Review: Night Fall by Nancy Mehl

Night Fall

by Nancy Mehl

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers

Pages: 336

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  For any little boy or girl who hears the Train Man speak,

Who feels his rancid breath caress their pretty cheek,
Must close their eyes, pretend to sleep, and very softly pray,
Or else the evil Train Man may carry them away.

Finally free of her troubled upbringing, Alex Donovan is able to live out her childhood dream of working for the FBI. But soon after she becomes a member of the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, authorities in Missouri contact them about bodies found on freight trains--all killed in the same way.

Alex never expected to be forced to confront her past in this new job, but she immediately recognizes the graffiti messages the killer is leaving on the train cars. When the BAU sends her to gather information about the messages from her aunt in Wichita, Kansas, Alex is haunted by the struggles she thought she'd left behind forever.

In a race against time to solve the case and recover a deadly virus sample the killer intends to spread, Alex must face how far she'll go--and what she's willing to risk--to put a stop to the Train Man.

Kritters Thoughts:  Alex Donovan works at the FBI, but not just the FBI in the Behavioral Analysis Unit where they are on the hunt for serial killers with the skills of getting into their minds and trying to figure out their next steps before they strike again.  

The first in a series, Alex Donovan was a great character to follow in this book and while I enjoy an amateur detective, it was fun to follow a detective who knew her stuff.  What I thought was interesting in this book was that they new the villain almost from the beginning, but were trying to figure out who his next victim would be and where.  

There were two things that I didn't completely love about this book, but I could overlook them a bit because I loved the main character and the plot worked despite these two things.  One I found out a few things way too early and while I am an avid mystery/thriller reader, it was just too early and it impacted my pleasure in reading the book.  The other while is in the synopsis, is semi spoilerie, but one of the things that this villain is doing other than killing people, he has a dead virus that he wants to release into the world and while COVID is mentioned in the book and maybe I feel as though it is a little too early to go there, I just didn't think it was necessary and something else could have been used to drive this part of the plot.  

With those two things in mind, I can still say that I enjoyed the reading and will look out for the next Alex Donovan book, but just hope that the villain has some better antics up his/her sleeve!  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Partner in Crime Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.