Unforgivable by Laura Griffin Review

Title:  Unforgivable
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Pages: 416
Stars: 4
Source: Publisher

TRACING KILLERS IS MIA VOSS'S BUSINESS. AND HER WORK JUST GOT PERSONAL.

At first, Mia Voss thinks it's just bad luck when her already lousy day ends with a carjacking, but what seems like a random incident is followed by another sinister episode. A DNA expert, Mia has made it her mission to put away vicious criminals. Suddenly, she's become the target of one. And the only way to protect the people she loves most is to deliberately destroy her reputation and risk letting a killer walk free.

Once, Mia trusted Detective Ric Santos, but that was before Ric let his turbulent past ruin his chances with Mia, the sexiest, most intriguing woman he's ever met. But he can tell when she's lying—and when she's scared. The key to catching a sadistic madman lies within a long-buried cold case that has haunted Mia for years. Only she can uncover the truth, but first, Ric will have to get her to entrust him with her secrets . . . and her life.
 
Although this is not the first book with these characters, it was easily read stand-alone. There was no ad nauseum catch-up from another book. Just a little snippit here and there. The story was easy to fall into. Mia finds herself in her pajamas (under some clothing), buying ice cream at a store to soothe her damaged ego. She'd just been demoted. She's trying to stay inconspicuous, buys her calories and fat, and gets in her jeep. She quickly discovers there is a man in her jeep and he seems intent on killing her. She's the main protagonist so I hope I don't spoil it too much by giving this little conflict away. She lives. But it's an exciting and page turning experience.

Enter Ric Santos, cop with a history with Mia (just sexual tension). So the conflicts include not only the Mia/Ric hook-up or not, but who and why is someone trying to kill Mia. To add morbid interest, Mia is a specialist with a doctorate in DNA study. It's her job to analyze miniscule findings from crime scenes and testify in court.

The book is easy to immerse yourself with likeable and interesting characters, intriguing storyline, and chemistry. This is not a clean read. That said, it also is not a thinly veiled plot to write about sex. The plot is much thicker than "just reading it for the articles." It is a romantic thriller. The thriller part far outweighs the romantic interludes.

I really liked it.