Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1)

Blake Pierce

Oct 2018 · An Avery Black Mystery Book 1 · Blake Pierce

About this audiobook

“A dynamic story line that grips from the first chapter and doesn't let go.” --Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Once Gone) 

From #1 bestselling mystery author Blake Pierce comes a new masterpiece of psychological suspense.

Homicide Detective Avery Black has been through hell. Once a top criminal defense attorney, she fell from grace when she managed to get a brilliant Harvard professor off—only to watch him kill again. She lost her husband and her daughter, and her life fell apart around her.

Trying to redeem herself, Avery has turned to the other side of the law. Working her way up the ranks, she has reached Homicide Detective, to the scorn of her fellow officers, who still remember what she did, and who will always hate her.

Yet even they cannot deny Avery’s brilliant mind, and when a disturbing serial killer strikes fear into the heart of Boston, killing girls from elite colleges, it is Avery that they turn to. It is Avery’s chance to prove herself, to finally find the redemption she craves. And yet, as she is soon to find out, Avery has come up against a killer as brilliant and daring as she.

In this game of psychological cat and mouse, women are dying with mysterious clues, and the stakes could not be higher. A frantic race against time leads Avery through a series of shocking and unexpected twists—culminating in climax that even Avery could not imagine. 

A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, CAUSE TO KILL marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night. 

Book #2 in the Avery Black series is also available!

“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery. Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side, so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. The plot is very intelligent and will keep you entertained throughout the book. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) 

Ratings and reviews

It was a good story. I felt it was a little mix of silence of the lambs and red dragon without the cannibalism. Possible spoilers: The reason I compare it to those two stories is because there is a psychologist in prison she consults. The main killer was doing the bidding of a god he worshipped and she was a detective that was breaking rules and doing a lot of the work without a lot of support from her co-workers. The murders were detailed and interesting and I enjoyed the entire story.

Somehow all books that I read by this author seem to follow the same pattern and the same characterization that the stories become too predictable. The theme of a serial killer behind bars helping the protagonist is a common theme in the 3 books that I read by him, instead of 3 different series, I feel like I am reading one series. The female protagonists act and feel the same and all 3 of them are hated by their coworkers and all 3 of them have disturbing background stories. I might take more time to read another book by this author, if I ever decided to read anything else by him, because the repetition of themes, characters and ideas, to the extent that I can't differentiate between his books, has really started to bore me.

I wanted to like this audio book. The premise was good and the murders were well set up, but there was a lot about it that was just...not good. The narrator was wrong for this book and it really ruined the story. It is set in Boston but she is British and does Cockney/London voices for the characters. Even a bad American accent would have been better than 90% of the characters sounding exactly the same. Like some London cab driver. It was impossible to like the main character too. She says almost nothing to the other characters. She is aloof, acts superior and regularly condescends other characters or belittles and judges them. There were also 3 or 4 police staff who were basically the same character and it made it very confusing (with all the harsh London accents) to determine who was meant to be talking, who was actually in charge, and who was just another 'nasty cop'. It was just all too convenient really. A force full of dumb cops who just want to close a case and don't follow any leads or investigate properly, and Avery, the only one trying to get results with everyone holding her back. Kudos to the author for effective world building and good tension in places, but the conversion to audio book likely ruined this story.