HACKED - Geri Hosier

Liz Paxton, head of a London Murder Squad, and her friend Lou Brighouse, a top-notch journalist, are trying to find the murderer of a reporter who had been in the middle of investigating a phone hacking scandal. Could a simple hacking story really be worth killing over? The deeper Liz gets in her investigation the more terrifying the reporter's death becomes (she learns he was tortured before being killed) and she finds herself with formidable enemies on both sides of the law.

Liz will need to fall back on her natural talent and carefully honed skills to stay one step ahead of those trying to kill her while uncovering and exposing the criminal activity.

I've started, and stopped, this book a few times over the years and finally decided I was just going to read it. The mystery in this story is fine.  A decade ago it would have seemed really relevant seeing as how the story seems to be pulled from an event in England in 2011 involving Rupert Murdock and phone hacking.

What slows this book down for me is the romance. Liz and Lou  fall quickly and decidedly in love with one another and there's probably more pages dedicated to their relationship than there is to the mystery (maybe that's not true, but it feels that way). This becomes a 'chick-lit' (I really don't like using that term) romance over a thriller backdrop, rather than an action thriller mystery with a touch of romance.

The book rather fights with itself - competing story lines - and really neither wins out in this scenario.

Looking for a good book? Chick-lit lovers might not like the heavy action and killing and thriller lovers might be a bit disappointed with the heavy romance, keeping Hacked by Geri Hosier from reaching much of an audience.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Hacked

author: Geri Hosier

publisher: CreateSpace

ISBN: 9781492163183

paperback, 258 pages

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