Review: Serial Date by D.V. Berkom

Occultober may be over, but the reviews continue...

Serial Date by D. V. Berkom

I love the setting of this book—a reality TV show called Serial Date that purports to match serial-murderer-ex-cons with young wannabe actresses to see who can have the most popular romance. It’s an idea just crazy enough that we can believe some cable channel would give it a try. Then one of the actresses actually is murdered and the show goes into crisis.

 

Enter former contract killer Leine Basso. Her life’s a mess. She’s given up killing people for pay for an unnamed government agency and is trying to go straight (as it were) and she takes a job as added security for Serial Date when it’s offered to her by a contact from her old days who is now working as head of security on the show.

 

If the plot had continued to revolve around a killer on Serial Date, I think I would have liked this book a lot more. Instead, the story takes a left turn. Leine’s estranged daughter arrives and is promptly kidnapped by the man killing Serial Date actresses and all he’s really interested in is Leine with whom he has a sick obsession.

 

That’s not a bad storyline. Leine’s an interesting character and I enjoyed her adventure. But I felt like Berkom had this great setting that wasn’t properly taken advantage of. The big diversion away from the reality TV show made me impatient with the rest of the plot.