Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Narrator: Nicol Zanzarella
Series: Eve Ronin #4
Published by Thomas & Mercer on June 21, 2022
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 352
Length: 9 hours, 44 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible




For decades Malibu Creek State Park was the spectacular natural setting where Hollywood fantasies were made. But when a female camper is gunned down, it becomes a real-life killing ground. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone are assigned the case…which Duncan fears is the latest in a series of sniper attacks that began long before Eve came to Lost Hills.
Seven victims over fourteen months…and top officials still refuse to see a connection. Eve and Duncan are stonewalled, threatened, and ordered to keep quiet. But Eve won’t back down. She’s no stranger to intimidation or corruption—she’s had a target on her back from day one at Lost Hills station.
Despite finding no evidentiary links between the shootings, Eve and Duncan follow their instincts into the shadows of Malibu Creek, where it’s not enough to expose the secrets and break the conspiracy of silence. They also have to make it out alive.
The Eve Ronin series is one I would read in order as the personal and career developments build through the series. The focus is on the police procedural with a small background of personal life but the Hollywood scene is almost a character itself.  Eve is a new homicide detective in a misogynistic, political  department in Los Angeles California. She became famous in the first book for arresting a tv star behaving badly, which helped her get the promotion.
Eve has a strong connection with her partner and a few others in the department. She has great instincts but she does have a bit of TSTL. Even her very experienced, retiring partner called her on it this time. If she doesn’t work with others, she is going to kill herself. She gets hurt in pretty much every book.
Eve and Duncan are of the same mind on the current case. There have been several shootings by the park, but since no one got hurt they were covered up so people would keep coming to the park. Now someone has died. People come forward and there are more cases than even Duncan knew.  It’s snowballing now with what they realize may be some copycat crimes also.
I was glad to see some personal growth for Eve and working a bit more with her partner and co-workers by the end. Her situation is still over the top but hopefully it will improve a bit now. The starstruck continue to be ridiculous though.
Narration:
This series was my first listen to this narrator. I’m very comfortable with her performance of Eve and the other main characters feel right to me. I enjoy her voices for Eve and Duncan. I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 22-COYER
Any books that have Campgrounds is sure to be amazing. Sounds like you have read one hell of a novel.
This series is quirky but they do solve some interesting cases. Their police procedures are solid. Eve Ronin doesn’t just take the easy suspect, that’s for sure.
This is for me. I love books set in parks and campgrounds.
Well this one is set there but goes Hollywood as does this whole series. It’s quirky. I personally wouldn’t read without having read the first 3 books and those have nothing to do with parks and campgrounds. So I enjoy the series but there are other books / series more focused on parks such as the park ranger series I featured in my Series on Saturday post.
This sounds really good. I’m not familiar with the series but Eve sounds like a character I would like.
Eve has integrity despite the difficulties she has had (and many others who don’t) . She works hard and risks herself. But the series is very quirky Hollywood and I’d read them in order to get the people and relationships beyond just the current case.
Love that there was some personal growth. Seems like a natural growth too. I hate when characters just randomly have crazy huge growth spurts that make no sense.
It’s a funny thing. If everything was perfect there would be no story or only a boring one so I expect there will always be some problems with her station but she has great instincts and if Eve works with the others better she will be even more successful.