VELOCITY by Alan Jacobson **

Who or what is Karen Vail, should be title of book. Is she a lowly cop? A captain? She sure acts like it bossing everyone around. A crime scene pro? She pretends to be. A profiler? She brags about how she should "come on" to the "narcissistic" killer and in what manner. A hotheaded bitch? You decide.

Mayfield is considered, and in hospital, for being "Crush Killer" which I was never told until 70 pages in WHY he's called that. He crushes their windpipe I guess. So Mayfield the (now contract) serial killer is in the hospital yet when the star cop goes to his house there is no crime scene tape, no CSI have been there, she just goes ahead and breaks open the door. She also is held back (right) by recent knee surgery....and is running around chasing perps everywhere, thru hill and dale against orders from everyone, without search warrants or back up like she's superwoman with a sidekick (Dixon).

There are way too many old crimes mentioned before even beginning to read any part of what I'd call the story. Chapter 1 a guy kills someone then you don't hear about that again for 60 pages. In between is Star cop-bitch Karen Vail with blood on her from a colleague who died (Lugo last book?). So one guy who died, her boyfriend is missing, a disc is missing, wives and sons kidnapped ad nauseum, Sheriff Stan Owens stepson is dead who by the way started a shed fire as a teenager (WTF do I care?), Dixon's boyfriend is dead too (again, WTF do I care?), a serial killer is in the hospital (like one out of 4) and the bitch orders people around like they're characters in a fiction novel. Even her own boss. Absurd. You got all the last letters of the alphabet in the names; Vail, DiXon, BriX, OWens, too many people to learn, way beyond TOO much past history. They're all cops, killers, victims or a combination.

I don't need to read the last book to read this do I? Some people take their fiction too seriously.

Writing one book and continuing into the next book is a pet peeve. I want the book I read FRESH, not a rehash of last book like it was yesterday (as in this book) cuz I'm tired, dizzy, sick of names before I hit chapter 3.  Innocent bystander picks up a book in the middle of all hell breaking loose. Not sure how much more I can stand.

Right now I'm in the middle. Vail blew Robbie's undercover ID so he could be dead cuz of her. Then she gets on speakerphone to her friend Dixon and tells everyone on her police force about drug cartels and all the private secretive information she just received about her UNDERCOVER boyfriend. What a frickin idiot who just keeps putting other people in danger. Someone shoot her before everyone else dies CUZ of her. I got another book. Library tomorrow....too much crap to digest and not interested enough to wade thru it.