Review of All The Pretty Girls

All the Pretty Girls
JT Ellison
Mira
411 pages

All the Pretty Girls is the first of the Taylor Jackson series and is an outstanding example of a thriller disguised as romantic suspense.

Taylor Jackson Lieutenant for the Nashville Police Department has her hands full as it is and the last thing she needs is a serial killer loose and in her backyard. Along with her “main squeeze” FBI profiler John Baldwin they will have to get into the head of this heartless villain and solve the mysteries of the bodies he’s leaving behind.

Ms. Ellison has given us a brand new model for a strong woman protagonist in Taylor, a woman who’s not afraid to be female in the presence of a mostly male cast and an all male homicide department. Her plot may not be original in it’s contents but she spins her tale with the best of the thriller authors and keeps her audience guessing as we sweat the outcome of the various characters until the bitter end and in between the blood and gore you get real life dramas that only intensify your liking of these people. Her dialogue is just what you’d expect from cops and robbers, that no-nonsense and to the point speak with plenty of expletives, yet it’s not over done like with some authors who find the need to cuss in every sentence. Her characters are outstanding all of them especially the stable of homicide detectives that work with Taylor and of course Baldwin. And let’s talk about her protagonists for a bit, Taylor is a head strong and independent woman who is not a bit afraid to show her female side and her occasional vulnerability and then turn around and show us her very professional cop side as well, and Baldwin is this tortured soul who seems to be a better man with Taylor in the picture and is just fine with admitting it. And better than anything I like the characters and I think her audience will too. The love story is between two flawed individuals who are better together than apart. The love scenes are few, but are tempered to please any reader.

So do yourself a favor and if you’ve never read JT Ellison, make “All the Pretty Girls” your first foray, you will not be sorry you did. And, like I intend to do, immerse yourself into the series with the following books in the life and times of Taylor Jackson.