Book Review: Red Hot Lies (Izzy McNeil Mysteries) by Laura Caldwell

I had a lot of trouble reading Red Hot Lies. Let’s start with the story itself. At the very beginning someone dies and someone goes missing and that’s pretty much it. Until page 314. That’s when things start rolling. That’s a long time to wait for a story to start. Along the way the protag, Izzy (I hate the name Izzy, so it was a little irritating to have to keep reading the name, but that’s on me, not the author) pondered numerous times if the people in her life could be capable of murder, and felt like she was being followed. Repetitive. I think there was about 150 pages too many in this book.

There was this subplot that didn’t need to be in the book at all. It’s like it was just filler, and with 450 pages, I don’t really think you need filler. Or, since the author is writing more books in this series, she may have been setting up relationships for future novels. I have no idea, but to me, the subplot was useless.

The supposed twists in the book were easy to figure out, at least for me. I was surprised by nothing except my willingness to continue reading. I knew who the killer was, I knew what was going to happen to said killer, and pretty much everything else.

Now, although I didn’t like the story, the writing was okay. Not fabulous, but the author sets the scenes well, she obviously knows about the law and Panama.

The best thing about the book was the characters. They were very likeable and well drawn. Izzy is a tough, sexy, red headed entertainment attorney. My favorite characters include gay but manly, black, bald assistant Q, clever, stealthy, private investigator Mayburn, and the loyal, best-friend-with-a-crush, Grady. You also have the doting mother, lazy brother, and the jerky co-worker to round things out. The author does paint a vivid picture of each character and they all have distinct and interesting personalities.

So, I wouldn’t mind reading another book involving these characters, but the author would really need to give me a story full of action, excitement, and suspense to get me to pick it up. It’s not that I wasn’t entertained, I was, I did keep reading, but Red Hot Lies lacked too much in plot to make it a good read for me.