Finished Kill Me Twice by Roxanne St. Claire. This is the first book in her popular Bullet Catchers romantic suspense series. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about the series so I decided to check it out. This post has some spoilers, so you might want to skip it if you haven’t read the book.

This one’s about Cuban hottie Alex Romero, who’s sent to Miami by his BC boss, Lucy Monroe, to protect television anchorwoman Jessica Adams. But when Alex gets to Miami, he finds Jessica had vanished and that her twin, Jasmine (aka Jazz), has come to town to stand in for Jessica while the anchorwoman investigates a big story. But Alex and Jazz soon find themselves trying to find out what really happened to Jessica — without getting killed in the process.

Overall, I thought this was a really interesting book. The Bullet Catcher premise is fun and leaves room for lots of sequels with the other BC folks (I think there are 5 or 6 books out in the series already). Plus, Lucy is an intriguing character. You want to know more about her. (I really hope Lucy turns out to be as super-tough as she seems when she gets her own book in September, instead of just pretending to be tough like Isabella in Anne Stuart’s Ice Storm).

There’s some nice inside info about the world of television news and security consultants, and a cool action/rescue sequence at the end involving a Florida mansion, helicopters, and some fast boats. Plus, Alex and Jazz have some nice chemistry, and each one gets to show off their skills during the course of the investigation. St. Claire also has a very easy-to-read style that really moves the story along. And there’s a double-cross at the end I didn’t see coming.

I did have one little quibble. Jazz is supposed to meet Jessica when she gets to Miami, but Jessica is nowhere to be found. Jazz just assumes Jessica is already off investigating her story. Jazz gets a couple of weird text messages from Jessica but chalks them up to Jessica pursuing her story. It takes about 150 pages for Jazz to really believe Jessica is in danger.

I realize St. Claire is using those 150 pages to build the relationship between Alex and Jazz and introducing the reader to the players in the mystery. But if my sister disappeared like that and sent me weird messages, I’d be parked at the police station and doing everything I could to get the cops to find her — no matter what kind of story she was working on. 

Still, I’ve been looking to read some more romantic suspense since Anne Stuart’s Ice series concluded, and I’m glad I picked up Kill Me Twice. If you’re looking for a good romantic suspense, you’ll probably enjoy the world of the Bullet Catchers. I did. Thumbs up.

Up next: Bitten by Kelley Armstrong.

Books in my TBR pile: About 13.