Title: Don’t Get Close
Author: Matt Miksa
Genre: Thriller
Published: March 8th, 2022
BLURB
An infamous reincarnation cult resurfaces in the wake of a deadly bombing, and it’s up to an FBI novice to learn its true aim—and uncover its dark past before it consumes her.
Special Agent Vera Taggart walked away from a promising career as an artist to join the FBI, and she impresses her new colleagues with her eerie ability to divine conclusions from the grisliest crime scenes. Taggart’s first assignment is a decades-old cold case centered on a cult of suicide bombers known as the Sons of Elijah who believe they’ve been reborn hundreds of times, going back centuries. It seems like a low-risk assignment until a bomb tears apart a crowded Chicago restaurant. The Sons of Elijah have returned—and now it’s up to Taggart to stop their modern-day reign of terror.
Taggart’s investigation begins with Dr. Seth Jacobson, a renowned psychiatrist who claims to help people remember past lives through hypnotherapy. Jacobson had treated two of the Sons of Elijah’s founders before they’d gone on to commit a series of horrific murders. Desperate to understand how these ordinary patients could have taken such a violent path, Taggart agrees to undergo similar treatment with Jacobson.
Through her hypnosis sessions, Taggart comes to suspect the Sons of Elijah are targeting a high-tech government laboratory that could expose the group’s greatest secret with a controversial experiment. To save millions of innocent lives, Tag must come to grips with the shocking truth about the cult and her own puzzling role in its timeless mission. The fate of humanity rests on her ability to determine which threats are real and which exist only in her mind—and to decide whose side she’s really fighting for.
This is an action thriller that discusses religious beliefs and scientific studies. It’s about Agent Vera, a simple girl living in a shared apartment who loves to paint. All of a sudden she is recruited by the FBI who claim she has potential. Her first case is rather a cold case which is very weird because a lot of experienced agents haven’t even been given the case. But then simple Vera is on the case!
The case is very complex and involves a group of terrorists that call themselves The Sons of Elijah. No one knows why they commit atrocious crimes, mass bombings. The only person that might have a clue about them is a famous psychiatrist Dr. Seth Robinson. He ia devious, weird and manipulative, with his own hidden agenda. Will Vera be able to find the answers she is looking for? Will she stop The Sons of Elijah before they strike again?
I felt the first half of the book is slow and I struggled to continue reading. The chapters dragged on and on with stuff that wasn’t relavant. Through the second half made up for the slowness. It was faster, on point, and the main conflict was finally addressed. I love the action towards the end and the suspense it filled me with. I was ecstatic! I can’t believe Vera was so trusting like that! In a way I was glad. She didn’t make a good decision and well, she saw the consequences.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an arc copy of this book.
The Introverted Reader 📚 