By: Mary Burton
Forgotten Files, Book 1
Narrator: Christina Traister
ASIN: B01E0IWBQ8
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication Date: 5/24/2016
Format: Audio
My Rating: 4 Stars
At the grisly murder scene of a teen prostitute, Virginia state trooper Riley Tatum’s past roars back to haunt her. When she was a teenage runaway, she was kidnapped, drugged, and left unconscious on the streets. She has no memories of what happened, only strange recurring dreams of two men playing cards.
Former FBI agent Clay Bowman, Riley’s old flame, is Shield Security’s newest member. He’s plagued by the unsolved case of a serial killer nicknamed the Shark who murdered girls as part of a sadistic poker game. Only one girl survived. With the Shark now bent on evening that score, Clay has a chilling suspicion: Riley is the girl who escaped the Shark’s deadly amusement—and she is his next prey.
As the Shark gets ready to play his hand, can Riley and Clay stop him—or will this killer finally claim the one who got away?
Review to follow!
Advance Praise From Publishers Weekly
"Burton’s launches her Forgotten Files series with the dark tale of Riley Tatum, a Virginia state trooper who is still struggling to remember what happened when she was kidnapped in New Orleans as a teen. When she discovers a body that resembles her physically and has the same high-quality playing cards on it that were found on Riley years ago, she realizes that she might have escaped a worse fate than she imagined.
The case also brings in Clay Bowman, formerly both an FBI agent and Riley’s lover, who is now working for the private contractor Shield Security. Their personal reconnection increases as their investigation reveals more about Riley’s past and the titular villain, a man who makes his opponents in card games ante up young girls whom they must kill if they lose. Burton throws in a number of twists and a nice variety of characters, including Riley’s foster daughter, Hanna; Shield’s eponymous founder; and Duke, Riley’s father figure, who helped her get her life back together. This romantic thriller is tense, sexy, and pleasingly complex."
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling suspense author Mary Burton’s work has been compared to the works of James Patterson, * Lisa Gardner**, Lisa Jackson*** and Steig Larson.**** Her latest bestsellers, the just published Vulnerable, I’ll Never Let You Go, Cover Your Eyes, and Be Afraid, all feature Nashville’s preeminent law enforcement family, the Morgan’s. 2016’s Vulnerable completes the quartet. Her earlier, highly praised novels include The Seventh Victim, No Escape and You’re Not Safe. Her next novel, The Shark, debuts in May 2016 and is the first of her Forgotten Files novels. The author of twenty-nine published novels and five novellas, Mary is a member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Novelists, Inc., and Romance Writers of America.
A Richmond native, Mary has made her home there for most of her life. She is also writes contemporary women’s fiction as Mary Ellen Taylor. Read More
