Book Recommendation: With a Vengeance

How often do you hear the cliche “Don’t judge a book by the cover”? I tend to operate that way in may aspects of life. However, Annette Dashofy’s new book With a Vengeance is easy to judge by the cover. When I saw an image of an ambulance with a shotgun sitting on the tailboard my first thought was, I need to read that.

The story is part of the Zoe Chambers mystery series. Don’t worry if you have not read other books in this series the story is self-contained enough to be a stand-alone book.

In the first pages, the story jumps right into the action. An EMS call to a rural trail ends up with EMTs shot. A sniper appears to have set up a trap to lure in the ambulance crew and take them out. Police Chief Pete Adams leads the investigation. Zoe Chambers is the chief’s girlfriend along with being a local paramedic.

When there is a second sniper attack on fire and EMS crews the chief feels the pressure to find the killer. He can’t afford to have more deaths in his city. He also has the personal goal of keeping his girlfriend safe. As long as the sniper is targeting EMS Zoe is not safe.

I liked how the author weaved some twists and turns into the investigation. It was not the run of the mill suspect identified, the suspect has an alibi, back to square one plot line. There are multiple suspects at the same time at one point in the plot. Some have an alibi; others do not. Information comes up to break an alibi, making someone a suspect again. The pages keep turning till the final big reveal.

One other thing I enjoyed about this book is the depiction of township public safety. Having once lived in a smaller city and was involved in the volunteer fire service, I crave books about volunteer fire/EMS services. I know many people come to RescueHumor with a volunteer background. This book paints the small town services in a good light. Something that is refreshing compared to the Barney Fife depictions found in other novels.

My only critique would be what I mentioned above about how it is “self-contained enough.” There were a good number of references to events in past books. While the author does provide some explanation into these past events, it takes you out of the current story.

Overall if you are looking for a good read, I highly recommend picking up a copy of With a Vengeance.

A free Ebook copy was provided by the publisher for this unbiased review