In this third Jane Perry novel, Laurel Dewey takes Jane out of Denver to the small town of Midas where the Chief of Police is a close friend of Jane's boss. Jacob Van Gorden, the fifteen-year-old son of a prominent area businessman, has disappeared and all signs point to his abductor being Jordan Copeland, a man who committed a similar crime decades ago. Jane settles into this little community for much longer than she wants, living with a preacher and his family (including their eccentric teenage daughter who was Jacob's girlfriend). There are signs that Jacob is still alive, so the clock is ticking. And as Jane investigates Jordan Copeland, she begins to have doubts about his guilt and begins to uncover signs of devastating – and even deadly – secrets all around Midas.
Meanwhile, Jane must deal with two considerable secrets of her own. One hits her in the gut before she leaves Denver and the other creeps up on her from the most unlikely of places. And on top of this, Hank Ross, owner of a bar in Midas, has somehow managed to find a way beneath Jane's armor-plated defenses, forcing her to contend with feelings she hasn't allowed to surface for a very long time.
Revelations is the most powerful and personal Jane Perry novel yet. Teeming with the passions and ambiguities that make Laurel Dewey so compelling to read, it is a breathtaking story of mysteries revealed and withheld.
Synopsis taken from goodreads.
Title: Revelations (Jane Perry #3)
Author: Laurel Dewey
Genre: Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Publisher: The Story Plant
Publication Date: June 14, 2011
Format: Softcover
Source: Received from Tracee for the Pump Up Your Book blog tour. Many thanks goes to Tracee for sending me a copy of this book for review. I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
Tour: Pump Up Your Book
Look for it: Amazon
My rating: 4/5
Revelations is the third book in the Jane Perry mystery series. Jane has just received some devastating news, and is on her way in to work to take a short leave of absence, when her colleague Sergeant Weyler tells her that they will be heading to the town of Midas to help out an old friend of his with a baffling case. Grudgingly, Jane goes with Weyler, but when they arrive, she finds out that she isn't wanted there. She is ready to leave, but the bizarre qualities to the case have her focused on finding out what happened to Jake Van Gorden. In a surprising twist of fate, Jake, as he attempted to commit suicide, ended up being kidnapped. The plot thickens, and secrets roil to the forefront as Jane looks into every aspect of Jake's life. Midas isn't your run of the mill town either, and everyone has secrets that they don't want stirred up. Jane will have to dig deep if she is going to find Jake alive.
Revelations is a book that is aptly named. Secrets abound, and in the town of Midas, everyone has something to hide. When Jane starts poking around trying to uncover what happened the night Jake was kidnapped, she uncovers some interesting facts about the townspeople of Midas. She is a character that immediately evokes sympathy from the reader as they see her dealing or not dealing with her personal crisis. On top of that, she decides to quit smoking which compounds her frustrations and makes her quite irritable. She has a straightforward approach as is, but Weyler questions her as he realizes that something other than quitting smoking is bothering her. She ruffles feathers with Weyler's old friend, police chief Bo Lowry, right from the start which puts Weyler in an uncomfortable position.
Jane is a strong character, and she is determined to see the case through. She has made a connection to the case which won't allow her to give up. Her determination and grit, coupled with her thumbing her nose at Lowry makes this an intriguing, and captivating read. The many characters from the town of Midas also make this an excellent read as we get to see their eccentricities, and secrets come to light.
All in all, this is a thrilling, suspenseful and at times mystifying read. Laced with horror, this book calls out to the thriller junkie in all of us as we see secrets bared, and what lengths one will go to to keep everything buried. Even though this is the third novel in a series, it can easily be read as a standalone. The attention to the characters, detail, and the ominous sense of horror pervading the read will have you reading this one well into the night. This is one that I would definitely recommend to mystery and thriller lovers everywhere.
