All the Broken Girls
by Linda Hurtado Bond
Amazon / B&N / GP/ Apple / BB
When one falls
Crime reporter Mari Alvarez was never able to solve her mother’s murder ten years ago. But when a woman is gunned down on the doorstep of her West Tampa neighborhood, Mari can’t shake the eerie sense of connection.
The others will break
Now there have been two murders in two days. Each crime scene awash with arcane clues?and without a trace of DNA from the killer. And for each victim, a doll. The first is missing an eye. The second is missing a heart. But are these clues leading to the killer…or messages for Mari?
Unless she plays the game…
Caught up in a maelstrom of Old-World superstition, secrets, and ties to her own past, Mari has only one option. Put the puzzle together before someone else dies?even if it destroys her career. But there’s no escaping the hungry spider’s web when it’s been made just for you…
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Lately, walking in and out of these meetings feels like walking across fire. Barefoot. Under a full moon with howling wolves watching.
In my darkest hours, I dreamed of finding my mother’s killer and shooting him or her. Right in the chest, like they’d murdered my mamá. An eye for an eye. And in those dreams, I never felt remorse. The lack of any guilt, that’s what woke me up those nights, gasping for air, gripping the sheets, sweating. It wasn’t that I’d killed, it was my fear someone would sense this darkness in me. And tell the world. Or incarcerate me forever because of it.
I usually don’t trust people. The reporter in me is a natural skeptic. But my heart is stretching, like fingers, reaching out to connect with this woman.
I want to look away, because this vulnerability is a coat I don’t like to wear. It’s hot and uncomfortable.
I exhale, thankful I let the right words fly while the real words stayed inside my head. Isn’t that what life is? A constant struggle with ourselves?
My Review:
This was a tense, angsty, and gripping read that kept me on edge. The storylines were laced together with heinous crimes, the main character’s prominent OCD traits, tons of family drama, loads of unfamiliar Cuban cultural issues, and the oddly mysterious practices of Santeria which are mingled with Catholic rhetoric, a practice and belief system I confess to being grossly ignorant of. The story progressed slowly and I often wanted to give a kick in the pants to the deeply flawed main protagonist for being so prickly, arrogant, and obstinate. But of course, I am a total delight 24/7.
About the Author
Linda Hurtado Bond is an award-winning journalist for Tampa’s Fox 13 by day and author of romantic thrillers by night. She has won 13 Emmy awards, numerous Society of Professional Journalist and Associated Press awards, as well as a Florida Bar and an Edward R. Murrow award. A breast cancer survivor, she’s also active in the Tampa community with The American Cancer Society, Hooked on Hope, and The Shoot for a Cure, raising money and awareness any chance she gets. She’s the mother of five, four athletes and an adopted son from Cuba. She has passion for world travel, classic movies and solving a good mystery.
