Review copy was received from Edelweiss, Publicity team. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Fool Her Once by Joanna Elm
on March 1, 2022
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 416
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss, Publicity team
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Some killers are born. Others are made.
As a rookie tabloid reporter, Jenna Sinclair outed Denny Dennison, the illegitimate son of a serial killer. Running from the fallout, Jenna escapes the city and hides behind her marriage and motherhood. Now, decades later, betrayed by her husband and resented by her teenage daughter, Jenna decides to resurrect her career.
When her former lover is brutally assaulted, Jenna fears that Denny has inherited his father’s psychopath gene and is out for revenge. When no one believes her, she must track him down before he harms his next target, her daughter.
Wow. I really enjoyed Fool Her Once. All along, I thought I had ideas and knew what would happen and kind of kept waiting for it and then no, it was something else. These characters were all flawed and sometimes not very likeable. If you don’t like cheating, you won’t like it here.
Jenna is the main character. She is smart and works hard at her craft, figuring things out many reporters would not spend the time to develop. However, there are some ethical issues for her and she is caught between her ethics and the public frenzy her story brings. She worries how it plays out for those in the story. She leaves that work and moves on to writing which is less sensational.
Jenna, personally believes she is in love with her editor, Ryan and is living with him. But he is not ready to settle down, so when she goes out of town for a story and meets someone more interested in her, she ends up marrying him, Zack, and having a daughter. Because she travels so much for work, and their personalities, Zack becomes a bit closer to the daughter. Now, twenty years later, things are falling apart in their relationship, and Jenna goes back to the city and to Ryan, who claims he is also having marital troubles.
Everything goes badly, as Ryan has sex with her and then leaves to go pick up his wife at the airport. Jenna is miffed and yes Ryan seems to be playing with her again, but then he gets beaten, possibly mugged. Jenna ends up researching their present and past for enemies, as she doesn’t think it’s an ordinary mugging, which leads to many unsettling discoveries. Hang on for a wild and bumpy ride because it’s a thriller.
Mostly we get Jenna’s point of view, and while she is smart, she is a bit selfish and pampered. She’s always been hurt by Ryan not loving her as much as she loved him. We also get Zack’s point of view. Zack has really worked hard and made a good life for them. While it hasn’t been easy, he has had patience and really made it easy for Jenna to travel, keep her apartment in the city and really whatever she wants. Now their relationship is breaking down and both of them are unhappy. I won’t say more, leaving you to twist through events, as I highly recommend this read.
Excerpt:
Week One: Friday Morning
The buzzing of the intercom startled Jenna as she waited for the Bialetti to stop gurgling. Her head felt heavy, but her Fitbit told her she’d gotten almost six hours’ sleep since Ryan had left the apartment. She moved the moka pot off the flames and walked into the hallway to the intercom.
It was Oscar, the day doorman. “Miss Sinclair, police here to see you. Coming up now.”
She sat down abruptly on the narrow hallway bench. Dollie. Something had happened to Dollie. She felt ice cold as she opened the door to wait for the elevator to discharge the cops, who turned out to be plainclothes detectives. She tried to recall what someone—probably Lola, her best friend who knew all about law enforcement—had once told her about cops always going in threes, not twos, to inform next of kin when there was a fatality. Was that still true? Maybe they’d downsized because of budget cuts. Or maybe the “three” rule did not apply in New York City.
Her heart was pounding, thudding against her chest, the blood roaring in her ears, as she beckoned them into the apartment. She barely heard as the taller, younger one said: “Miss Sinclair, we’re sorry to disturb you, but we’re wondering if you could answer some questions about yesterday evening? We’re looking into an incident involving Mr. Ryan McAllister.”
It took her more than a moment to refocus, and for the pounding of her heart to slow a little. They weren’t here about Dollie.
“Incident?” She repeated the word, frowning.
They looked at each other. The taller, younger one was black with a shaved head and soft brown eyes. He introduced himself as Detective Jim Martins. His partner was older and shorter, with thinning hair. His face was slicked with perspiration, as if he’d walked up the three flights to her apartment rather than taking the elevator. Jenna immediately forgot his name.
Martins took a notebook out of his hip pocket but didn’t look at it when he replied: “Mr. McAllister was found in the street, early this morning.”
“What do you mean ‘found’?” Her voice rose shrilly. “Is he dead?”
“No.”
“Where was he found?” Jenna’s heart was pounding again even as the memory from just a few hours ago flashed through her mind.
They had strolled back from Neary’s; had stopped on the corner of her street while Ryan fished around for a loose bill to hand over to the homeless guy who hung out there.
She’d linked her arm through his as they walked into her building and to the elevator. They’d barely crossed the threshold into her apartment when Ryan had nudged her back against the door and brought his mouth to her lips, working down to the hollow of her throat, his fingers tugging at the straps of her cami. All thoughts of waiting, doing the right thing had evaporated in a millisecond. Instead, she had responded, clinging to him, thrilling to the thought that he wanted her.
They had moved as one into the living room, onto the couch, then down onto the hand-knotted wool Jaipur rug, Ryan pushing down her jeans and panties and flinging them over the couch.
“No. Wait.” Jenna had sat up abruptly. “I can’t.”
—
The detective’s reply jolted her back into the conversation. “Just a couple of hundred yards down the street from this building. You had dinner with him last night.”
Jenna focused on Martins. He didn’t sound as if he was asking. “Did Ryan tell you that?” She paused and repeated her first question. “What do you mean ‘found’?” Jenna wished she could take a long gulp of espresso to get her brain working again.
“Let us ask the questions, Miss Sinclair, okay? We’re just trying to figure out what happened.”
Jenna didn’t like the abrupt change in tone, and suddenly the detective’s eyes didn’t look so soft either. Did he think she’d done something wrong? She realized she sounded a little defensive. That was stupid.
There was nothing to hide.
“Yes, we had dinner,” she said.
The other detective nodded, and she followed his gaze across the floor into the living area to where her white jeans lay crumpled under the chair. “We’re just trying to establish a timeline,” he said. “We’d appreciate it if you could help us out. Give us some idea of what time he left here?”
“I don’t remember when he left.”
“He couldn’t help us with the timing either.”
Not hard to believe. The events of the night were wrapped in a mist floating around her head, but she remembered Ryan guiding her to the bed, sliding in beside her and holding her. “We don’t have to rush,” he’d said. “We don’t have to do anything tonight. It’s okay. We have all the time in the world.”
“We don’t know how long he was lying in the street,” Martins mentioned casually. “He couldn’t tell the paramedics what happened.”
“Oh my God.” The words came out as a whisper. The image of Ryan swaying drunkenly flashed before her eyes. “What happened? Did he fall? Did he pass out?”
“We don’t know exactly.”
“Is he injured?”
“We don’t know the full extent of his injuries. They’re checking him out now. He’s at Lenox Hill Hospital.”
Jenna had the feeling they weren’t telling her everything. Why would detectives be investigating someone falling down drunk in the street?
Had he been hit by a car?
“Miss Sinclair? Can you give us an approximate time when you last saw him?”
She nodded quickly. “Sure, I’ll try.” She knew they could get a time from Nando, the night doorman, and she didn’t want to appear uncooperative. “We had dinner at Neary’s, round the corner,” she said. “We came back here for a nightcap. We were discussing some writing projects I’m working on. I just finished one for his magazine.”
“His magazine?”
Jenna nodded. “He’s the publisher of CityMagazine. He bought the exposé I just wrote on restaurants in the Hamptons. We planned on working on some others together . . . I mean there were a couple of projects we discussed. We were talking, we lost track of time.” She knew she was babbling. God only knew why she felt so guilty. She and Ryan had done nothing wrong. “It was probably around three.” She paused. “I’m sorry. Yes, around three, maybe three thirty. That’s when I saw him out.”
“Did you part on friendly terms?”
Jenna stared at Martins. Had they already spoken to Nando? Had he told them he’d seen Jenna following Ryan down the street?
Just before leaving, Ryan had told her Teddi was returning, flying into La Guardia, and he had to go home, shower and change before picking her up. Jenna had been furious as she listened to the elevator carry Ryan down to the lobby.
She’d grabbed a T-shirt and sweatpants and headed for the stairs, arriving in the lobby in time to see Ryan walking out of the building, a little unsteady on his feet. She’d let him get to the corner before calling after him to stop.
“Miss Sinclair, did you have a fight?” Martins persisted.
“God, no!” Jenna’s reply burst from her lips. No, Nando could not have seen her push Ryan. She was surely already out of the doorman’s line of vision when she’d caught up with him.
“Okay.” The detective gave her a curt nod and handed her his business card. “If you remember anything else, please call me.” His partner opened the front door out into the hallway.
“You said he’s at Lenox Hill?“
Martins looked over her shoulder and appeared to be staring at something in her living room. She hoped it was not at her discarded white jeans. “Yes. Lenox Hill.” He nodded. “His wife is probably with him by now.” He paused in the open doorway. “They have Mr. McAllister in the ICU,” he added as he followed his partner to the front door.
The intensive care unit? It had to be serious.
“Did you say ICU?” She aimed the question at their backs, but the door had already closed.
Jenna returned to the kitchen. She was so parched it was making her dizzy. She stood at the faucet, cold water running into the sink as she cupped her hands and swigged from them, not caring that half of it was landing on the kitchen floor.
She poured herself a double espresso, carried the mug into the living room and sank into an armchair, looking around for her cell phone. Her eyes flickered round the room, noticing the mess the way the detectives would have seen it from the hallway. Through the door into the bedroom, she saw the empty glasses, the empty bottle of Jameson’s on the nightstand. Blood rose to her face, she felt hot and cold and then hot again as she caught sight of her scrunched-up, bright white panties hanging off the middle shelf of her bookcase, where Ryan had tossed them.
She took a couple of deep breaths. The cops probably thought they had the whole picture: cheating husband, wife returning from a trip, girlfriend gets jealous, doesn’t want to let him go. They’d questioned her as if they thought she was the one who’d hurt him badly enough to put him into intensive care in the hospital.
She closed her eyes and tried to recall exactly what had happened when she’d finally caught up with Ryan.
Tour Giveaway:
This is a giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Joanna Elm and CamCat Books. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited.
- 🎧 The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong @JulieLeongBooks #PhyllisHo@AceBooksPub @PRHAudio #LOVEAudiobooks - November 7, 2024
- An Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin @philmargolin @ganimaniac @MinotaurBooks @MacmillanAudio #LoveAudiobooks - November 5, 2024
- Schemes & Scandals by Kelley Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong@SubPress - November 3, 2024
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 22-COYER
This sounds intense. Your review left me wanting to know more.
I really enjoyed it. But these people are flawed and sometimes selfish.
This does sound like a non stop thrill ride! Especially with all the relationship drama, it seems like a lot of fun😁
It was a struggle to figure it out and I didn’t as it took me all over. I would think relationship drama would be ugh but I was more focused on wth was happening and why.
I do enjoy a book with flawed characters and these seem to be really flawed!!
yes and fascinating to be dragged around until we know what is really happening.
I think even though I’d be annoyed with Jenna for cheating with Ryan, I’d also feel bad for her because it sounds like she loved Ryan, but he never loved her as much. Ryan sounds like a jackass. I feel bad for Zack. I’d be interested in the mystery. Wonderful review, Anne!
Rachel I had all those feelings. Jenna is smart except she does always thing Ryan is her love and Zack is second best, poor guy. He really works hard to make her life what she wants. I think Ryan is a jackass taking everything he can get whenever he can. Jenna is a bit pampered and selfish but not stupid.
Great review! Thanks so much. Sounds like a really good book!
yes, thank you. I really enjoyed this one. It had some complexities and some unforeseen happenings.
[…] the Books of My Heart book blog, Anne wrote: “Wow. I really enjoyed Fool Her Once. All along, I thought I had […]
This sounds fantastic! I have not heard of this one before but it sounds exactly like the kind of book I usually enjoy.
Thanks Carole. It was twisty with complex characters.
Wow! This sounds really good! I read the entire excerpt. Never head of this author but I’m going to look for the book. Great review, Anne💜
I did think it was very well written, releasing March 1. It has some shocking twists and really everyone is not perfect.