Book Review
Title: Aquarius (Murder of the Zodiac #1)
Author: A. P. Morgan
Genre: Crime
Rating: *****
Review: So I read the first 5 books in this series, but I have been out of this world so long I decided to start over. If you want to read my original reviews they will be linked at the end of this review. Aquarius introduces us to Leslie Boxe, a homicide detective, on her first case as a detective. It turns out a young woman has been murdered in her home, but little does she know that this is the beginning of a string of murders. This is also one of the crime novels I have read that features the killer’s perspective. Things start to get interesting when Leslie and her partner Joe get a call about a second murder with the same M.O. and it seems like the victims are being targeted by their birthdays as nothing else seems to link them together but Leslie now has to find out what the killer is planning and stop him or her before another victim turns up.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Leslie is the one that discovers the cards left at the crime scenes both mark with the Zodiac sign of Aquarius which definitively links the two murders together. After the autopsies, Leslie is sure that the two murders are connected, and she even has a lead as one of the women led a less than normal sex life and was involved with a man named Noah Prescott. While he doesn’t give much away Leslie has the feeling that Noah is definitely connected to the murders in some way and this is a person she returns to several times in the next couple of books.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the time is counting down to when the killer Will strike again and another police officer manages to get Leslie an in at the club through a guy named Ford so she can see a bit clearer the kind of man Noah Prescott is. However, before she can even start thinking about that she realises that two murders in Fort Worth match their cases and immediately she and Joe set up a meeting with the lead detective Ryan. It turns out their cases are connected, and Leslie begins working with Ryan to uncover the meaning behind the zodiac symbols, but the most interesting part is when Leslie helps interview a young physic named Flora who seems to have information on the murders. While Ryan is very skeptical of any information Flora might have Leslie believes she might just help them crack the case. Something interesting to take note of here is Flora warns Leslie and Ryan that their lives are tied together and should one of them die it would destroy the other which really comes into play in just a few books when things really start getting juicy.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Leslie has just finished her date with Jerome when she learns about another case only this victim is still alive but barely hanging on. Sarah Black does t survive the urge but there is a good chance that the husband got a good look at the killer which might give them the break they have been looking for. This death brings their total body count to 8 between the two jurisdictions with no signs of the killer stopping or slowing down. Leslie does end meeting with Ford after she is assigned to split her time between both stations until the killer is caught. Ford manages to tell her that Noah Prescott is a snake that isn’t afraid to strike. He also is someone who treads very close to the line of the club’s rules and many including Ford believe he keeps is unsightly activities off-site providing Leslie’s instinct about was right. As she bugs his driver she hopes that might leads somewhere since he already seems to be focusing on a new woman.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, I was actually loving Jerome and Leslie’s relationship and he actually helps her uncover that the zodiac signs are a major clue. It turns out Fort Worth and Dallas are sun Aquarius cities that fit as all the murders were committed while the sun was still you and the word energy appears making Leslie think of Noah Prescott. Leslie tells Ryan how she believes that astrology seems to be critical than he wanted to admit and that the psychic Flora might be of help to them in the case and while Ryan is reluctant to use her, he trusts Leslie and is willing to compromise. Leslie is also quite jealous of Ryan’s fiancé Shea, not because she has feelings for him but because she doesn’t have what they have. I will say I think this changes later in the series especially after her brush with death, but I digress.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, we learn that all the victims are good people especially the latest victim; Joy. Leslie once again turns to Flora for some guidance and she isn’t sure where the case is leading her, but Flora is inexperienced and doesn’t have a whole lot to go on other than the killer is working within a pattern and a schedule and she will let Leslie know if that changes. She also gives Leslie some personal advice ass she has admitted that she has feelings for both Jerome and Ryan, but it is complicated by the fact that Ryan is happily engaged. Flora unlike most tells her not to worry about those facts and whatever is going to happen will happen, but she does ask Leslie to give Jerome a little more time to prove himself and that her feelings might change once their relationship becomes sexual which Leslie takes to heart. Personally, I do prefer Leslie with Ryan, don’t get me wrong I like Shea, but I just think Leslie and Ryan’s chemistry is amazing and only gets stronger in the next couple of books. With 19 confirmed bodies and more that might not have been linked to their killer, both Leslie and Ryan are worried as there are only 8 days left in the Aquarius sign so not much time to nail down the killer who is working at an alarming rate. Leslie fills Ryan in on her suspicions about Noah and a surveillance request is approved to key a closer eye on him but they don’t actually have a lot of concrete evidence to go on only their intuition and gut feeling.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the final reveal is made and even though I have read this book before it still took me by surprise and made me question everything we had read up until that point. The ending leaves a major cliffhanger with a note simply ending “have fun next month” which is so ominous that it made me so excited for Pisces. If you haven’t read the Murders of the Zodiac series then I highly recommend it.
Buy it here:
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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