Tag: Jennifer Sturman

REVIEW: The Jinx by Jennifer Sturman

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Rachel Benjamin and her friends are back in this sequel to The Pact. Rachel and her boyfriend, Peter, both have business in Boston, so they can enjoy some quality time together in their bi-coastal relationship. It’s also Rachel’s annual reunion with her college friends. She’s looking forward to a lot of social time on her business trip!

But the odds are stacked against her as a friend and client asks for Rachel’s help right before someone tries to kill her. Is it the serial killer who’s been attacking prostitutes in Boston for months? Or the stalker sending creepy love notes? Or is it connected to the hostile takeover aimed at her friend’s business? Rachel will have her hands full as she tries to get to the bottom of things!

Review

The mystery in this one was outstanding! There were at least four things going on that Rachel was trying to figure out which meant I had a lot of puzzling out to do. And I only managed to figure out about 1.5 of them!

My only complaint was that there were moments early on when Rachel bothered me. I felt like her response to her boyfriend’s business obligations was shrill and not very understanding for someone in a high pressure job herself. It was off-putting. As the story evolved, I warmed up to her again. I started to think that maybe that behavior was part of the author trying to make her human and relate-able. That would also explain her penchant for deciding someone is a killer on something of a whim and then going all in on her (flawed) accusation.

I felt like this was a better mystery and better story than the first book. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in book three, The Key.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: The Pact by Jennifer Sturman

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

An almost wedding mystery. Rachel Benjamin and her college girlfriends made a pact, once upon a time, to save one another from bad relationships. When Emma’s deplorable fiance dies the night before the wedding, Rachel has to wonder if one of her friends followed through on The Pact.

If it wasn’t one of the girls, there aren’t many other choices. The only people at the property were wedding party members or family. Who would have taken such drastic steps to keep Emma and Richard from getting married?

Review

I read this series years ago, but didn’t remember much about it so I decided to read it again. Because I remembered so little, I was able to (unsuccessfully) try to guess at the culprit as if I was reading it for the first time.

The main characters  – the five college friends – are written well as distinct personalities. I hope the rest of the books in the series will give me a better sense of all five of them, as well as their significant others. I wanted to know more about them as I read this.

The mystery was delightfully twisty. I liked that it kept me guessing all the way through. There were plenty of possible culprits. And the motives were realistic and plausible. Rachel is an interesting sleuth. When she thinks someone did it, she goes all in! I’m looking forward to re-reading the other books in this series. This book did include some foul language.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥