The Killing Game (An Alexa Chase Suspense Thriller—Book 1‪)‬

I liked the characters and well developed story line. Hard to put down.

Has the potential to be a good thriller, but falls flat. I attribute this to the POV changes which take away that feeling of suspense, especially in the two chapters back to back when Drake Morgan has his lackey explain to him the plan, and the next chapter having Alexa fall into his trap. Would be more interesting and have me on the edge of my seat if we didn’t have that other chapter right before it, or at all. That chapter specifically could be taken out and nothing from the story would be missing.

The plot points change throughout the book for convenience, the way Alexa’s partner initially dies is by his throat being slit, then turns into him having been decapitated midway through the book just to align Alexa’s trauma with what happened to the only victim who survived Drake Morgan before he was incarcerated. The way Alexa’s injuries make no sense. Are her ribs broken or bruised? How come she can still win fights in her condition? Did she need stitches for the gash in her arm or not? What ended up happening with the media and the press conference addressing the excessive force Alexa was caught using? Just completely dropped and never referred to again.

Slightly racist too? Alexa is surprised a white presenting man has a strong Hispanic accent, calling it “odd” which stood out to me in the early chapters. She also mentions how affluent Hispanic people won’t have kids with Black or Indigenous people which is also a huge red flag.

Claims as an Arizonan that she doesn’t like air conditioning cause she can’t feel the Arizona air on her, which broke my suspension of disbelief. Also gives off big pick me vibes and the way she is written throughout the book is so jarring it feels like this was ghost written by a man. At least parts of it.

Drake Morgan’s M.O also changes throughout the book for convenience. Is stated early on that he only kills bad people and innocents who happen to get in the way, but then recruits people into his group who have committed terrible acts that don’t align with his beliefs or values.

His followers are also weirdly loyal to him up until he gets captured again and then everyone starts squealing, seems like the author just wanted to tie up all the loose ends in a neat little bow. It’s just odd to me that somehow everyone is confessing now…

Speaking of a loose end however, Drake repeatedly brags about having friends in high places (i.e. the government) and yet only utilized it once to be able to read Alexa’s file? Didn’t use any of his resources to help keep him hidden?? To delay or hinder the investigation??

Like why would he need a scanner from the black market to unscramble the police radio instead of being able to acquire a police scanner of his own from one of his followers. The only resource he seems to utilize that works in law enforcement is for the armored car that facilitates his escape.

I think it could’ve been interesting if he used the law enforcement resources he had alluded to earlier to kidnap both his first victim who got away and his mother who testified against him. Then have those same cops lie to our protagonist about the two women refusing the protection order and thus making us think they might still be alive only for Alexa to finally track them down and realize they’ve bee long dead, that she couldn’t have saved them sooner because she was in the hospital from her car accident at the time ( and yes I do think that both women should’ve been taken before Drake got out and then he plant their bodies in separate locations continuing to lead Alexa on a wild goose chase in order to turn her).

Very shocked as well that Drake doesn’t torture or kill Alexa’s loved ones. He doesn’t go after her charge and doesn’t go after her family, doesn’t even realize her brother had a connection to Fiona, which is a huge oversight. I find it hard to believe a meticulous serial killer with an obsession with his arresting officer doesn’t take advantage of this opportunity to “make her stronger” or to have her pass his test. Like you’re telling me he was only interested in her FBI file and literally nothing else? Didn’t want to stalk her and terrorize her with cryptic notes left in her family home or even her own home, didn’t send anyone to hide away her charge, nothing?

Overall this felt half baked and the pacing was downright abysmal. Kept reading to give the benefit of the doubt, but kept discovering more contradictions as I went along. The only silver lining for me was at the end when Alexa takes Stacey to her family’s ranch and the dad says she can call him Uncle Fred, giving her a place to belong when her parents suck so hard. I’m a sucker for found family, which is the only reason I didn’t give a 1 star rating.

Also very jarring at first that a man reads for this book despite most of the chapters being in a woman’s POC, took me out of the story at first and was a little hard to distinguish each voice throughout the book as it went on.

i really enjoyed listening to this one can’t wait to listen to the next one in the series