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Author (Platform): Isabella Maldonado (Kindle)
Publisher (Release): Thomas & Mercer (2024)
Length: 361 pages
Genres: Adult; Crime; Thriller; Suspense
❗️Disclaimers❗️:
warning for scenes of sexual assault
contains moderate blood and violence
this review contains low-level spoilers
recommendation: must read
👍 Pros 👍
Wickedly effective use of switching viewpoints
Dani Vega is a compelling and capable warrior
Clues come together in a satisfying and neat bow
👎 Cons 👎
A fragmented beginning doesn’t quite toe the line between effective lure and padded runtime
Characters have a tendency to jump to conclusions when so much effort has gone into the details
👀 Synopsis 👀
FBI Special Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega was seventeen when her mother murdered her father. Ten years after Dani’s own damning eyewitness testimony sealed her mother’s fate, she’s starting to have doubts. What if she got it all wrong?
A veteran NYPD homicide detective agrees to reopen the closed case on one condition—Dani must help him find a serial killer who’s been operating throughout New York City for the past decade. If anyone can decipher his patterns, and his riddles, it’s a trained codebreaker like Dani. The killer knows this too. And his next riddle—and victim—is meant just for her.
For Dani, stopping a killer—and learning what really happened to her father—becomes more personal and more dangerous with each new twist. As secrets of the past are unearthed, the truth could forever change Dani’s life…and the lives of everyone she loves.
🛎️ Introduction 🛎️
Codebreaker Daniela ‘Dani’ Vega returns in this deceptively simple crime thriller, whose threat of mundanity hides a battle of wits between Dani and a serial killer with victims in the double digits. A Forgotten Kill might not be as bombastic as its predecessor, A Killer’s Game, but the deeply personal mixing with the darkly criminal shapes an emotional analysis of never being afraid to revisit your actions, especially when they could be wrong.
🧩 Plots 🧩
A Forgotten Kill has a bumpy start that I, at first, worried a safe sequel to such an electrifying origin in A Killer’s Game might disappoint. Thankfully, the frayed and scattered threads Maldonado starts knitting slowly begin to weave an interesting collection of mysteries with trickling clues to embody our protagonist’s role as a codebreaker. There are a few too many moments of instant realisation, and while most come with the requisite supporting evidence, the frequency can hide the questions and dull the answers.
Hit the midway point and Maldonado locks in. The structure shifts to rapidly switching viewpoints of Vega and the killer as they race against the other to achieve their goals. The tension is unreal, palpable, like the reader’s brain has been placed in a vice, helpless to stop the tightening, unable to stop drinking the dark vintage A Forgotten Kill ages to fine wine. Even more impressive is the use of the justice system, its values and shortcomings, to slip in an undercurrent of frustration to flavour the suspense. Vega, the heroic FBI agent, has to fight the very system she upholds while the killer uses it to their advantage, and I cannot describe the restless energy I felt, chomping at the bit to see what happens.
It takes a special kind of person to operate in the shadows
Revelations collide with a satisfying mental SNAP as Maldonado takes her metaphorical knitting needles and stabs them right into the reader’s heart, providing a fantastic close that adds depth the world and its characters can and should (I’m a little disappointed by how little we hear about the events of the first novel, with a vague section hinting but never recapping what happens for the reader) take into future entries.
‘…tension is unreal, palpable…’
🎭 Characters 🎭
Daniela ‘Dani’ Vega, FBI codebreaker, earns her stripes yet again in A Forgotten Kill. Calculating but never cold, her ability to parse information is exceptional without ever being portrayed as anything but human, ensuring enough chips in her veneer keep her grounded. Vega’s the brains and the brawn, but everything in-between is nicely filled out with a distinct, if underdeveloped, supporting cast.
One she undoubtedly needs as the personal and professional clash in a heartbreaking story of family, grudges, and reconciliation.
Some puzzles are deadly
Joining Vega’s third-person, past-tense viewpoint is a smattering of her costars and, enriching that delicious tension, the killer. At first as scarily simple as most crime thrillers, Maldonado uses her vicious serial murderer to not only break up the pace but also to poke and prod at the reader. We feel every bit of the race against the clock as Dani does, and as secrets are uncovered, the chase becomes a compulsion to reach into the pages and grab the animal for ourselves.
One gripe I cannot shake is the tendency for the characters to jump to and accept what’s in front of them directly against the narrative’s framework. It’s oft repeated that jumping to conclusions without evidence is not how Vega and her team operate but…they often do. It’s a cheap way of shoehorning in a faux surprise for the characters that they’re wrong, something A Forgotten Kill just doesn’t need, especially since, overall, the story is strong enough without the red herrings.
‘Vega’s the brains and the brawn…’
💭 Final Thoughts 💭
A Forgotten Kill lures the reader in with a messy kickoff, threatening to stumble as a safe sequel to an ostentatious origin, before author Isabella Maldonado rips that rug from underneath you with surprising force. A flurry of viciously switching viewpoints pits FBI codebreaker Dani Vega against a serial killer who has avoided detection for decades in a restless race against time and the justice system to prevent the loss of more innocent lives.
It takes a bit longer than I would’ve liked to get the blood pumping but, once it does, it never stops, wringing every bit of tension and emotion it can before releasing the hollowed remains of the reader to slink into a fantastic close.
The Phoenix Project 