.

It was just her.

What the hell should she do? If the drug ring was after her, they’d come for her again as soon as they realized they’d killed the wrong girl.

Unless they never found out.

Self-preservation took over. Lisa reached over and grabbed Julie’s wallet, cell phone, checkbook, keys—anything that could identify her as Julie Forman.

Digging into her own pocket, Lisa pulled out her ID wallet and dropped it next to Julie’s purse.

That’s all the time she had. She could already hear sirens approaching, which meant that someone had heard the screech of tires, and maybe even seen Julie’s body, and called for help. She prayed they hadn’t spotted her. She couldn’t wait around to find out.

Shaking violently, with tears of sorrow and panic splashing down her cheeks, she glanced one last time at Julie’s body.

Then she took off.

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The foregoing is excerpted from The Murder That Never Was by Andrea Kane. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from Bonnie Meadow Publishing LLC.

Author Bio:

ANDREA KANE’s psychological thriller, The Girl Who Disappeared Twice, became an instant New York Times bestseller, the latest in a long string of smash hits. With her acclaimed signature style of developing unforgettable characters and weaving them into carefully researched story lines, Kane has created Forensic Instincts, an eclectic team of maverick investigators. Recruited because of their special talents and dynamic personalities, the high-energy members thrive on blatantly disregarding authority. Armed with skills and talents honed by years in the FBI and Special Forces, and with training in behavioral and forensic psychology, this unstoppable team solves seemingly impossible cases while walking a fine line between assisting and enraging law enforcement.

With a worldwide following and novels published in over twenty languages, Kane is also the author of numerous romantic thrillers and historical romances. She lives in New Jersey with her family, where she is busily crafting a new challenge for Forensic Instincts.

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My Thoughts

I have been a fan of Andrea Kane but have not read anything by her in a long time. When offered a chance to read The Murder That Never Was, I found the title very intriguing. A psychological thriller about switched identities, with an underlying topic of the foster system, which I have come to learn a lot about lately, as a family member is currently fostering.

Julie Forman, a personal trainer meets and befriends Lisa Barnes when Lisa interviews for a job at her gym. Julie sees through Lisa's fake resume and offers her the job and to help her put her apartment in order. Julie see's a kindred spirit and ironically they resemble each other.

A young athlete and Olympic hopeful, Shannon, finds out that she has a heart condition and the cause of the problem is performance enhancing drugs. She is understandably upset and goes to Julie who has been keeping abreast of Shannon's training and finds that Shannon's trainer Jim has been giving Shannon the drugs. Julie breaks into the gym and finds incriminating evidence and plans to report the trainer. Before this can happen she is shot and killed walking home. Lisa happens to witness the shooting and afraid of what may happen to her if she reports herself a witness, assumes Julie's identity. With the help of her best friend Miles, Lisa does just that. Miles and Lisa have been friends that grew up together in the foster system and always have each others backs.

But things are not so simple and things go from bad to worse and Lisa enlists the assistance of an unorthodox investigation team to keep herself, her friend and Shannon safe from a killer bent on seeing that secrets stay secret. We are privy to the narcissistic scientist who wants to be known for the best drugs for athletes illegal or not, the Russian killer, the Forensic Instincts team. The Forensic Instincts team consists of a retired FBI agent a behaviorist, A reformed pickpocket, a tech wiz, a former Navy SEAL, an intuitive and a human-scent-evidence dog. Together, they push ethical and legal boundaries to justify the means. All of the characters in this novel are written with very human emotions and faults. This is a character driven novel with twists galore.

Will this group of people be enough to expose the corrupt organization? I can't tell you that but I can tell you that if you love a good thriller, then you can't go wrong with an Andrea Kane novel!

I received a copy of this book for review purposes.