Hayley had thought she’d got the fresh start she needed, that she’d escaped her past. She finally has a job she enjoys, a place to call home, and at least some semblance of peace. But the past has a way of catching up to a person when they least expect it. Just like she wasn’t expecting to cross paths with Jesse, she wasn’t expecting trouble to find her. For years she had been guarded, unwilling to trust, but there was something about Jesse that made her want to take a chance. But her past is always there, haunting her physically and mentally, and its closer than she thinks. This time her past is playing for keeps.
The Vine Cross by S.P. Dawes is a riveting and engaging crime fiction. From the moment I opened that first page I knew I was in trouble when I was met head on with engaging and relatable characters. I read it all in a single sitting, unable to tear my eyes away from the page, desperately needing to know what happened next. With a harrowing past, Hayley is a strong female character forced to endure things no one should, and Jesse, our guarded hero, has his own insecurities, but not when it comes to her. This book in an engaging, thrilling, emotional ride that really gets you hooked from the start. Secrets, manipulation, desperation, and a race against time combine in a brilliantly structured plot. A serial killer is on the loose, the new wave of drugs on the street are killing people, and Hayley’s past has finally caught up to her with a promise of her destruction. The Vine Cross has everything you could ask for in a crime story and more.
K.J's Athenaeum 