Trouble Comes Knocking

by Mary Duncanson

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

A New Adult Murder Mystery? Of course I had to try it out! It's nice to see NA branching out into genres other than Contemporary Romance, but Trouble Comes Knocking didn't totally work for me. It was fun, but not all the way over into fluffytown. It has some drama, but it wasn't at all angsty or intense. It falls somewhere in the middle, which was odd, and not all that satisfying. Lucy is twenty-two, lives with her aunt, and can't seem to hold down a job because of her special ability. She has a nearly photographic memory, and can't help but to share everything she sees, whether people want to hear it or not. When someone is murdered at the office she's worked at for three days, she pairs up with Officer Reyes to try to put her oddity to good use. Unfortunately for Lucy, someone is also after her, and it may or may not be the murderer.

One thing that really bothered me about Trouble Comes Knocking was how Lucy's photographic memory was handled. I was really interested in how this would help her solve cases, but it really only comes out when it's convenient. It's also constantly referred to as her "special ability", despite not having any ties to the supernatural. She was born with a gift, and there's nothing weird about it. However, being super duper observant and being able to remember everything she sees apparently also makes her psychic. Lucy is able to draw all kinds of crazy conclusions from what she sees, and I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. I don't doubt that people with eidetic memory are probably better at reading others, but that would come with years of observation and practice. Lucy was isolated for sixteen years, only interacting with her parents, and yet on her first day of high school she's able to guess all kinds of things. I don't think so. I wish the focus had been on her attention to detail, rather than on her being a know-it-all.

The actual murder mystery was also a bust. Lucy was suppose to return to the office, work as usual, and kind of spy for the police department in order to help with the case. However, she spends most of Trouble Comes Knocking calling in sick and sitting around at home or other characters' homes. She really doesn't do much at all. About halfway in, a new mystery is introduce, but it's all about Lucy's strange past. She's not who she thought she was, her parents aren't who she thought they were, and someone is trying really hard to find her. For good or for evil? I have no clue. I did like this part though, since it's quite unique. I definitely want to know more about what really happened to Lucy when she was a child, before her parents took her to live out in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully, this gets picked up in the next book.

I did like parts of Trouble Comes Knocking, but as a whole I found it strange. Lucy is a great character and I like her, but I wish her uniqueness had been presented better. The murder mystery was okay, but seemed to take the background to Lucy's personal mystery. The romance? Well, I don't know. Lucy and John are kind of cute. He's a normal guy, kind of boring, but normal. It does look like a love triangle is in the works, and I much prefer Eli to John, even though I don't think it could work out. Perhaps that will cause some awesome drama?

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.