Recluse - Book Review

By Jaycee Ford

Synopsis

You were my brother in the line of duty.
My partner.
My best friend.
You were the man who had it all.
Your thoroughness and precision made you a great cop.
It’s what got you killed.
And now I live with the darkening shadows of your memory.
You weren’t here when I needed you to save me.
You weren’t here when I needed help solving the most gruesome murder this town had ever seen.
But most of all, you weren’t here to keep me from falling in love with your wife.

Review

RECLUSE is the first book I’ve read from Jaycee Ford, and despite what I’m about to say below, I didn’t hate it. Honestly, I didn’t.

The first thing I need to point out is that RECLUSE ends in a cliffhanger, which was frustrating because the blurb makes no mention that it will end that way or that the murder will remain unsolved and continue on. Without any information at this time, I can only assume that the murder mystery will continue to be the focal point throughout this series until the final book, and at this stage I have no idea how many books that will be.

I don’t have much to say about Wyatt or Grace, because the story as a whole is fairly short and only half of it focuses on them and their changing relationship, so you don’t learn a lot about them. What you do learn is that Wyatt has spent the past several years filled with guilt lusting over his best friend’s wife, but a year on from his death, he comes to the realisation that his feelings for Grace aren’t going to go away, so he stops hiding them from her. Grace was a little skittish, but overall, she handled moving on to a new relationship very well.

The other half of the story focuses on the murder investigation, while at the same time introducing us to all the secondary characters. I had a lot of trouble keeping track of who everyone was, because sometimes a character would be called by their first name, but then they’d be called by their last name, which meant there were too many names to remember. I also struggled with the love-triangle situation everyone seemed to be in. Boy A wants Girl A, but is sleeping with Girl B, who really wants Boy B, while Boy C wants to sleep with Girl B, but really wants Girl C, and so-on and so-forth. It was all very confusing.

RECLUSE held my attention and was a fairly quick read, told only in Wyatt’s POV. With the exception of the prologue, the story takes place over a six day period. Judging by the ongoing murder mystery, the books in this series will need to be read in order. At this stage, I’m assuming each book will be about a different couple, but I’m honestly not sure given how this book ended for Wyatt and Grace. There was no epilogue and I felt their relationship was not completely settled. That being said, one could consider what happened between them at the end as a form of closure to their story, but I guess we’ll have to wait for the next book’s blurb to come out to know for sure. Will I continue with this series? I think so, but if I do, I’ll be waiting until the entire series has been released.