The Girl With No Name (Detective Josie Quinn #2)
By: Lisa Regan
Website: https://lisaregan.com/
Release Date: April 19th, 2018
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: Detective Josie Quinn
Rating:

Okay I’m back and so is Josie Quinn. And frankly, I’m sure at this point Josie Quinn wouldn’t like me either.

Still, she remains a bad ass detective determined to doing the right thing like saving people, helping them get justice and ending corruption in her town. Is she still a catty woman, unable to let go of the past and someone that drinks way too much? Yes. Do I still dislike that about her? You bet.

Once again, my dislike of Josie didn’t stop me from pushing on with the series. The stories themselves are so compelling and I still give Regan the credit of creating a character not everyone will love and sticking with her. We don’t get a new revamped Josie Quinn because readers don’t like her. We get the same Josie Quinn, sharp minded and sharp tongued. And for that, for sticking by the persona she created, Regan has earned my respect.

With this installment in the series we see Josie looking into a stolen baby and a brutal attack on the mother. Josie’s pure determination to find the child and bring those responsible to justice does make me like her a little bit. For about a minute. Then when she is catty and cruel all over again I’m immediately over it and back to wanting Josie to solve the case so I can move on and stop dealing with her attitude.

I can say with almost absolute certainty that it is only Regan’s skill that keeps me reading at this point. Even I, a reader who must finish a series I start, has a line in the sand about when to give up on a character or series. So while I give up on Josie at times I don’t give up on the series so I will continue on with these books because the amazingly thought out plot and complex characters keep me coming back. The tension and pacing is an undeniable siren call to me and, as is the case with siren calls, it doesn’t lead me to a place that is necessarily good for me (i.e. cursing Josie every few seconds or doubting the plausibility of what she gets away with at times) but is appealing nonetheless (hello plot twists!)

Really, if you read book one, the same reasons you read and finished that book are the reasons you should read book number two. The continued complexities of the small town should be enough to bring you back in.