Jonetta's Reviews > Fatal Affair

2023 Review
the setup…
Nick Cappuano, irritated because his boss, Virginia US Senator John O’Connor is late for a major vote, enters his apartment and discovers him brutally murdered. Metro Homicide Detective Samantha (Sam) Holland is assigned the case and is stunned when she enters the scene and sees the man who captured her heart one night six years ago and then ghosted her. She needs this case after the disaster of her last one and decides in that moment not to reveal their past interlude. Nick is O’Connor’s chief of staff and quite possibly a suspect, too.

the heart of the story…
Now knowing all the details of Sam and Nick’s encounter six years ago, I have a stronger opinion about her failure to disclose this to her superiors. It was immediately obvious that both were still emotionally connected to that night, especially after determining why she never heard from him. The case was heartbreaking because John was adored by his family and staff but the nature of his attack suggested it was highly personal and the senator had a secret life that no one seemed to know about. The list of suspects was kind of long and my theories were all over the place. But always in the background was Sam’s conflict of interest in the case and the developing romance with Nick. Not sure her career could have survived in real life.

the narration…
I’m rereading the series and listening to the first books since I switched to audio around the fourth book but they had a different narrator. I liked Felicity Munroe but I came to love some of the voice depictions created by Eva Kaminsky in those later books, especially her version of Sam’s partner Freddie.

the bottom line...
It made such a difference listening to the prequel before this book the second time around. My imagination of their earlier encounter didn’t even come close to the high octane emotion of the reality. That’s why it felt so wrong that Sam didn’t fess up about it but I also was much more invested in the romance. It didn’t feel like insta-lust this time and it came across more authentically. I’m loving this reread as it now has a different vibe. And, I couldn’t remember who murdered John!

2013 Review
This is a great start to the series!

Detective Sam Holland is called to investigate the murder of a U. S. senator and runs right into a long ago one night stand. Nick Cappuano is the late Senator's chief of staff and is one of the suspects. He and Sam apparently left a lot of things unfinished.

There's lots of action, suspense and mystery, ending with some unforeseen twists and shockers. Sam and Nick's romance smoldered throughout the investigation and I'm looking forward to what's next for them and more action.