What Doesn't Kill Her

Starred review from February 1, 2019

Kellen Adams is on a trip to the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula to deliver a precious artifact to a reclusive expert for evaluation. She's shocked to find that her seven-year-old daughter, Rae, has stowed away with her, but fear turns to terror when she realizes they're being targeted by killers. Their only hope is to flee into the mountains. A note left by Rae that she was "with Mommy on ad vencher" has Max Di Luca, Rae's father, hot on their bloody trail. While Kellen and Rae manage to elude the bad guys, it soon becomes clear that the threat is anything but eliminated. A skillful mix of vivid characters (the precocious Rae is a highlight), assorted misdirections, and plot tweaks, both logical and startling, add depth to the fun.VERDICT Action-packed, littered with dead bodies, and brimming with heartfelt emotion, this edgy thriller keeps the tension high. The cliff-hanger ending will have fans anxious for the next title. Although the story is complete in itself, readers will benefit from taking on the series in order. Dodd (Dead Girl Running) lives in Washington State.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2019
When Kellen Adams' domestic situation goes off the rails, she decides to hit the road. Accepting a job with the MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives) program just might provide her with the time away from her husband, Max Di Luca, and her young daughter, Rae, that Kellen needs to sort out exactly what she wants in life. However, Kellen's mission of transporting a valuable artifact to a reclusive expert in the Olympic Mountains almost immediately goes sideways, leaving her with the task of saving not only herself and the artifact, but also a new partner Kellen would protect to her last breath. Featuring an unforgettable protagonist, who is carrying more baggage than a porter at LaGuardia and who makes Jack Reacher look like a slacker when it comes to dispatching trouble, and an ingenious plot that includes plenty of white-knuckle twists and turns as well as some touching moments of mother-daughter bonding, Dodd's latest superior suspense novel builds on the well-deserved success of Dead Girl Running (2018), her first Cape Charade book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)