A review by yvo_about_books
Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver, Isabella Maldonado

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

Finished reading: August 12th 2024


"Sometimes things didn't go as expected."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

WARNING: it's an unexpected stop of the unpopular opinion train!!

I honestly never expected this to happen. I'm probably in the minority, but I requested this book mainly because I've become a big fan of Isabella Maldonado's writing in recent years. I was curious about this collaboration with Jeffery Deaver, and of course I can never resist a serial killer blurb... I fully expected to have a great time reading it, but to my surprise the completely opposite ended up happening. Oh yes, Fatal Intrusion and me most definitely didn't get along.

Don't get me wrong, the premise of Fatal Intrusion is definitely right up my alley. I like my thrillers on the dark and twisted side, and this serial killer thriller without doubt fits the bill. Give me an unusual serial killer character, and I'm usually over the moon... But in this particular case, there were other elements that prevented me from properly enjoying this story. I'll try to explain what did and didn't work for me personally below.

I think one of the main issues I had with Fatal Intrusion has everything to do with the fact that I STRONGLY disliked one of the main characters. I'm not sure why, but I started to resent Heron more and more as we got to know him better, and he never redeemed himself for me. The constant repetition of his intrusion theories and his personality in general put a major damper on things, and since Heron is half of the duo featured in this new series, this was really hard to overcome. I could see Isabella Maldonado's influence in the other half of the duo, Carmen Sanchez, and I would have much preferred this series to be solely focused on her instead.

I also struggled considerably with the pace, which was surprisingly slow for a serial killer thriller. I think this had a lot to do with the use of a multiple POV structure, with POV switches that weren't always as fluid. The main issue had more to do with the fact that the plot of Fatal Intrusion has an overdose of descriptions though, with background information that is more than enough to make your head spin. I caught myself skimreading more than once, as the story simply wasn't able to keep my attention. Some of the information was quite repetitive as well; especially everything involving that intrusion theory.

I can't deny that I still like the premise and Carmen Sanchez makes for a great main character. There were parts that were more engaging, and there were a couple of twists I didn't expect. Sadly, there were also too many other elements that didn't work for me though, and Fatal Intrusion ended up being an unexpected miss for me. As you might have already guessed, I won't be continuing this series... I simply cannot bring myself to spend one more minute with Heron. 
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