ARC REVIEW: Face Her Fear – by Lisa Regan

Title: Face Her Fear
(Detective Josie Quinn #19)
Author: Lisa Regan
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Detective
First published: January 30th 2024
Publisher: Bookouture
Finished reading: January 9th 2024
Pages: 385

“She was alone. Utterly alone. Stuck on the top of a mountain in one of the most rural counties in the entire state during a blizzard. Even if they could reach 911, it might still be days before anyone got to them and there was a murderer among them.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

REVIEW

I’ve been with this series since the very first book, and it has quickly turned into one of my absolute favorite detective thriller series. I always look forward to meet up with Josie Quinn and the rest of the team again, and I’ve been curious to see where book number nineteen would take us. I have to point out that Face Her Fear is completely different than the previous installments, and more locked room than detective thriller. This change makes sense with what happened to the main character though… Plus, I have a weak spot for locked room mysteries, remote settings and a good bout of bad weather to seal the deal, so I was one happy camper with this new direction the series took. Without doubt another winner!

Like I said, Face Her Fear takes a completely different direction than the rest of the series, and there is no official police investigation nor is the rest of the team as present. Book number nineteen is mainly about Josie Quinn and her trying to come to terms with past events while at a trauma retreat. There will be spoilers for previous sequels, so you’ve been warned! This series in general focuses a lot on the personal development of the cast in the first place, so I strongly advice reading them in order to avoid both said spoilers and missing out on character background and development along the way.

Those who follow this series will probably understand that I’m still not over the death of certain character either, so it was interesting to see Josie dealing with her trauma in her way. The trauma retreat made for an interesting setting, especially with the remote Pennsylvanian mountain cabin setting and the bout of bad weather causing the small group to be trapped on the mountain. Nothing like a blizzard to create what is basically a locked room mystery! The weather played an integral role in the plot, and it created the perfect ominous atmosphere.

Main character Josie Quinn isn’t in an official capacity when things start to go south, but she still tries to do her best without much help from the outside… The good old blizzard cutting them off from the rest of the world and all. It’s only a small group of virtual strangers attending the retreat, and every single one seems to have something to hide. This adds plenty of suspense and intrigue, and plenty of possibilities for plot twists and tense moments. This isn’t the only POV though, as we also follow Josie’s husband Noah as he tries to get to Josie during the storm. Both POVs have some very intense scenes and escalations that have become typical of this series!

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, because that will take the fun out of trying to solve the locked room mystery… This is one of those stories where it’s best to go in blind (albeit with the knowledge of the previous sequels under your belt). Face Her Fear ended up being SO different from the previous books, but it still packed a punch and I loved my time with this story. There were without doubt a couple twists I never saw coming! The ending left me curious; I do hope the new detective won’t be too insufferable…