Review – When a Heart Stops

Medical examiner, Serena Hopkins, is used to handling dead bodies, but the serial killer seems to be targeting women in her graduating class of high school. Not only that, but the person wants something Serena has. But she holds that secret close to her heart.

FBI agent Dominic Allen is home on medical leave and when the body count begins and starts rising, he asks to be assigned to the case. The killer seems to be a copycat, mimicking a man who was known as the Doll Maker Killer. He killed a body and then left it with a doll designed to look just like her.

As the body count rises, it becomes increasingly clear that Serena will be the ultimate—and final—target. But what will it take to find the killer before the killer wins the game?

WHEN A HEART STOPS is the second book to Ms. Eason’s Deadly Reunion series. Readers will want to read When the Smoke Clears first, since the whole story starts there and there are some loose ends in the first book—and there are some loose ends in this book that are not neatly tied up, but I’m sure we’ll discover why in the final book in the series coming in 2013.

Serena and Dominic both were realistic characters, struggling with their pasts, and the murders that are occurring and with their attraction for each other. There isn’t much of a faith message in the book—some prayer—but that is about it. I did figure out who the killer was fairly early on, but I couldn’t figure out why the killer didn’t act and I wanted to find out why. A gripping story that kept me on the edge of my seat.