A Perfect Obsession - Romantic Suspense Review

A Perfect Obsession (New York Confidential #2) by Heather Graham

Rating:  Good
Source:  NetGalley

Description: Someone is murdering beautiful young women in the New York area and displaying them in mausoleums and underground tombs. The FBI is handling the case, with Special Agent Craig Frasier as lead.
Kieran Finnegan, forensic psychologist and part owner of Finnegan's, her family's pub, is consulting on the case. Craig and Kieran are a couple who've worked together on more than one occasion. On this occasion, though, Craig fears for the safety of the woman he loves. Because the killer is too close. The body of a young model is found in a catacomb under a two-hundred-year-old church, now deconsecrated and turned into a nightclub. A church directly behind Finnegan's in lower Manhattan.

As more women are murdered, their bodies discovered in underground locations in New York, it's clear that the police and the FBI are dealing with a serial killer. Craig and Kieran are desperate to track down the murderer, a man obsessed with female perfection. Obsessed enough to want to "preserve" that beauty by destroying the women who embody it

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Why I Picked This Book:  Heather Graham is my kryptonite and this looked interesting.  I love a spooky serial killer!

My Impression:  I don't think I realized exactly what this one was when I requested it.  Instead of a stand alone type series like her Krewe of Hunters books this is more of a continuing series featuring an Irish pub owner/psychologist and her family and an FBI agent. However while Kieran and Craig as well as the rest of the Finnegan family are actually introduced in the first book - Flawless - I didn't feel like I had come in mid-story.  It read very well as a stand alone.

I liked the mystery quite a bit.  It's got a bit of a Criminal Minds feel with a seriously twisted killer scattering super staged corpses around and a mix of the FBI and the psychology of it all.  I had a few suspicions on the killer but was surprised by how the reveal came about.  I really love seeing the investigation from inside the FBI with the discussion of suspects and compiling the information gathered from interviews.  I feel like I'm right there with them standing around the board debating theories.  The setting is fantastic as well.  While a New York setting is always great I especially enjoyed the below ground historical look.  It's interesting to think just how old New York is and what could be buried below all the newer buildings.  I also enjoyed the relationship between Kieran and her brothers as well as the atmosphere in Finnegan's itself.

I did have some issues with this book however.  I felt like Kieran's role was a bit ambiguous with the group she works with.  She's a psychologist not a psychiatrist like the rest of the doctors yet she's still educated and highly qualified.  However, at times they treat her very much as a lackey using her to drop off files at the FBI or to take notes for them.  As well, while the characters were all interesting, they all felt a little flat at times and I never felt like I was fully pulled into the book.

While this book isn't perfect it is a lot of fun.  When you're in the mood for a light read that's spooky with a twist of romance there's really no one better than Graham and this kept me entertained!

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Definitely!  I can never resist a Heather Graham book though I do think I prefer the Krewe books.

Would I Recommend this Book?: I would but with reservations.  It's a fun read but probably not one I'd recommend if you'd never read anything by Graham before.  Start with The Hexed from the Krewe series.