21 Weeks: Weeks 1 to 7 by R.A. LaShea is a crime fiction series that spans the space of 21 weeks and 20 victims.
Beck Nash has transferred into the Homicide Division and is about to start her first murder case. Beck has a reputation as a loose cannon. She lives by her own rules and her new job doesn’t get off to the best start. But she has a sympathetic partner who starts to see the benefit of being with someone who doesn’t only think outside the box, she doesn’t believe the box exists.
There’s a serial killer out there and each week is covered separately in some detail so the investigation is shown in all its fits and starts and frustrations. Beck upsets people and draws outside the lines, but the department won’t care IF she can catch the bad guy.
Writing and Story
This book certainly starts with a thrilling first scene. We meet Beck Nash as she joins the Homicide team, having transferred from Vice. But Beck’s way of introducing herself – much like her investigative methods – is somewhat unorthodox. You definitely get the type of character she is and the tone of the book.
A serial killer who had supposedly been captured is taunting one of Beck’s colleagues so she and her new partner are assigned to determine if the killer is still free before he carries out the murders he is threatening over the next 21 weeks. This is the first part of a trilogy and covers the first batch of deaths.
The book introduces all the main players and allows quite a few glimpses into Beck’s childhood and adolescence giving us some answers to why she is so ‘different’. The murders are gruesome and dwell on people’s fears. Beck needs to use all her abilities and her strange friends to work out what’s happening.
Pros
The beginning and the character of Nash are brilliant. There is clever exposition around the gradual reveal of her demons and the way she thinks through a problem. The tension is well handled and the writing is confident and engaging.
Heads Up
This is only the first of three books to cover the whole plot so the story has no real conclusion. You need to read all the episodes to find out who the killer is.
The Conclusion
This is a very readable and exciting opening to a trilogy about a gruesome serial killer. It certainly drives forward and leaves you reaching for book two.
Excerpt from 21 Weeks: Weeks 1 to 7 by R.A. LaShea
“That was, of course, assuming she could keep her new position for more than a day.
“Any idea why else it might bleed?” Beck realized, at once, she was asking too much.
“I’ll know when I get him back to the lab,” Baxton said. “Have you cleared the body?”
“Yeah, I’m done. Go ahead.”
“Thanks,” Beck uttered as she backed in the direction of the counter.
Toeing around the evidence markers CSU had placed to mark blood spatter, she lowered down in the tight quarters behind the counter with Mr. Basu. Not her first dead body-far from it-it was, it occurred to her, the first for which she was partly responsible. Before, it was her job to see everything else at the scene, to find the drugs, or the guns, or the money that was never hidden as well as the dead man thought, to chase after his living accomplices. Justice for the victim was left in the hands of someone else.
The gravity of that stilling the air around her, Beck grew warmer inside her jacket, and wiped the back of her hand across her forehead as she scanned the scene. Weapon in reach, blood-too much blood-it looked like so many other acts of violence she had witnessed in her lifetime. One could always know, she’d learned some years before, if a person was beyond saving by the amount of blood. The pool beneath Mr. Basu creating a full-body outline, even the witness had to have known this man stood no chance.”
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Series: 21 Weeks
Weeks 1-7
Weeks 8-14
Weeks 15-21
21 Weeks Later
Bits and Bobs
Publisher: Indie Author
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Note: I received a free review copy of 21 Weeks: Weeks 1 to 7 by R.A. LaShea. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site
