ADetachedRaiderRating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


A serial killer is on the loose in Virginia. The press calls him The Executioner because he only kills pedophiles and child molesters. Detective Cole Banks has been trying to catch him for two years without much luck. One day, Cole’s chief gets a call The Executioner seems to have struck in Baltimore, so Cole packs a bag and heads north to work with the lead detective on that case.

Detective Cade Lawson is working on the case. Even though someone has been murdered, he’s not exactly broken up about a dead child molester. When he meets Cole, they don’t exactly get off on the right foot. Cole is most certainly not as easy going as Cade, and Cole is immediately frustrated with Cade and his upbeat and (to Cole, anyway) laissez faire attitude.

Even though there is a nearly instant attraction between the two men, their clashing personalities don’t make for an easy working relationship. However, Cade offers to have Cole stay at his house rather than a hotel. As two separate cases meld into one, the men grow closer until the tension grows to a fever pitch and they give in to their mutual attraction. Now Cole and Cade have to work together to catch a killer and stay alive.

Before I get into my review of A Detached Raider, I would like to tell you there are a few triggers that should be watched for…child sexual abuse and rape. If either of these are a problem, proceed with caution.

I love a good cop novel, so the blurb for A Detached Raider had me excited, and while I can’t say I loved the book, it was a decent mystery with decent characters. At times, I found it to be somewhat convoluted, and I had to go back and re-read several passages because I kept getting Cole and Cade mixed up. Both names have four letters and start with “C,” and until I got to about a third of the way through, I was pretty confused as to who was who.

Both detectives were well written and well developed. Their chemistry was almost immediate, but their road to a relationship was steady. It felt natural to me. The first love scene was hot and sexy, and each following scene kept bringing the heat. I enjoyed watching them fall in love and finding their way to each other.

There were a lot of background characters here…fellow cops, suspects, criminals, victims, and the killer. Sometimes, I had a hard time keeping them straight, but as the book progressed, it got easier. As I mentioned, two cases meld into one with the murders becoming tied to something else. I don’t really want to say anything about all of that, though, because I feel like I’d be giving everything away. I will say I figured out the whodunit a few pages before the big reveal. With that being said, I was impressed with how everything turned out, and I even understood why things turned out the way they did.

All in all, A Detached Raider was a good story and an interesting mystery. I think it’s a solid foundation for a new series. I will have no qualms about reading the next book to come along. I definitely recommend it, especially to fans of detective/killer stories.

kenna sig