Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE: Tracefinder: Contact 

SERIES: Tracefinder #1

AUTHOR: Kaje Harper

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 380 pages (per Goodreads) 518 pages (per Amazon)

BLURB:

What could an undercover cop and a drug lord’s pet psychic have in common?

Brian Kerr has spent years hiding behind a facade of mental slowness. His brother and sister got all three of them off the streets and into a cushy life, under the protection of a dangerous criminal. But to keep that safety, Brian has to use his Finding talent to track down the boss’s enemies. Although he pretends not to know what he’s really doing, each Find takes its toll, and he’s trapped in a life he hates, losing touch with his true self.

Nick Rugo’s job is to protect and serve the people of Minneapolis as an undercover cop. He isn’t closeted, but he isn’t out at work, and there’s a wild, angry side to him that he’s managed to keep hidden until now. When he’s assigned to bring Brian’s boss to justice, he intends to use anything and anyone it takes to do that.

Nick initially sees Brian as a pawn to be played in his case, but he keeps getting glimpses of a different man behind the slow, simpleminded mask. As the two men get to know each other, it becomes clear they share secrets, some of which might get them both killed.

REVIEW: 

This book is turning out to be difficult for me to review! I’m confused… in some ways I liked it, or I should say I liked aspects of it, but other aspects I really didn’t like.

I liked the basic plot a lot. Nick Rugo ends up going undercover to get close to a drug dealer/manufacturer, having fallen in with the crowd at a bar he likes to hang out at. His boss finds out he’s gotten a bit of an “in”, so sends him undercover. He starts getting closer to a couple of the men and gets a job offer to be a driver. This gets him involved with Damon, Lori, and Brian Kerr. Damon, the older brother to twins Lori and Brian, has always looked out for his siblings, especially since their mother overdosed and died. Damon has done all sorts of unsavory things, now he has gotten them involved with Vern Marston, drug manufacturer and dealer, as well as collector of paranormal things. Lori has married Marston, Damon is a henchman, and Brian is a paranormal thing! Brian can Find people if he has an item they have handled a lot. Marston uses Brian’s talent to find and quite often kill, guys who do him wrong. Damon doing the killing. Brian has some mental issues, one of which is a sort of split personality thing, sometimes he’s Brian, sometimes he’s Bry, who behaves as a child. So Nick gets involved in all of this as a cop, but finds himself personally involved with Brian.

The actual plot of the drug dealer, Brian’s finding ability, Nick’s involvement, some visiting relatives, a missing little girl, all of that was fine, and quite creative. but I didn’t like Nick. He’s got anger issues, needing to go start a fight and beat the snot out of someone now and then, that freaked me out. He’s not always nice to Brian, and I didn’t like how he treated him several times. About the time I decided he was a good guy, and I liked what he was doing, he did something nasty and I got mad at him. Brian was ok, he was certainly a different and unique character, but he was a little too unstable and needy. It just made me uncomfortable. Damon totally took advantage of Brian, then Nick does very similar things. Marston was a nice creepy bad guy, but until a pivotal moment about 3/4 of the way in, wasn’t really that involved. His interest in the paranormal is used minimally, I would liked to have seen that explored more.

So I don’t know about this one. I liked the plot and the writing, but didn’t like Nick and/or Brian. There is limited sex between them, which was actually fine, because what was there felt off to me. I’m not sure Brian really understood what he was doing. No, Nick doesn’t do anything nasty, Brian initiates the sex they do have, but it was not romantic or very appealing to me. I’m trying not to be the chick that has to have love and flowers to be happy, I really don’t need that in every book I read, but I do like to get a sense of physical attraction and lust between the characters, and I never got that with these two. And no, my leading men don’t have to be ripped and hot for me to feel that attraction. Their sex felt like a case of right place, right time, so we may as well do it, instead of hot and bothered sex.

This is also a long book. I got mixed page counts, Amazon had it at a whopping 518 pages, but I see Goodreads says 380. It did take me several days to read it, and I did need to walk away from it after too long. The story moved slowly for me, and dragged a bit, then had moments of excitement and drama. I liked it, but didn’t love it, or hate it. I’m going with an average 3 heart review, mostly because I’m not sure how to rate it! I am curious to read the next one and see where Kaje is taking this.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

ARe