Left to Lure is Book 12 in this Adele Sharp Series by prolific author Blake Pierce.
Left to Prey left Agent Adele Sharp (FBI/Interpol/DGSI) confronting her mom's, her best friend and mentor's, and her former fiancé's brutal murderer at the police station in Paris after he turned himself in knowing the 10-year statute of limitations had passed without his arrest for brutally murdering her mother. Left to Lure opens with Adele sitting across from the under-sized psychopath who leers and grins at her on the other side of the table at police headquarters in Paris. The police have not been able to gather evidence enough to hold him on any of the murders, his latest being that of Adele's former fiancé in California. She knows he's committed all of them and more, and that he also attempted to kill her partner Agent John Renee and her dad, who could both identify him as having attacked them but without any evidence. She blames herself for all of their deaths even though she was just a child when she discovered the bloody, carved up mess he'd made of her beloved mother.
The fact that his latest ploy is to speak with her directly, to taunt her, to revel in the fact that he's the victor of their last battle and still plans to do more damage in her life, is just about more than she can endure. Dark thoughts consume her desire to somehow rid the earth of the brutal creature, and when John vocalizes her thoughts hinting at an offer, she tries to reel her emotions in to the place of being a better human than the criminal who haunts her every moment. She finds herself consumed with finding the evidence to convict him before he's able to do any more damage, and she's terrified he'll somehow gain access to her dad again or to John.
Their boss Foucault is leery of her emotional state and reluctantly relies on Agent Renee to assure him she's okay enough to travel to Italy with him on a case where a body is left hanging from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Adele is running on empty. The emotional toll and horror of the murderer of people precious to her on the loose are consuming her ability to take care of herself, to focus on their case, to sleep, and at times to be civil to John who has become equally precious to her. As if she could protect him (he being former Special Forces, incredibly strong and able), that's the sole reason she agreed to accompany him on the case, but that leaves her dad to worry about back in Paris. However, Foucault has arranged for a cop to cover the house and John has called in favors from his Special Forces buddies to also watch over her dad, her dad not happy about any of it, a cop who insists he can take care of himself.
There's no denying Adele is intermittently falling apart, and John is in a protective mode he's never fully engaged before. She hates that he's being that way with her, and he's at a loss as to why. She insists he's pitying her and to return to his "normal" semi-rude self, all the while hating how she feels, how she's unfocused, how she's treating the man she's come to deeply care for, and how she's in a frenzied state of mind over who will be next on the "Spade Killer's" list.
Readers of the Adele Sharp Series might struggle with the in-depth emotional descriptions of Adele's mental state. Although not hard to understand, it's consistent throughout this story, and at times might feel redundant. One might wonder just how many times she can barely sleep in her pants suit and not take a shower before returning to work on the case.
When she and John finally start putting the potential for a lead together which lands them in Spain, John expresses something very important to him which truly touches Adele's heart, but suddenly after some thought, she's horrified when she's sure she knows who the killer will go after next. The unexpected supposition and following discovery are done very well and the description covers every possible reaction of Adele's realizations of her long and painful journey.
Father, you've given Blake so many stories to tell. Please continue to bless those gifts. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 