Bookshelf Friday - Strand of Deception by Robin Carroll

This was the last book in Robin Carroll's Justice Seeker's trilogy, and we get to finally see the life of Maddie Baxter--little sister of Rafe and Riley.

Here's a short blurb:

When Gina Ford, the daughter of a prominent Tennessee politician, goes missing from the University of Memphis a week after another girl was murdered on the same campus, police call in the FBI. Nick Hagar, married to his job as Special Agent in Charge, is assigned to the case, and when Gina’s body is found, her father demands justice.

Maddie Baxter is the forensic expert running DNA tests from the crime scene. When they come back without a match, Nick asks her to do a familial DNA run that yields a shocking result: the prime suspect is Adam Alexander, the very same guy who broke Maddie’s heart when she was in college.

But do scientific advancements tell the whole story? Strand of Deception offers romance, suspense, and a lively debate about the impact of DNA testing, for better or worse, on the United States justice system.

All right. First off I always love returning to characters we've already seen--especially when they're family. Second, I really like Maddie's job in this book, very, very interesting. I also loved that she has a small past with Nick--the chemistry there is fantastic. Then there was the main story and the sub-stories, both of which pulled me in. My only issue with this book was the ending. I felt like both the stories ended at a different pace than the rest of the book. There was no real climatic moment at the end, just a resolution. As this was a suspense, I found I was expecting that fast-paced moment that brings us into the end, and I really missed that it wasn't there.

That said, it was still a great book with characters I loved--even the secondary characters. There was enough suspense and questions to keep me turning the pages, an intriguing plot, romance, and, yes, a very HEA:) 

You can pick up Strand of Deception here. If you haven't read the first two, no problem, you can start with this one, but you'll eventually want to go back and read the first two because it was a great series.