Reviews

Face Her Fear by Lisa Regan

zooloo1983's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Slowly catching up with this series but this one was slightly different...Josie was on her own!! It felt very much like a locked room mystery because Josie was locked in the snow up a mountain. 

So much to unpack with this one, but Mets...Oh, sweet Mets..... that's all I will say. 

Noah and Josie have had a falling out - blasphemous indeed! She goes on a retreat but the snow comes down and then the bodies start to come out. Noah is trying to get to Josie, but he has been prevented... it was intense! 

This had a different feel to it, Josie being secluded, forced her to look at things differently, and more into herself. This self-reflection is definitely what she needed. I re-read my review for Book 18 and I ended it by saying I hope Josie goes on her retreat, boy do I regret that now!!! 

It was completely messed up, and I'm not sure we got all our answers but it was a sad tale, aren't they always? But riveting! 

As always Kate Handford knocks it out of the park with her narration of everyone, and she amplifies the fear and tension as we are in a race against time with the elements! Boy did I feel it! 

Not my favourite in the series but it was good for Josie to get Josie time and self-reflect and I am intrigued to see how this will change her! 
Not a fan of the newbie either, but I do hope he turns that around!!!!! 

anintrovertreads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

kalleigh's review

4.0

As usual, a gripping read from Lisa Regan and the Josie Quinn universe! I loved the break from the norm, mixing up the setting from the usual Denton. There was just enough mayhem to cause confusion about who and where and when, making the ending a twisty ride. Loved the nods to Mett and the introduction of the new detective… looking forward to the next installment!

bookedwithmel's review against another edition

4.25

I don’t read many ‘locked room’ mysteries, but this one definitely gripped me from the very beginning. It was hard to not like most of these characters, which I’ve found unusual in thrillers that I’ve read so far. I spent a lot of the book going back and forth between a couple of scenarios trying to figure out who the killer was; which always makes for a book I can’t put down. 

I haven’t read any of the others books in this series, but I’m definitely going to be picking them up. 

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC of this book.

courtreads82's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

philantrop's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

By this 19th instalment in the Josie Quinn police procedural series, Josie, our heroine, has gone through many traumata: The death of her ex-husband, the shooting of her grandmother, and the death of a colleague - things have amassed and despite being in therapy, Josie suffers from severe insomnia and now there’s bad blood between her husband Noah over… something new!

No wonder Josie follows her therapist's advice and goes on a retreat with a renowned trauma therapist in a remote, isolated location in the wilderness - what could possibly go wrong?!

In a setting that reminded me of Agatha Christie’s classic “And Then There Were None”, Josie faces her fear(s) when one of the other participants is murdered… A wild bear also makes an appearance and to top things off, a snowstorm suddenly starts and causes everyone to hole up together - a murderer among them!

Without her team, Josie must not only work on her mental health but also find out who killed the victim. A very dense story unfolds brilliantly with a very interesting cast of characters, some chapters from Noah’s perspective who involuntarily approaches the case from another angle, and breathtaking descriptions.

Investigating without her team, without contact to anyone but the therapist and the other patients around, we get to spend a lot of time in Josie’s head. Her thought processes are clever, a delight to read and mostly very plausible. At other times, the action happens at breakneck speed but Regan manages to always find a fitting pacing and blend from one state to the next.

Even though the area Josie and the others are confined to is very small, Regan masterfully uses every nook and cranny to weave a strong and complex web about murder, guilt, abandonment, child abuse and much more. We dive deep into the past of most of those at the retreat and, of course, especially the much-bemoaned dead granny and the posthumously-sainted colleague take some room - the latter as a “ghost voice” in Josie’s head and in the narration. This is reminiscent of the previous novel during which mourning the dead relegated the actual mystery to the lower ranks. Thankfully, it’s by far less prevalent here.

And while I hate the despicable abomination of a word, this novel for me was basically “unputdownable”. I’m still on sick leave after surgery, so I had ample time to read and this novel was devoured in six hours and 44 minutes.

The usual niggle with these novels is that they contain about 85% actual content and the remaining 15% consist of advertisements for and excerpts from Regan’s other novels. This is annoying and leads to the subtraction of one star from this unusual but very thrilling and satisfying read!

Four out of five stars.

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nrskelley's review against another edition

4.0

This was my first Josie Queen book, but hey why not jump in at book 19??? It definitely can read as a stand alone novel, however be warned it will probably make you put the rest of the series on your TBR list.
A wonderful psychological thriller set in the setting of a PTSD retreat on a mountain. When they get snowed in, will Josie make it off the mountain alive?

I received this as a digital ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

nadenetotallyaddictedtoreading's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

atsellerswhnp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

abercrombie1986's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 

Oh my.  This book!  By now you know I love police procedurals and adore this series.  This is book 19 and you would think things might be getting a little stale and ordinary, but this book!  I love Noah and I love the team, but this book centered mostly around Josie, her demons and the struggles she’s faced.  It’s terrific!  What a great twist to spice things up.

Josie is still struggling with Mettner’s death and what happened at end of the last book.  Her and Noah are having a moment, so she goes to a retreat to work on herself and her PTSD.  And of course things aren’t smooth.  Now this is very Josie centric, but Noah plays a small part and Josie texts with Gretchen to get some details on the people at the retreat with her, so I got a little about the team.  That being one of the things I usually love about the series.  How they work so well together.  But this one is a deep dive into where Josie is personally this far into the series.  A little more about what makes her tick and what makes her question things.  How she functions and learning to cope.

Of course there is a death and a storm that prevents the police from investigating, so Josie Quinn, detective, does come out and play a little.  But so very much has happened in her life, the series and the last few books and this gives her a moment to work on herself. This is one of my favorites of the series (but I probably say that with all of them).

There is eventually a fast paced conclusion, but this one starts out a little slower than the other books because there is new cast of characters to meet.  And when one of them is found murdered in a locked room sort of way (the storm), Josie tries to work out who in their group might be danger to the rest.  She is not official but she does investigate.  Some.

This was such a nice change and there are hints at what’s to come for the team and Josie and Noah.  All the stars from me on this one.