This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong

SYNOPSIS

When Casey Duncan first arrived at Rockton, the off-the-grid, isolated community built as a haven for people running from their pasts, she had no idea what to expect. There are no cell phones, no internet, no mail, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. She certainly didn't expect to become the town homicide detective.

​But, the very last thing she expected was for the council to drop a dangerous criminal into their midst without a plan to keep him imprisoned. And she never thought that she'd have to be responsible for him. 

The longer Oliver Brady stays in town, the more people seem to die around him. When evidence begins piling up that someone inside Rockton is working as his accomplice, Casey races to figure out who exactly Brady is and what crimes he's truly responsible for committing.

Synopsis from Goodreads

---

PERSONAL REVIEW

The third book in the Rockton series, we are still getting more and more interesting characters to follow, but I didn't find myself as in love with this story as I had been with the previous books. While I'm still very intrigued with the town and its inhabitants, this book felt a little more forced then previous ones.

Confusing Storyline: 
This book was a bit confusing to me. It felt very jumbled and it seemed like the characters and storyline were really bouncing around everywhere, with the reader just struggling to hold on until the end. There were too many twists and turns and it felt like a lot of overlapping storylines. This was basically a case of having too many ideas in one book for it to be a smooth read. While I still liked it by the end, it definitely took more work to get through.

Good Character Growth: 
In the previous book, we were introduced to more characters (like Nicole) and saw other characters develop (like Jacob), so it was great to see them both play bigger roles in This Fallen Prey. I really like when authors continue to build on the number of characters we get close to; if an entire series is only invested in one or two characters, it begins to feel stale. In the Rockton series, we are constantly getting new characters (good or bad) to read about, which breaks up any monotony that may threaten to develop. I also still really like the relationship between Casey and Eric and how that is moving forward. I keep wondering if they will actually ever leave Rockton and start their own city; it seems like it's becoming more of a goal instead of a dream for them, so I'd love to see that developed further before the end of the series.  

Feels Like an "In-Between" Book: 
In any series, there inevitably ends up being that one book that feels more like a transition book then it's own novel, that I think that's what happened here. It felt like Armstrong was trying to bridge a gap and give us some more information before the next book came out, which resulted in this book being more chaotic then the previous ones. While I still liked the book, I didn't really feel like it was a good representation of the rest of the series and seemed like we were really just stumbling around and given new questions for the next book to answer.

Overall, this book just felt more forced then previous ones. I think we're left at a much more interesting cliffhanger then in previous novels, but This Fallen Prey was definitely more of an in-between book to bridge the series together than a strong stand-a-lone in the series (I hope that made sense!). 

---

FINAL RATING: 3.5/5