When two cross-country cases collide, Bree Taggert and Mercy Kilpatrick join forces to catch a serial killer in an addictive novel of suspense by bestselling authors Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot.

During a vicious heat wave, a county maintenance worker stumbles upon two suspicious suitcases abandoned by the side of the road. Sheriff Bree Taggert responds to find two bodies stuffed inside the luggage. The press demands action. The community is on edge. Suddenly, Bree is at the center of a media firestorm.

In Oregon, a senator’s daughter goes missing. FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick agrees to keep the politically sensitive case on the down-low. When she finds a link between the disappearance and a double homicide three thousand miles away, Mercy takes the next plane out―and lands right in the middle of Bree’s double homicide investigation.

To save the missing girl, Bree and Mercy must work together to stop a killer who’s playing deadly games with the press and stirring up public rage. Hungry for notoriety, he dares Bree and Mercy to catch him before he kills again.

Echo Road, Kendra Elliot & Melinda Leigh

Pub Date: 2 July 2024

I have not read anything by either Kendra Elliot or Melinda Leigh before. I requested and received this ARC of Echo Road because I thought it would be an interesting read and went in completely blind. I enjoy thrillers and crime books so I figured this would be up my alley and hoped that this was one of those series/books where you didn’t need to have read all the books before it to understand.

Luckily for me, it wasn’t necessary to have read either series that featured Bree Taggart or Mercy Kilpatrick, but it would have been helpful. 

Although the first half of the book felt a bit slow, Echo Road introduced us to quite a lot of characters. Some that were suspicious from the beginning to those you wouldn’t have suspected at all. It really made piecing the evidence and motives together quite fun and hard. In fact, I didn’t guess the killer/kidnapper at all until they started looking into them as a suspect. By that point, it was quite obvious they were the one who did the crimes and you just wanted to know why and how as well as seeing everything solved. 

This action packed novel was very well written. Despite it not getting very good until the second half, the chapters were well paced and I did want to read on. The material seemed as if it could legitimately happen in real life. Nothing was over the top or out of the realm of believability. The two main characters, Bree Taggart and Mercy Kilpatrick, blended well together. Both of their worlds aligned and it made sense. Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh’s writing styles also blended very well together and it was hard for me to differentiate between the two authors and I couldn’t tell who wrote what chapter, but that also may have been because this was the first novel I read from either of them. If you have read any of their books before, let me know if you were able to tell their writing styles apart.

Because the authors write in the same genre and have series that are similar, Bree and Mercy felt like the same person. Each had a tragic backstory that involved losing close family members and raising children that were not their own. Their investigation styles also felt the same. The way they talked and their appearances were also close to each other. I’m sure in the crime fighting world, that’s why they worked so well together. Although the two stories fit together, I can’t see myself reading all three series and not getting a bit bored (this novel is the first in a new series that will feature the two main characters teaming up). 

Just like jumping into any other series in the middle, the supporting characters fell flat, but that’s to be expected. I felt if the authors dove into their backgrounds it would be unnecessary to the plot and the book would be too long. Since this is two already well established series, there were too many of those supporting characters mentioned, but the authors needed to include them for the fans of the series’ that have been reading since the first books. So I understand that I am just being nitpicky with that and there’s no way it could have been incorporated any better than what is there, but I just wanted to mention it incase you’d like to read the book and, like me, this is the first one of either series you’re picking up.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and would love to read more from both Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh. Additionally, I would really like to see how Bree and Mercy measure up in their own respective series. Oddly enough, even if I do not get a chance to read either series before the next one of this series comes out I may still pick it up. I can’t wait to see how and why Bree and Mercy team up again.