Review: Blood Orchids

Blood Orchids by Toby Neal
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Synopsis:

Hawaii is palm trees, black sand and blue water—but for policewoman Lei Texeira, there’s a dark side to paradise.

Lei has overcome a scarred past to make a life for herself as a cop in the sleepy Big Island town of Hilo. On a routine patrol she finds two murdered teenagers—one of whom she’d recently busted. With its echoes of her own past, the murdered girl’s harsh life and tragic death affect Lei deeply. She becomes obsessed—even as the killer is drawn to Lei's intensity, feeding off her vulnerabilities and toying with her sanity.

Despite her obsession with the case and fear that she's being stalked, Lei finds herself falling in love for the first time. Steaming volcanoes, black sand beaches and shrouded fern forests are the backdrop to Lei's quest for answers—and the stalker is closer than she can imagine, as threads of the past tangle in her future. Lei is determined to find the killer—but he knows where to find her first.

My Thoughts:

Cover/Title: The title and cover are ok. I chose this book because of the genre. I wanted a crime novel and this fit the bill.

Characters: I liked Lei and Stevens. Lei is complicated and has lots of baggage but that is what makes her the way she is. I loved Keiki!

Plot: Lei is a police officer that wants to become a detective. A shocking murder leads her into an investigation that hits home for her. There are some disturbing parallels to her past.

Overall: I would have given this book a 3 but the language change was killing me. I understand that the native people spoke pidgin but it is really distracting when reading this book. You would have some people speaking regular English and then it changes over to pidgin. It really annoyed me the whole way thru the book and took away from the enjoyment that I might have had. The plot was interesting and the action was never-ending. Would I read more of this series? No, the use of pidgin would just continue to annoy me and I am just not interested enough.

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