Obsession by Wanda L Dyson

Josiah "JJ" Johnson has once again been thrown into a kidnapping case with Zoe Shefford, much to his dismay. Female college students are disappearing, and one of them is the niece of Zoe's closest friend. But Zoe has resolved to never use her psychic gift again now that she is a Christian, leaving the police in the lurch about who the killer is. JJ continues to argue with Zoe about her blind faith in God without accepting it. The police have apprehended a suspect, but he is not saying anything. As time keeps ticking and the killer keeps killing, the police are running out of options...and hope.

Another kidnapping case was not conducive to the progress of this potentially good series. Wanda should have deviated and tried a different case topic, because kidnapping cases are very limited. Abduction is only as good as it is because Wanda created many original plot elements outside of the case. However, she did not do so in Obsession.

The biggest asset to this book is that Wanda retained the characters' personalities very well. In the transition from one book to another in a series, the characters' previous personalities tend to get lost in the shuffle. This is not the case with Obsession. Zoe and JJ continue to be good, imperfect characters. However, Donnie Bevere is quickly transforming in a perfect mentor character.

There are only a handful of realistic things about this case-one of them being dead ends, and the other being one slight key character death. But convenient connections, the completion of a potential romance, and the villains make for a mediocre read. I'm getting tired of serial killers or kidnappers turning out to be police officers or FBI agents. This plot device was interesting the first time it was used, not the numerous other times it was used. It is only slightly realistic to have this fact be true, but the corrupt police officer stereotype is cheesy.

At the beginning of the book, it seemed like JJ and Zoe were never going to fall in love. I liked this because those who fight do not necessarily fall in love eventually. Unfortunately, at the end, Wanda scrambled around and caused the two to literally kiss and make up at the last minute. She would have done better not to fall into this common fiction trap.

In short, Obsession is not as good as it could be, but it is not as bad as it could be. There are good things about it, making me sure that Wanda L Dyson has a lot of potential.

3 stars