Book Review: Obsession

I have been anxiously awaiting Traci Hunter Abramson’s new book, Obsession, and it was definitely worth the wait. I was a bit concerned because I knew it wasn’t part of her Saint Squad series, which I loved, but my concern was unwarranted. Obsession is another wonderful suspense with new characters that I grew to love.

Kendra Blake is a popular singer that is used to the spotlight. She comes from a prominent family where her father is an actor, so she’s had to deal with security and bodyguards from a young age. She has chafed under its restrictions until a bomb goes off at one of her concerts and she has to make a choice---accept the stifling security of her father, or go into hiding. She chooses to flee to a remote cabin where she meets Charlie Whitmore, a man who has more to him than meets the eye.

I really liked Charlie and his backstory. He’s one of the Whitmore family, whom we’ve met in previous novels, but Charlie is trying to break free from his own family issues and be his own man. I loved the hints toward some of his angst with what happened to an old partner, and an old love who wanted him more for his name than himself, and I thought the author really pulled it together in how these events affected him throughout the story. I also liked how honorable Charlie was, even in extreme circumstances, and felt the romance was developed at just the right pace. I also liked how vulnerable Kendra was, and thought that her responses to Charlie were quite genuine since she’d never really had a relationship before and was “new” on the dating scene so to speak. Some of the tender moments between Charlie and Kendra were definitely the kind you want to read twice just for the “sigh” factor.

I felt the characters were the strongest point in this story and was pleasantly surprised to see how the author pulled it all together in the end. I thought Abramson did a good job in the creepiness factor and I also thought the book was very well-edited except for one spelling mistake of “Capitol” building in the last chapters. I would even hesitate to mention that one, lest I be thought of as nitpicky, but it is a national landmark and all. Honestly, though, other than that one thing, this book was close to perfect in the editing department.

So, if you’re looking for a great LDS mystery/suspense, this is an exciting afternoon read, a nice escape into the world of FBI and rich and famous singers. Especially not to be missed if you are an Abramson fan.

Here is the back copy:

Pop singer Kendra Blake grew up in the spotlight as the daughter of a prominent actor. Now famous in her own right, she’s had enough with bodyguards shadowing her every move. So when a bomb goes off backstage at one of her concerts, she gives in to her urge to flee. In search of the privacy she’s lacked her whole life, Kendra escapes to a remote cabin in Arizona. Little does she know, FBI agent Charlie Whitmore has been assigned to keep her safe and is staying right across the street.

Stranded in severe weather, the two develop a friendship that hovers on the verge of romance—with Charlie frantically trying to keep his personal and work life separate and Kendra enjoying a new-found freedom from her glamorous world. But when law officials discover that there may be a link between a notorious serial killer and Kendra, she has far greater concerns than her independence