Page Princess: DON'T LOOK AWAY by Leslie A. Smith

Title: DON’T LOOK AWAY

Series: Veronica Sloan series #1

Author: Leslie A. Smith

Publish Date: 05.01.13

Publisher: LK Books

Category: Mystery & Thrillers, Romance

Recommended for: mature teens and up

Grammar/editing: book received as an unedited ARC / errors excused

Received from: LK Books via netgalley.com (in exchange for an honest review)

Goodreads: Don’t Look Away

Date completed: 09.02.13

Description from the publisher:

CAN A MURDER VICTIM’S OWN MEMORIES BE USED TO SOLVE A CRIME?

Detective Veronica Sloan isn’t shocked by much. Having lived through the worst terrorist attacks in history—which destroyed much of Washington, D.C.—she’s immune to even the most vicious brutality. But even she is stunned by the discovery of a murder in the basement of the under-reconstruction White House.

Because the victim was a participant in a top-secret experiment, Sloan and FBI Agent Jeremy Sykes have been assigned to investigate the homicide. Veronica has been training for just this kind of case, waiting to use her special skills, anxious to learn if a recording device implanted in a victim’s head can help solve their murder….before the killer strikes again.

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After losing so many to the terroristic attacks on Washington, D.C. five years ago, Veronica Sloan won’t allow herself any committed relationships. She is a detective on the DCPD. She is also a member of an elite squad trained in the Optical Evidence Program. Her partner, Mark Daniels, has been implanted, but hasn’t been trained in retrieval using the program. After a brutal murder in the sub-basement of the under-reconstruction White House, Sloan and Daniels are called upon to investigate. When she is also attacked by the killer, FBI Agent Jeremy Sykes has been called in to assist. Sloan and Sykes had trained together on the OEP program and had been fighting a case of the lusts ever since. Together they need to race to find the attacker before he can kill again.

This was a page-turner that keeps you guessing. Veronica Sloan is an alpha female working in a field dominated by alpha males in a town that exceeds in alpha males and she does it very well without being a total bitch. Her love life means a quick release and no strings, except when it comes to Sykes. She doesn’t want strings, but sometimes life isn’t about what you want. Sometimes, it’s about what you need. She does extremely well at leading this investigation while maintaining her emotional balance in a world gone mad.

I loved that this was a thriller/mystery with a bit of romance. This was a little something different from my usual choice of romance to entertain me. I think I need to do this more often! Some may say it is dystopic, but that’s only because it is set in the future. The changes between what we have now in America, and what is presented, are exactly as you may believe they could be in only ten short years.

Great character development and a believable dystopia provide the base for this new series. I’m looking forward to DON’T EVER STOP from Ms. Smith.

The Veronica Sloan series:

1. Don’t Look Away

2. Don’t Ever Stop

Also from Leslie A. Smith: I couldn’t figure it out! I went to Google and there was no Leslie A. Smith, except for a lady MMA fighter. Then I went to Amazon and this book was listed as having been written by Leslie A. Kelly and one of the reviews said that was a pseudonym for Leslie Parrish.