The Body Reader (Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, #1)

by Anne Frasier

A Thriller Award winner, Best Paperback Original Novel.

For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept from the outside world. Held in an underground cell, her only contact was with her sadistic captor, and reading his face was her entire existence. Learning his every line, every movement, and every flicker of thought is what kept her alive.

After her experience with isolation and torture, she is left with a fierce desire for justice—and a heightened ability to interpret the body language of both the living and the dead. Despite colleagues’ doubts about her mental state, she resumes her role at Homicide. Her new partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, doesn’t trust her sanity, and he has a story of his own he’d rather keep hidden. But a killer is on the loose, murdering young women, so the detectives have no choice: they must work together to catch the madman before he strikes again. And no one knows madmen like Jude Fontaine.

• ISBN10: 1503935205
• ISBN13: 9781503935204
• Publish Date: 21 June 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Thomas & Mercer
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 302
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

The Body Reader by Anne Frasier delivers a standalone suspense thriller that pulls you in from the very first pages. Frasier introduces us to Detective Jude Fontaine on the night she escapes captivity from an underground cell that held her for three years. The tale that unfolds was riveting as she and her new partner Homicide Detective Uriah Ashby work a case involving missing woman.

The Body Reader offered several threads beginning with the impact the past three years have had on Jude. It has changed her personal life and the way she views cases, particularly bodies. This thread does not have any paranormal aspects but focuses on her "heightened senses."

The second thread involves missing girls, possible suicides, and cases Jude had previously been working. Young woman are going missing, others are committing suicide, and there a number of unsolved cases. . Fontaine’s ability to read bodies alerts her that a recent suicide involves foul play. An old photograph discovered in her personal effects and a thumb drive soon have Jude suspecting a serial killer. The author provided a tightly written mystery that felt genuine. I admired how effortlessly Frasier weaved all the threads together.

Other threads dealt with Jude’s childhood, and her family as we watching the developing friendship with her new partner. What developed from these threads was an engaging well-rounded tale that I devoured in just two sittings. If it were not for sleep, I probably would have read it in one.

Frasier did a wonderful job of fleshing out the characters and creating an authentic partnership between Detectives Ashby and Fontaine. They work well together and I enjoyed seeing them progress from strangers to full-fledge partners. There is no romantic element in the Body Reader but the relationship between Fontaine and Ashby allowed readers to experience an emotional connection.

My complaints are minor and none deterred from my reading experience. I would have liked to learning more about her captivity and her capture. A prequel would be nice. Also I am kind of bummed we won't get any other cases featuring Detectives Fontaine and Ashby. Yes I know I was delighted this was a standalone, and now I am bitching because I want more. What can I say? Bwahaha.

Free download thanks to Amazon Prime This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer