Wildlife biologist Mac Barrett avoided his hometown of Scarlet Falls for years—too many bad memories. But when he receives the news that his father is dying, he rushes home only to discover he’s too late. Shaken, Mac retreats to his remote cabin seeking peace and solace. Instead, he crashes his jeep to narrowly avoid running over the naked body of a woman lying in the road. Even more disturbing, when he regains consciousness, the body is gone.

Police detective Stella Dane wants to believe Mac, even if his story about the vanishing body seems far-fetched. But when Mac’s description matches the missing woman she’s been searching for, it raises a disturbing question: How does a dead body disappear?

Mac and Stella will have to work together to find the answer and catch a psychotic kidnapper—and quickly. The killer has a deadly message to send, and the case is about to become personal… - via GoodReads

Anne from Books of My Heart buddy read Seconds to Live by Melinda Leigh with me in July. We wanted to finish out the series.

Honestly I’ll continue to read Leigh’s work. I really enjoyed the pacing and the twists and turns that popped up. Normally I’m fairly good at seeing the villain in the story. Leigh got me with this one. I went for the obvious choice. I think the pacing was good. I was interested and wanted to know what was happening. I felt that the story was resolved well. The ending wasn’t rushed and that’s important to me.

I was the most intrigued by Mac. I’m gong to go out on a limb and say it’s because I knew the least about him. Stella has also been interesting since Hour of Need. I really liked both of them. They both had traumas that they needed to work through. I also really liked how both Mac and Stella treated Gianna. I think it really showed their character. I loved watching Mac and Stella’s relationship develop.

I really enjoyed this book and the series as a whole. I will definitely be continuing to read Leigh’s books.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2020 GoodReads
• COYER