Closer Than You Think: The Cincinnati Series, Book 1

This is my first book by this author and maybe the last. Took ages to read it, I'm studying also, that's why.I discussed it with my daughter (aged 53) who informs me she has read maybe three. She told me they are all very long; maybe 600-700 pages; and they are fairly similar in make-up: that is, detective, murder, kidnapping (also torture?), psychology and - very explicit sex.The fact that Ms Rose likes to write very long books is interesting: it does give her plenty of time to go into detail about every little thing, to include many sub-plots, and to tell several stories at once. She does just that; indeed she makes a meal of it..So, that's her style and I guess, to many readers, she is a favourite writer. As for me, I love long books. Obviously if you don't, then don't read them.The police detective action is pretty good and looks real. It displays the frustrations and difficulties of the job; problems that are not suffered by far too many 'tough-guy', 'high-efficiency', 'wonderful-marvelous-professional' performers in many modern thrillers don't suffer; so it's pretty realistic and I like that. Mostly I think her book is pretty great, but I do have an objection.My objection is the sex. First, I like sex and I'm a normal, though regrettably old, guy.But I read certain types of books within certain genre, by choice. Thus those authors that mix genre are playing with fire; at least for many of us.Ms Rose, in her books (according to my daughter) mixes similar content in all her books. And here's MY problem: to me a police detective psychological drama is really all about finding these horrible people and putting them away. In other words it's all about the process. For me, the explicit sex is not really a part of the story, it's an adjunct, and, by the way, it is MANY pages long: it takes AGES to get past it!OBVIOUSLY that's not true for all her readers! So, I think she should write two versions of each book!Ver A: the 'soft' version: "they kissed and moved into his bedroom where they passed the night together."Ver B: the 'explicit' version: which is how all her books now are.It wouldn't take much work, since she writes a hell of a lot anyway; all she would have to do is extract certain content from all those books and 'soften' it up, and show the 'ver' on the book-cover.Simple.It would be interesting to find out which versions sell more..

This is my first book from Karen Rose based on the numerous good reviews that I read on Amazon, and certainly not my last from this author! Definitely an enjoyable 4.5-5* book. The plot, characters, twists, and suspense kept me wanting to continue reading, and kept my interest in spite of almost 700 pages which, however, did move fast. The mild weaknesses to me that kept it from being a true 5* was that at 700 pages, it tended to drag at times with the guilt and somewhat depressive complex of Faith feeling too much responsibility for the innocent murders that some of the people suffered since the killer was mainly after her. Another minor weakness was the insta-lust between the two likeable characters (Faith and Deacon), even though they had known each other only a couple of days! To keep up with the many characters that were introduced, I made a family tree to make it more interesting and informative for me, so that I would not have to keep turning back to re-read certain pages. Overall it was a great ride and I plan to finish the new Cincinnati series, and then pick up other Karen Rose books. This book definitely kept my interest, and I would recommend it.

A mental health therapist, Dr. Faith Frye, had gotten a reputation, unwarranted, as a sexual predator therapist in Miami. She was actually using court ordered therapy for a family as a reason to provide therapy to victims of incest. The victims often wouldn't get help any other way! Of course, she knew the offenders or women who covered for them were incapable of being cured, but she was unfairly judged as supportive of people who commit sex crimes. Now, for the past year, Faith has been stalked and almost murdered six times. She has reported these problems to the police thirty times and for various reasons had not really been believed or helped. Faith decides to change her name and move to Cincinnati where she inherited a house.This is a love story, a story of two families, and a search for a serial killer! When Faith finds a naked teenage girl on the road her second day in Cincinnati, she calls police and protects the girl until they show up. A tall, muscular man with prematurely white hair, black leather coat and wrap-around sunglasses 😎 covering the most beautiful and unusual color eyes, introduces himself as FBI Special Agent Deacon Novak and she is entranced.Besides a love story, "Closer Than You Think" touches on kidnapping, torture, sex abuse, murder, suicide, embalming, good cops, bad cops, slavery, teenage angst, stalking, and lots of secrets. Strong religious beliefs lead to a lifetime of lies, grief, and hate! The writing is superb; the storyline has everything you could ask for to keep you engrossed! I couldn't be happier to find another, new favorite author, Karen Rose!

This book was terrific!It is the first book by this author that I have read. I will now look for others by Karen Rose.Faith Frye is a Sex Therapist she helps rehabilitates sex offenders.Until one of them tries to kill her. She has reported him so many times that the Miami police don't even bother to investigate the calls anymore.We meet Faith after she has had so many brushes with death because of this guy that she decides to go home to Ohio and live in her Mother's family home that was left to her after her Grandma died a few years ago.Once she gets there, she finds out that the key given to her from the family lawyer does not fit the locks. She needs to get the Electric company out there to turn it on and a locksmith to change the locks. But both men met up with the guy who has been stalking her for years and are found dead.She does not think about any of this until she finds a young girl in the middle of the road while she is on the road on her way home to meet the repair guys.The book is so real and intriguing that it is difficult to put down even though it is a long book and a lot of material to take in, it is so worth the time to read!

I bought this book after reading the reviews. I was looking for a detective thriller & hadn't previously read any of her books. I got 50% through the book & by that time didn't really care what the outcome was. I felt there was too much personal interaction between the main characters who appeared not to live in the real world. He very handsome & she very attractive & this got in the way of maybe a good detective story. I was half hoping at one time that she did get killed which to me would have made this a much better read. Glad it didn't cost me much & will try another of her novels but not from the same series as I didn't like the main characters. As said before they don't live in the real world=boh very attractive & cant do anything wrong.

An interesting read which, in my view, could have achieved its purpose in 200 fewer pages. I'm not particularly comfortable with books that seem to have to explain their own plots; I would rather be taken on a journey of discovery than explanation. Also, I really fail to see what the rather detailed description of sexual exploits added to the rather contrived and lengthy plot. I hardly ever fail to complete a book, but this one brought me close to that point and I was relieved rather than sad to reach its conclusion.

I realise that I am very much in the minority here judging by the number of 5 start reviews this book has got but .......This is a long book and, unfortunately, it felt like it as I was reading it. There is undoubtedly a strong thriller here which I did find interesting but I felt that the developing romance between the two principle characters detracted from the story a bit. There are a number of lengthy and detailed descriptions of their sexual encounters that I found unnecessary and I ended up skimming/skipping through the later encounters so that I could find the point where the story continues. I first found myself looking to see how much was left at the 38% completion point and was regularly monitoring progress from then on. ..... a bad sign!! Amazingly for a book of this length, the ending seemed to be a bit abrupt but, by the time I reached it, I was just glad to find out who did it and that he met a suitable sticky end.So .... get rid of the Mills and Boon stuff, reduce the length by about 150 pages and there is a slick, classy thriller here.

This book is a start of a new series, although it does continue the story of Deacon Novak who has appeared in earlier stories. Karen Rose is one of my must read authors and I enjoyed the suspense element and the romance that slowly developed between Deacon and Faith. I thought there was a good balance of intrigue with the investigation and uncovering a story that went back several years. I was surprised that there was such a strong swell of bad feeling against Faith from the police and it almost seemed to be OTT. The twists and turns didn't detract for me as I enjoy a thorny mystery, although I can imagine that those new to Karen's stories may find it slightly too convoluted.

At the beginning of this book, I felt sure I would be giving it a five star review. I was immediately caught up in the intrigue, danger, peril and sheer fear for our heroine. What a page turner......I read on and on......to be staggered when I saw just how far my Kindle progress bar had moved. Hardly at all! How on earth was this story going to keep my interest -- ?Well sad to say that I barely lasted the course. Such diversionary sub-stories.....none of which was of particular relevance to the main story. And te ending - oh dear me !! After the most evil, barbaric twisted cruelty I wanted to see payback commensurate with the crimes !!!!But what a flat feeling. Absolutely turned off by the near obscene sexual content. So discredited the real brain numbing fear that would have been running through everyones minds.