When Death Draws Near by Carrie Stuart Parks

I usually do not like reading books written in the first person, but after reading Carrie Stuart Parks first book in her "Gwen Marcey", The Bones Will Speak (read my review here), I had to read her newest book in the series,  When Death Draws Near. I can honestly say I really enjoyed her first person voice in writing her books.

Blurb from back of book:

GWEN MARCEY TAKES DEATH IN STRIDE UNTIL SHE'S FACED WITH HER OWN MORTALITY.

Forensic artist Gwen Marcey is between jobs when she accepts temporary work in Pikeville, Kentucky--a small town facing big-city crime. 

Gwen suspects a connection between the rapist and the "accidental" deaths that are happening around town, but the local sheriff has little interest in her theories. When her digitally-obsessed teenage daughter joins her. Gwen turns her attention to a second assignment: going undercover in a serpent-handling church. She could get a handsome reward for uncovering illegal activity--a reward she desperately needs, as it seems her breast cancer has returned. But snakes aren't the only ones ready to kill. Can Gwen uncover the truth--and convince anyone to believe her--before she becomes a victim herself?

In a thrilling race against time, When Death Draws Near plunges us into cold-case murders, shady politics and a den of venomous suspects.

My Thoughts:

As mentioned above I usually don't like books written in first person, but Carrie Stuart Parks is a gifted author who handles writing first person point of view very well. In fact, her words pull you into the main characters head and she allows the reader to become one with the heroine. 

When Death Draws Near is a story that has a serial rapist on the loose along with church members who have meetings where their congregants handle snakes. I must say the thought of handling snakes made my skin crawl, but the author handled (no pun intended) the topic well.

I met Gwen Marcey in the first book of the series and grew to enjoy her job as a forensic artist. It was quite intriguing to say the least. In this, the second book in the series, the author allows us to learn more about Gwen personally. She is fighting a lot of personal battles and hopefully by book three they will be tied up tighter than at the end of this book.

The hero doesn't have a large part in this book but I was happy to know that after being someone I didn't think I would like I grew to appreciate his character and look forward to where his and Gwen's relationship might go in the next book. You notice I didn't mention his name. That was intentional. You'll need to discover him all by yourself.

I would recommend this book to any adult who loves a good suspense novel. I don't believe it is a book for younger people because of the subject content.

On a 5-Star scale - 4 Stars!

I would like to thank LitFuse Publicity and Thomas Nelson for my copy of When Death Draws Near. I received my copy for free in order to read it and give my honest review.

Smiles & Blessings,