Murder

A quick summation of my feelings about In Case of Emergency: quick and easy read, far-fetched plot, forgettable.

Once again, we have an intelligent, career-driven female lead who is beyond gullible in her personal life. Most children would have made wiser decisions than she did. Charlotte's gullibility and ridiculous behavior grated on my nerves throughout the story.

Genre is far more "drama/mystery" than the promised "thriller."

The premise is intriguing but far-fetched. The police investigation feels amateur, and I just couldn't make the leap with the big reveal.

One thing that drove me crazy was the constantly repeated detail of Jane Doe having "listed" Charlotte as her "emergency contact." That sets a specific expectation for the situation. The fact is, Jane Doe only happened to have a card in her pocket with Charlotte's name on it. Like a business card. That's not anywhere near the same thing as listing someone as an emergency contact, and homicide detectives certainly would know the difference.

Also, why oh why did every character call every other character "honey?" 48 times. Yes, I counted.

In the end, there's not a lot for me to recommend. But I'm in the minority so far. You might love this book.

*I received a review copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.* ( )

In Case of Emergency is the newly released second book from E.G. Scott.

As the book opens, we meet Charlotte. There's something in her background that she alludes to more than once, but doesn't define right away. She also is worried about her boyfriend Peter - she's not heard from him and is afraid he's missing. But he's told her his job is clandestine and she is not to worry when she doesn't hear from him. So, she doesn't go to the authorities. Instead, the authorities end up calling on her. There's a body she needs to identify as she was listed as the emergency contact. Problem is - she doesn't know the person.

Okay, I thought that was a great premise - so much could be done with this start. The missing boyfriend has lots of possibilities as well.

We also meet Rachel, Charlotte's friend and colleague. She too has secrets that end up taking a while to learn about. And yes, those slow reveals absolutely work in a suspense novel. But, I have to say the opening salvos were overly enigmatic.

There are many more plot twists and additions as things move forward. The red herrings were done well. But for me, it was tooooo much and way overdone. In the end, the final 'whodunit' was ridiculously unbelievable.

Here's the other thing - I didn't like either character at all. Charlotte is supposed to be brilliant, yet her actions speak otherwise. And this is just something that annoyed me - they two of them call each other 'honey' - over and over again.

E. G. Scott is the shared pseudonym of authors Elizabeth Keenan and Greg Wands. And upon discovering this, it explained much. In Case of Emergency reads like two people wrote it - and every idea that was brainstormed was included.

This one wasn't for me - but you can find lots of folks who enjoyed it. ( )