Book Review of Open Season

About the book:

The first book in the critically acclaimed Seasons Mystery Series introduces two women homicide detectives in Dallas. Amid racial tensions and the deadly force controversy sweeping the city, Sarah Kingsly and Angel Johnson are unlikely and unwilling partners. They both see the pairing as better PR than policy.

The Dallas Review Board wants Sarah's badge because she shot a young black boy when an undercover drug operation went bad and her partner was killed. Angel is under pressure from her family to refuse to work with “this white, Honkey bitch.”

Their first case, dubbed the Mall Murders, begins with the death of a maintenance worker at one of the Metroplex shopping malls. A security guard is then killed at another mall. The final murder victim is a young window dresser whose body is left like a mannequin behind the glass of an exclusive boutique at the Galleria Mall.

In this police procedural mystery, the women follow the trail of a killer until it comes close to home, and they have to decide if they can be partners or not.

My Thoughts

Never has a book been thrilled me as has the Open Season. In the backdrop of the a serial crimes that our protagonists follow, they meet their own personal problems in the amidst.

A serial killer has let himself loose in the Dallas. His target; mall employees. Sarah Kingsley and Angel Johnson are entitled with the job of nabbing the culprit and to put him behind the bars. Sarah is facing investigation by the authorities for killing a black person in an intense gun battle. And Angel is bewildered with the fact that she is promoted for her work or there are some other reasons behind the promotion.

Nevertheless both of our protagonists have to work together in their hunt to find the serial killer even though they are having a cold war of one being white and the other black. Having a black and white personality work together as a team, is good for the federal bureau's reputation. 

Will they be able to settle their differences and work together for the job at hand. For that you have to read the story before you find out what happened.

With the killer free of ramifications and guilt, he is in a spree and kills his targets in an unorthodox way with piano string and leaves a note behind, before being fugitive.

The story plot is well laid, which will ignite curiosity in one's mind about the leads the protagonists take to find the criminal. Open Season is one of its kind book in the crime and thriller genre. I loved the style and how the author had articulated the scenarios in the book that will make you move through the pages effortlessly.

I loved this instance in the story which was very thought provoking.

“Sarah blinked, wondering if he was just drunken illusion. But he didn't disappear. He didn't sit down either. He shifted his weight to his outside foot, and she realized he was waiting for permission.

Maybe he really was a cowboy. The gallantry was a nice endearment.”

Read more about the book at Online Book Club.

About the author

A journalist and author for twenty years, Maryann Miller has amassed credits for columns, feature articles, and short fiction in numerous national and regional publications. She has several non-fiction books in print, including the award winning, Coping With Weapons and Violence In Your School and on Your Streets. In addition to the "Season" mystery series that debuts with Open Season, Miller has a number of other books published and all can be found on her Amazon Author Page. 

Among the awards she has received for her writing are the Page Edwards Short Story Award, the New York Library Best Books for Teens Award, first place in the screenwriting competition at the Houston Writer's Conference, placing as a semi-finalist at Sundance, and placing as a semi-finalist in the Chesterfield Screenwriting Competition for her adaptation of Open Season. When not writing, Miller enjoys acting, directing, doing puzzles, quilting, and playing “farmer” on her little piece of heaven in East Texas.