The Ransom by Nancy Boyarsky.

Nicole Graves continues in her job as a Private Investigator, this time she is asked to look into the identity of a kidnapping victim. This 4th story in the Nicole Graves series can be read as a standalone.

I thought The Ransom got off to a very good start. Nancy set the scene in Los Angeles very well indeed. NIcole was asked to look into the identity of the third kidnapping victim in the city. Maybe there were serial kidnappers on the loose, or maybe the victims were connected. There were plenty of what-if’s thrown at the reader and I was looking forward to Nicole solving the mystery.

However, The Ransom differs from the previous Nicole Graves novels which were solely about Nicole and told purely from her point of view. This time Nicole’s sister Stephanie is dragged into the story. Now you get two points of view, the main focus being Nicole but a substantial although secondary focus on Stephanie. There are many times within the story when the reader knows more about what is going on than Nicole, because they have read Stephanie’s parts. I found this two person tale very frustrating.

The plot within this story was quite simple and nowhere near as involved or intricate as in the three earlier novels. There was no WOW! Factor in The Ransom. After a very good start this book then plodded along and became a regular search and find. The story then became rather predictable with nothing out of the ordinary. In the earlier novels we had lots of content and feeling about the life of Nicole in and out of work. The character development and living the life of Nicole was drastically reduced in The Ransom, the story being more about the searches Nicole ran than the heroine we previously enjoyed. There was a hint at romance this time but it was just a hint and was not developed.

Another frustration was when Nicole got closer to the kidnappers. The police told her about the risks involved and to stay away. What does the silly cow do? Yes, she grabs her handbag and storms off in search of the kidnappers and their victims. I lost my empathy for Nicole then.

I did like the localisation that Nancy put into her story. Not only does she use Los Angeles as a back-drop to her story but she uses American words and expressions that give British readers a lot to think about. This mix of local culture was a joy to read.

I found The Ransom to be an Okay 3 star read. I did not enjoy it anyway as much as her earlier novels which I thought had far, far better plots and a much stronger personality from Nicole.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and INscribe Digital/Light Messages Publishing for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.