review: one scream away by kate brady

When Beth Denison agreed to meet with a museum curator seven years ago, she had no idea she’d also meet a killer. Beth escaped and Chevy Bankes went to prison, but now he’s been released. This time Beth is prepared for him; she’s trained in kickboxing and carries a gun because she knows he’s coming. The cops, however, have no idea about the connection between the two. A trail of murders and phone calls lead them right to Beth’s door, but she denies any knowledge believing she can handle Bankes herself. One of the investigators, an ex-FBI agent named Neil, isn’t about to let her do that. He pursues Beth and the case relentlessly…and Beth just might give in to Neil’s charms.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about One Scream Away was that the romance element didn’t end up overtaking the rest of the story. Sometimes the circumstances make it unreasonable for a romance to occur regardless of how attracted the people are to each other, so I appreciated that Beth wasn’t really interested in starting something with Neil. The story is rightly focused on why Chevy would be stalking Beth, why he’s killing women, and how to stop him. There was one moment toward the end where I groaned, “This would never happen,” but it was explained moments later. The scene still wasn’t quite right, but the explanation made it more believable.
4/5