Title: Tell No Lies
Author: Allison Brennan
Series: Mobile Response Team/A Quinn and Costa Thriller #2
Unremarkable but not bad
I would like to thank Allison Brennan, Harlequin MIRA, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review, and also thanks to Justine Sha, who invited me to participate in the blog tour.
This book was okay. The plot was compelling enough to keep me hooked, and the pace was steady, which kept me from getting bored—with the exception of the first chapter, which was a tidal wave of exposition that I hardly absorbed a word of. If you can get past the first chapter, it gets better from there.
But the story was rather dry in general; there wasn’t a whole lot of humor or even just levity to entertain and appeal to the reader. I get that it’s a thriller with a serious tone and there’s supposed to be lots of suspense and tension—but from time to time, someone needs to be the comic relief.
Despite the lack of humor, most of the characters were likable, sympathetic, and somewhat well-developed. Michael was a sweetie, as was Ryder, though he could stand to unclench a bit. Not sure about Zack; it’s hard to judge him when he was only present over the phone and in a manic state most of the time as he doggedly pursued the case to the point of obsession. They all have some humanizing self-doubt and are struggling to feel like part of the new team and to prove themselves valuable. I loved Angel and Bianca, and Frank surprisingly grew on me. Peter and Wyatt were cool, Catherine was fine, didn’t see much of Tony. Didn’t see Jim at all, unfortunately.
Kara’s somewhat of an exception; she was borderline unlikable. At times I admired her drive, determination, and skill, other times she could be rather apathetic or even callous. What bothered me the most was that she thinks of/treats sex so casually that to my mind it speaks less of modern liberation and more a lack of self-respect, or perhaps selfishness. She doesn’t seem to like herself very much, and the reader picks up on that and hesitates to like her as well.
I was most invested in Matt. He was level-headed, reasonable, kind, intelligent, just an all-around good guy. Kara’s not a good match for him; I get strong vibes of the good, responsible girl falling in lust with the bad boy, only gender swapped. Unless she has a major change in attitude, she’s going to break his heart and say “I told you so.”
That’s about it. The book wasn’t all that remarkable, but it certainly wasn’t bad, either. If you don’t mind a slow-burn police procedural that’s smart and realistic, this should be perfect for you. If you’re looking for something more energetic and exciting, this probably won’t do it for you.
Lastly, a weird subjective complaint: I got so sick of characters grabbing a beer, offering beer, beer beer beer. I hate beer, so that bias obviously didn’t help, and I understand Kara was a bartender, so naturally there would be lots of beer in that setting. But even outside the bar, it seemed like all anyone drank was beer or tequila. Which is an exaggeration, of course; some drank water or coffee, and Ryder was a teetotaler. My point is that beer appeared with noticeable and annoying frequency. Or whiskey, or wine, definitely tequila. Have some freaking iced tea, people.
Oh, and I’m not sure why they changed the name of the series from Mobile Response Team to Quinn and Costa thrillers. To me that means less of a focus on the team, as was presumably originally planned, and more focus on Kara and Matt as a pair. But I don’t know. *shrugs*
