BEHIND BLUE EYES (C.A.S.I. Book 1) by T.L. Schaefer

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the author, T.L. Schaefer, for an honest review.

Genre: Adult/Fiction/Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

Plot: When all eyes are on you, there’s nowhere to run…except TOWARD the truth.

Crime-scene photographer Sara Covington hides behind her camera from the otherworldly ability that’s caused her nothing but grief her whole life. Yet denial doesn’t protect her when she runs across a serial killer with an aural signature she’s never encountered.

Suddenly she’s without a job and with nowhere to turn…except to an enigmatic, sexy-as-hell detective with a disquieting talent for seeing right through her defenses.

Brian Roney’s fascination with Sara compels him to bring her in on the case that ultimately gets her fired. Even though he senses her mutual attraction, something holds her back from stepping into his arms. He’s as determined to find out why she’s pushing him away as he is to keep her safe.

When the killer strikes again, Sara realizes the only way to stop the madman is come clean about her painful past—and embrace the gift she has so long denied. Before the grisly trail of bodies leads right to her doorstep.

Warning: A sexy alpha cop, a heroine with a past (and super spidey sense) and a maniac on the loose…what’s not to love?

Opinion: I really enjoyed this read to the point that I found myself not being able to put my kindle down while I was cooking or getting ready for work. Though some books that fall into this genre can move along at a slow pace, I didn’t get bored and I found that I had a SERIOUS NEED to find out what happened.

Sara Covington has been working as a crime scene photographer for over ten years, which has subjected her to aftermath of gruesome and terrible murders. Not only does Sara do a remarkable job at capturing the feelings of each victim through her photographs, but she can also see the auras of the deceased and of the murderers (which she has kept hidden from others). When Sara is called to a new crime scene for the victim that died at the hands of a new serial killer, she senses an aura she has never felt before, something she describes as being evil and monstrous. Soon Sara is contacted and brought into the case by detective Brian Roney, who is the first to learn of her talent. As detective Roney and Sara start to investigate the murders in more detail, they find that the killings might not be as random as they had first anticipated. The hunt for the killer proves to be risky and complicated, but nothing compares to the secrets that Sara has been hiding about her past.

I know that my summary is a bit vague, but it is VERY difficult to condense this book into a paragraph and not spoil everything for you. This book is packed, and I mean PACKED, with thrills and suspense. From my experience in reading this genre (suspense, thrillers, or anything where a crime is being solved) it seems that authors usually follow a general idea for how the story unfolds itself. It more or less goes like this: the main characters and “issue” or “crime” are introduced, the characters get a “lead” or an idea of who is behind it, something goes wrong, a new plan is formulated, and then it is solved…or in the rare case, everyone dies. Let’s also not forget the romance that is always not so slyly put in between the pages. 😉 Behind Blue Eyes, digs a bit deeper than that. Not only does the reader get invested into the main character, Sara Covington, but her past turns about to be an entirely new story that gets to be discovered. The author uses flashbacks as a way to tell the current story and Sara’s past, which eventually start to intermingle. The author did a fantastic job of making this story feel real by twisting a fiction story idea into something highly believable.

The character of Sara had the right amount of maturity for her age and what she had been through in her life, but also the right amount of issues. This woman is spunky, feisty, and very independent. If you read my reviews regularly, you know that I LOVE a strong female character who can kick some ass if she needs to. Not only can this character take care of herself, and has been doing so for years, but she is a very logical thinker and looks at every angle before entering a situation. I loved that at the beginning of the book Sara was working hard to ignore and push away her ability to see auras, but near the end she has fully embraced it and learned to use it to her advantage. There is a romance that goes on in this story, but it does not draw away from the actual events. As a warning, there are a few “adult” scenes that take place but they do not get OVERLY raunchy and don’t make the book fall into the erotic genre (thankfully 😉 ). I do wish that the Brian and Sara didn’t take their romance so seriously in the sense that they made little things feel very dramatic. I mean come on, there is a serial killer on the loose you two! That is a more pressing issue than your sexual frustrations and your lack of trust…priorities people.

Without giving anything away, I wanted to mention what a creative idea it was for the past that Sara tries so hard to forget. Not only had the events that she experienced molded her into the woman she became, but it was the main platform for what happens later in the book. I can honestly say that if I had been in Sara’s shoes, I don’t know if I would have made it out alive like she did. If you think this could be something you want to read, definitely go for it. It has a great pace and develops beautifully into a fantastic read. There is also a second book called Shoot To Thrill, which I hope to start soon.