Though I’m fairly new to Karen Rose, I’m glad that I stumbled across her. Her novels are complex and emotion-packed, and feature well-rounded characters. Die for Me oozes tension-filled suspense and horror. I simply couldn’t put it down and will definitely be checking out the author’s backlist in the near future.

Detective Vito Ciccotelli arrives at a field where an old man found a body using a metal detector. He and his partner use the detector to find the locations of possibly five more bodies, but to preserve evidence before the CSI people dig up the field, they want to make sure of bodies’ locations and of what they may find. Archaeologist Sophie Johannsen is called in and she uses her equipment to map the field. She locates not five but eight other bodies…and seven empty graves. Now Vito and his team must hunt for a mass murderer who clearly has every intention of filling those final graves.

Vito and Sophie are thrown together often during the case, because, while Sophie isn’t involved in the man hunt, she is consulted frequently for her historical knowledge. Vito finds himself quite interested in her, but she resists for several different reasons. Both have complicated histories with previous relationships, although Sophie’s affects her far more than Vito’s. After being used in the past, she finds it difficult to trust men and to open up to them. While she’s either flying off the handle or running away, Vito keeps a cool perspective on things and grounds her.

Many different subplots run through the novel, which make for a very fulfilling ending when they all merge. The killer thinks that nobody is on to him, but several people independently are figuring out that this guy is not normal or that something is wrong. Each of these paths lead to the final showdown. This gave me an overall sense of justice, and the idea that evil will be spotted by those who are perceptive seemed to be a theme running through the book. The killer appears often and the reader gets an insight into his motive and background. Interesting history and pop culture facts are sprinkled throughout, so I felt like I learned as I was reading. The story has a lot of meat to it, which makes sense since it is rather long.

The book does have a couple of flaws, though. The first is that the romance in this romantic suspense novel wasn’t developed enough. The second is that at times I was overwhelmed by all of the various threads and the complex details associated with each of them. Yes, the many subplots made this a richer read, but so much focus on too many details diminished time that could have been better spent on developing the romance between Vito and Sophie. For example, the hero later describes the only love scene as a “disastrous mating” because it lacked emotion. That’s understandable, but the reader never gets to see the emotion-filled love scenes that would have added a needed layer of depth to the couple’s relationship. On the other hand, Sophie’s background was overly complex and unnecessary, and the time devoted to helping her overcome all her emotional issues took away from the relationship and could have been put to better use.

One little detail that I loved about this novel is that the team of cops actually stays on top of things. So often in suspense novels the people who try to solve the crimes get upstaged by the criminal, who runs ahead of them the whole way, and luck often plays a hand in the ultimate solution. Here, the team works through the case and figures out the killer’s mind and most of his moves, even if things do not always work out as planned. That brought a level of satisfaction that I do not usually find with thrillers.

I like horror and do not mind torture in novels, but it should be said that this book might not suit everyone. The killer is very disturbing and by the end of the story the death count is rather high. Sophie was used for her knowledge, because the killer used medieval torture techniques on some of his victims before killing them. It gets gruesome; if you can’t abide reading this kind of thing, be forewarned.

Karen Rose has been a good find for me, and this book is no exception. Die for Me is a fast-paced, multi-layered thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. While the romance is nothing special, the book as a whole certainly satisfies and I will continue looking for Rose’s books as they come out.