Heartless (Derek Cole Suspense Thrillers #1)
Author: T Patrick Phelps
4.5 out of 5 stars
Ken and Janet O’Connell are shocked when their twin sons, Alexander and Thomas, are born conjoined at the chest and sharing a heart. The parents have to make the difficult decision to separate the twins to save one of their sons. Doctors are astonished when the twin without a heart continues to live after they are separated. Panicking, they decide to send him to Dr. William Straus, who is incredibly interested in discovering what is keeping the child alive. Over twenty years later, Private Investigator Derek Cole is hired by the O’Connells to help protect them and to find Alexander, who has escaped from Straus and has killed two of the doctors who were studying him. Will Cole be able to protect his clients, or are too many things being hidden from him? How do you even stop someone who has no heart and is obsessed with getting revenge?
This suspense thriller easily pulled me in. It’s well-written and has a good pace and flow. And the characters are complex and interesting. And for the most part, they were fleshed out people and not completely one dimensional. I really liked Derek Cole, the cop turned private detective. He’s a very sympathetic character as he’s still grieving the death of his wife. And we learn how the circumstances around her death, which was during a hostage situation, have influenced Derek’s thoughts on his career.
Overall, the plot was good but pretty standard, except. I realized pretty quickly who was working with Alexander, but I wonder if that was on purpose because the real twists came from the revelations in their differing motivations. There was also one other big twist that I won’t spoil.
This book wasn’t perfect, which is why I’m rating it 4.5 out of 5 stars, but I really enjoyed it and would read more of this series. If you enjoy suspense thrillers with a medical mystery twist, then you’ll enjoy this book.
Current price through Amazon Kindle: $0
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NC90SAS
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