Shattered Mind

Cooper Trace FBI Suspense Thriller #1

by Ella Swift

When FBI Agent Cooper Trace is diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease, he finds himself having to keep it a secret and in a final race against time to catch diabolical serial killers—before it’s too late.

When victims of a new killer are found with mirrors shattered around them, Cooper must race to decode the mysterious signature—while grappling with his own new mental state.

SHATTERED MIND (A Cooper Trace FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1) is the first novel in a new series by mystery and suspense author Ella Swift.

The Cooper Trace series is a gripping and intense crime thriller saga, showcasing an intricate and troubled protagonist. With its non-stop action, suspenseful moments, unexpected turns, and fast-paced narrative, this series will have you hooked well into the night. Fans of Robert Dugoni, Mary Burton, and Rachel Caine are sure to fall in love.

Future books in the series are also available!

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Google

148 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 29, 2024

Reviews

[Heather Adores Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐
Genre ~ police procedural
Series ~ Cooper Trace #1
Setting ~ Washington DC
Publication date ~ March 29, 2024
Est Page Count ~ 148 (25 chapters +e)
Audio length ~ 4 hours 28 minutes
Narrator ~ Jack (Synthesized Voice)
POV ~ multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ brain disease, serial killer

Cooper has a brain tumor that he's keeping a secret from his peers. This doesn't sound a like a bright idea when you're racing to try to catch a serial killer. With that aside I thought he was a good investigator.

Overall, it was fine, but it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Except maybe that we usually we have a female FBI agent with a missing sister, but this time it's a male. Wow way to switch things up 😂
Not sure if I'll continue on with the series unless they are available as a Hoopla bonus borrow like this one was.

Narration notes:
Jack sounds like a man's name to me, but this synthesized narrator was a woman. What's up with that?

Connect with me ➡ Blog ~ Facebook ~ X

[Emmalynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm this was ok. It was very disjointed at times and the resolution sort of rushed at you out of nowhere. The writing could have been more coherent to tie the mystery together especially with the theme of the “Shattered Mind”

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this book because I got an email from Hoopla introducing “bonus borrows.”

The bonus borrows are available during the last seven days of every month (woohoo! 🎉). Also, there seems to be a limited collection of titles that can be borrowed without using the monthly allowed credits, and at the time I accessed the app, there were 13 audiobooks shown as available.

I figured “hey, this is a short book that seems interesting, why not?!”

I’ll tell you why … BECAUSE IT’S TERRIBLE 😑

The over-the-top FBI agent that just “KNEW” exactly who they were dealing with because he’s soooo smart (ahem, let me drown you with how smart he is … he’s able “to think just like the killer!” ***gasp***) … to the constant sprinkling of “we just gotta catch this guy before it’s too late or before I totally lose my mind,” to the random story insertion of needing to find his missing sister from decades ago …

This book is all over the place.
It was rushed, underdeveloped in every single area (think character development, plot, etc) and hello, was there an editor? At all??
I’m gonna vote no.

Even if short, if a book is terrible, “short” is still a waste of precious book reading time!!

[Ben Kindall · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a free Apple book, so my hopes weren’t high. It gave me something to read while I was doing nothing at work, but I didn’t particularly love the plot or the writing. Everything felt rushed, the protagonist was too over the top “smart FBI guy,” and the “shocking reveal” was incredibly predictable.

[Patches Deese · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new series with a detective who has special psychic abilities. He has a good relationship with his coworker and together they work as a solid team. His coworker has real respect for his abilities and he pushes himself to the limit. Once again the missing sister subplot. AHHHHHHHHHHHH. Aside of that a really good read. Some of the concepts in the book are thought provoking. Well researched and well written.

[Reading with Ren🍒📖 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8, rounded up!

[Maryann Hornbaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the Read

FBI Agents, Cooper and Sloan, are thrown into a strange case involving broken mirrors. Women are found murdered among pieces of broken mirrors. But not cut by them. This drives the agents to research mirrors in cult or religious rituals. But Cooper has a disadvantage. He has been diagnosed with a debilitating condition that threatens his job and his life. Needless to say that doesn’t stop him. After much research on mirrors and the clues from each case they get a picture of what’s going on. Coopers handicap gets in the way from time to time but he is learning to control it somewhat.

The storyline is interesting, but it does get a little wordy from time to time. All in all it’s a pretty good read.

[Ashlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5.

I really wanted to love this book. Not so much. I round up instead of down because I finished it rather than dumping it because I was interested in finding out the killer. That being said, it was obvious, and I already guessed.

Lots of inaccuracies with law enforcement. And was the main character a profiler or a psychic? He "already knew" basically everything, which cut the authors legs out from under them. There could have been great misdirection and other avenues to go down, but the main character was constantly telling us, "No, that's not it. It's something else" with no work, effort or believable reason why. This lead to constant missed opportunities.

[Avid · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars 🌟 but, I couldn't round it up to a 3. It just didn't meet the basic standards for the run of the mill average book for me.

Even short books can carry a well written plot that is not fragmented or shallow. This book had no character development. It also had too many beginnings of other mini stories without giving any information prior to what was happening or following up, leading to confusion. As for the main story itself, it was mediocre.

It was free, so I can't complain too much. I would say I'd rather have spent my time on something else, though. That said, perhaps browse a bit more and save this as a last resort.

📚📚

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping Tale

I needed a break from all the romance books and read Shattered Mind. What a surprise. Very intense and definitely worth reading. Suspense right to the end. If you want a book with murder and intrigue and think you can sleep at night after reading give this book a try. Now hope I don't have nightmares...lol. Great story.

[Bruno Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

intense, credible FBI suspense thriller

Finally I am reading a start to finish with thrills and solid explanations of an FBI profiler agent, coping with an unsolved past family disappearance and a new impairing situation to put him on risk of not doing his job well as a profiler who catches sick serial killers . Well written and a solid read

[Jaimee Weatherill · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was okay but the writing style kept pulling me out of it which was a huge distraction. I liked the premise but he only seemed to struggle with the illness when he was in the middle of something for work which was too unrealistic. Plus this made it seem like he was already dealing with the end stage when he was supposedly in the beginning stages.

[Josephine Pizzimenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

This was a riveting book. I had slight anxiety at the thought of putting it down and had to read it in one sitting. Looking forward to the next book. Couple of little errors in grammar which drives me nuts but I do highly recommend

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fictional Story and Characters Ring True

This is good writing. The author lures the reader in until one is immersed in the world of Cooper, Sloan, Alison, and an amped up serial killer.

[Maryanne Engel · Rating 5 out of 5]

suspenseful

This book kept me guessing and in suspense til the end. There were a lot of grammatical errors but was able to skirt around them. They did not interfere with the plot. Good read!

[Alice Pehlke · Rating 2 out of 5]

so so

This is a decent story line, but grammatical and spelling errors were quite distracting.
I can’t recommend it. It needs a good editor.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, fast moving book. Looking forward to reading the next one.

[Tammy Felden]

Good book

If you like suspense, this book has FBI, police and serial killer. Mirrors is his thing that gives this serial killer strength.

[Jeanna Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely LOVED this book. Definitely a series I’ll be finishing. My only note is an editing error in which a character named Eric halfway through changed to Erik. Not a huge thing, just a note!

[Nadia O'Reilly]

Audiobook

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

This book kept my attention until the end! Fantastic, you need to read!! You will be on the edge of your sit!

[Ruth]

Great

[Naveen kumar]

Great going

[Ebony S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, it’s was okay. It was missing something for me. Not a bad story, felt like a standard episode of an FBI drama.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such an easy read, didn’t really like the main plot, really needed proofreading, and just overall wouldn’t continue with the series.

[Megan Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this book was very sporadic but very good.

[Chris Roe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, well written. Kept you guessing until near the end.

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great thriller that will keep you guessing!

[Destinyofpeace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Audiobook narrated by AI. Not for me.

[S M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel is great. The audio is terrible.