194. Velocity by Alan Jacobson

Velocity by Alan Jacobson (Canada) - (USA)
Karen Vail, #3

Pages: 388 pages
Ages: 18+
Finished: Sept. 17, 2010
First Published: Oct. 5, 2010
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Genre: thriller, suspense
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

He was not going to kill her immediately.

Acquired: Received a review copy from the book's publicist.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary defines "velocity" as "The speed and direction of motion of a moving body." FBI Profiler Karen Vail is that moving body and she is running to beat the clock with a fiery momentum to find her missing boyfriend who has disappeared into thin air with no clues but a possible connection with a serial killer. Unusual in the mystery/thriller series genre, Velocity picks up right where Crush ended. Literally starting with the next chapter. The plot starts off highly connected with book 2, followed by a resolution, then continues on with book 3's unique plot which always centres on the missing boyfriend, police detective Roberto Hernandez.

I loved this book! Jacobson keeps getting better and better. Velocity takes off in different directions, plot-wise, than either of his previous books making it more than just a serial killer case (not that there's anything wrong with that.) These new directions are surprising and unexpected reveals create a story that is much more than one at first assumes they are reading. Certainly plot is the mainstay of Velocity but, as often happens in mysteries, it has *not* been done so at the expense of characterization. Book 2 took us away from Karen's Quantico colleagues and Velocity continues with the now familiar California characters for whom we've grown fond (or not). But Karen gets sent back to Quantico where we are reintroduced to the characters from Book 1 and Jacobson has done a good job bringing these folks back to the reader's mind, especially giving significant development to Vail's boss, Gifford.

The book ends with the completion of the plot; the unique experience of a two-parter within a series is over but the personal lives of the main characters continue on, ending with a new trajectory for one of said characters and an interesting reveal which we can expect to be explored in the next book. I'm very much looking forward to the next book, which one can only hope is "in the works".

ETA: Alan has let me know that he is indeed working on the next Karen Vail book!