Sunday 29 April 2018

Book ~ "Tattooed" (2012) Pamela Callow

From GoodreadsShe is obsessed with tattoos.

He is obsessed with her.

When a body is found on the outskirts of Halifax, rumors run wild about the victim’s identity. But tattoo artist Kenzie Sloane knows exactly who she is. They share a tattoo ... and a decade-old secret.

Lawyer Kate Lange remembers Kenzie Sloane. The former wild child was part of the same crowd that attracted her little sister, Imogen, before her death. Now Kenzie needs her help. And Kate needs answers.

But there are others who know about the tattoo and its history. And one of them is watching Kenzie’s every move, waiting for the perfect moment to fulfill a dark promise that had been inked in her skin.

Kate is a lawyer with a firm in Halifax, NS.  Frances Sloane is suffering from ALS and wants to be able to have an assisted suicide and hires Kate to take her case to allow her to do this.  Frances, though, is the mother of Kenzie, a former friend of Kate's sister, Imogen.  Many years ago, when Imogen was 15, she got involved with a party crowd, drinking and doing drugs.  Kenzie, who was two years older, was the "queen bee" of that group.  Kate blames Kenzie for influencing Imogen.  One night during a party at Kenzie's, Kate, who was also two years older than Imogen, dragged her sister from the party.  Driving home, Kate crashed the car and Imogen was killed.  Kate has felt guilty about it ever since.

Frances asks Kenzie to come home since she knows she doesn't have long to live.  Kenzie is now a successful tattoo artist in Manhattan and hasn't been home in years.  John McNally, Kenzie's boyfriend from before she left home, has just been released from prison and is determined to find Kenzie.  Lucky for him she has returned home to visit her mother.

Meanwhile, a body has been found in a bog and it's suspected it's a young girl who disappeared during a Mardi Gras party 17 years earlier.

This is the third book I've read by this author and I liked it.  The assisted suicide was an interesting story line.  Plus I liked the tattoo angle.  I liked the writing style.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is.  As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.

The author was raised and lives in Halifax (I was born and lived in Nova Scotia until I was in my twenties ... my sister lives in Halifax).  I liked that the author set the story in Halifax and didn't make it look like it was Any Town, USA.

This is the third in the Kate Lange series (so far there are four and I read the two recently).  Though it works as a stand alone, I would suggest you read the others in order to get the back stories that are referenced in this book.  I look forward to reading the others in the series.

No comments: