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Mindhunters #3
Deadly Bonds
Book three of The Mindhunters
A dedicated profiler. Dr. Holt Patterson has thrown himself into his work since his wife's death, and his relationship with his young son, Theo, is suffering. He's caught in an impossible choice—how can he make the world a safer place for his son without sacrificing valuable family time?
An unrequited love. Sara Burns, the director at Theo's prestigious academy, once loved Holt Patterson, but he was her best friend's husband. Now a decade has passed, and Sara realizes that her feelings are just as strong—but how can she act on them without betraying her friend's memory?
A terrifying killer. A violent man develops an interest in Sara, and sends a body instead of flowers to get her attention. Holt is determined to keep her safe. But the killer is much closer than they expect…
A dedicated profiler. Dr. Holt Patterson has thrown himself into his work since his wife's death, and his relationship with his young son, Theo, is suffering. He's caught in an impossible choice—how can he make the world a safer place for his son without sacrificing valuable family time?
An unrequited love. Sara Burns, the director at Theo's prestigious academy, once loved Holt Patterson, but he was her best friend's husband. Now a decade has passed, and Sara realizes that her feelings are just as strong—but how can she act on them without betraying her friend's memory?
A terrifying killer. A violent man develops an interest in Sara, and sends a body instead of flowers to get her attention. Holt is determined to keep her safe. But the killer is much closer than they expect…
352 pages, Paperback
First published July 22, 2013
18 people are currently reading
351 people want to read
About the author
Anne Marie Becker
19 books70 followersAn award-winning author of romantic suspense, Anne Marie has always been fascinated by people—inside and out—which led to degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Counseling. As a games hostess at Sea World, tutor, waitress, personal and family counselor, and high school counselor, she has indulged her curiosity through sanctioned professions. Now, as a stay-at-home mom of three young children, her passion for understanding the human race is satisfied by her roles as mother, wife, daughter, sister, and writer.
She writes to reclaim her sanity.
Find ways to connect with Anne Marie at AnneMarieBecker.com. There, you can sign up for her newsletter for special sneak peeks and giveaways.
She writes to reclaim her sanity.
Find ways to connect with Anne Marie at AnneMarieBecker.com. There, you can sign up for her newsletter for special sneak peeks and giveaways.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 11, 2013
I received this book from Netgalley for my honest review.
A good, interesting book.
I liked Sara. She’s level-headed. She’s smart and very good with adolescent boys. I enjoyed very much how she treated Theo, Neil and Jeremy – she got on their level but retained an adult reasoning without becoming too much paternalistic.
She’s attracted to Holt since before his marriage, and even now she doesn’t hide it.
It’s Holt that has issues with his attraction to Sara. They have history between them and Holt feel guilty of betraying his dead wife even after all the time that has passed.
Their situation is difficult because on her part she’s trying to help both Holt and Theo to overcome their tragedy and move on with their lives. Theo is receptive and wants to go on, while Holt is plagued by his perceived guilt about his feeling towards Sara.
I was sometimes annoyed by Holt indecision. He, even with his mindhunter skills, didn’t seemed capable to apply those same skills to his own situation. He wanted Sara, but some of his choices were really wrong and I wanted to scream at him to just stop for a while and think things through!
In the middle of this the killer is messing with them. Toxin, the killer, is clever and obviously sick person. But his sickness is lucid and logical in a very twisted way.
A solid book that follows the story in a logical way. There’re no TSTL moments. Everything is explained in a very good way. The story flows nicely and it is never boring. There’s a right amount of suspense, heated moments, interaction between characters and internal thoughts of each character.
A good, interesting book.
I liked Sara. She’s level-headed. She’s smart and very good with adolescent boys. I enjoyed very much how she treated Theo, Neil and Jeremy – she got on their level but retained an adult reasoning without becoming too much paternalistic.
She’s attracted to Holt since before his marriage, and even now she doesn’t hide it.
It’s Holt that has issues with his attraction to Sara. They have history between them and Holt feel guilty of betraying his dead wife even after all the time that has passed.
Their situation is difficult because on her part she’s trying to help both Holt and Theo to overcome their tragedy and move on with their lives. Theo is receptive and wants to go on, while Holt is plagued by his perceived guilt about his feeling towards Sara.
I was sometimes annoyed by Holt indecision. He, even with his mindhunter skills, didn’t seemed capable to apply those same skills to his own situation. He wanted Sara, but some of his choices were really wrong and I wanted to scream at him to just stop for a while and think things through!
In the middle of this the killer is messing with them. Toxin, the killer, is clever and obviously sick person. But his sickness is lucid and logical in a very twisted way.
A solid book that follows the story in a logical way. There’re no TSTL moments. Everything is explained in a very good way. The story flows nicely and it is never boring. There’s a right amount of suspense, heated moments, interaction between characters and internal thoughts of each character.
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September 14, 2014Deadly Bonds by Anne Marie Becker is the story of Dr. Holt Patterson, who has recently lost his wife Elizabeth to cancer and is trying to raise his young son alone. Theo, his son, has been enrolled in a prestigious academy whose headmistress Sara Burns was his late wife's best friend in college and who Holt had once dated before marrying Elizabeth. Dr. Patterson works for SSAM, a private organization that assists law enforcement agencies in hunting repeat violent offenders; Holt specializes in delving into the minds of the criminals being pursued. While the story line is interesting at times, overall I felt that the plot often meandered and that that there were too many story lines. I did not feel that the characters were fully developed or believable. The relationship between Elizabeth and Sara is never explored to my satisfaction. While Elizabeth is said to have been an excellent wife and mother, the picture painted of her as a young woman is not flattering and I cannot imagine why Sara would be her friend. I liked some of the main characters, but there was not a character that stood out as interesting to me. The biggest shortcoming of the book, in my opinion, is that Becker cannot seem to quite decide if she wants the book to be a crime thriller or a romance. Her talent seems to be more in the crime genre, so perhaps she should concentrate on that in her future works. While there are shortcomings in this book, it did hold my interest; however, it just did not bring me the satisfaction that a truly great book brings.
June 3, 2019
Great series! Enjoyed Holt and Sara and their story!
July 24, 2013
A maze of complexities in both the romance and the killer in this latest installment of the Mindhunters series.
When the third victim is found of a killer that injects poison into his victims and no connection between any of the victims can be found Mindhunter profiler Holt Patterson is assigned the case. Holt is a very complex guy himself. His wife died of cancer a year ago and left him as a single father to their son but Holt’s devotion to his job has him being an absentee father most of the time. Between the death of his mother and his father not being around much nine year old Theo has been acting out in school.
Sara Burns is the director at the The Hills Boys’ Academy school where Theo attends. She was also once best friends with Elizabeth who was Theo’s mother. She has a soft spot for Theo and is always looking out for him even though its uncomfortable for her to be around his father. She also doesnt realize that she has come under the radar of the killer but not for the reasons you think.
The complexities of this story come in between Holt and Sara and with the killer known as Toxin.
Sara and Holt have a history together from college. She really liked him back then but was to shy to ever act on it and then her best friend decided she wanted Holt for herself and they ended up pregnant and married which ended all three’s friendships. The feelings that left Sara and Holt with about each other was strained to say the least.
Now to Toxin. The author created a killer that in his mind was a superhero and all killings were justified. As the story progressed and you find out what made Toxin the way he was and in some ways you felt sorry for him but yet knew he’d gone clean off the deep end.
This is an ongoing series that I think should be read in order as there are some arcs that were started in the first book that are still ongoing. I continue to be a fan of this series and cant wait for the next book.
When the third victim is found of a killer that injects poison into his victims and no connection between any of the victims can be found Mindhunter profiler Holt Patterson is assigned the case. Holt is a very complex guy himself. His wife died of cancer a year ago and left him as a single father to their son but Holt’s devotion to his job has him being an absentee father most of the time. Between the death of his mother and his father not being around much nine year old Theo has been acting out in school.
Sara Burns is the director at the The Hills Boys’ Academy school where Theo attends. She was also once best friends with Elizabeth who was Theo’s mother. She has a soft spot for Theo and is always looking out for him even though its uncomfortable for her to be around his father. She also doesnt realize that she has come under the radar of the killer but not for the reasons you think.
The complexities of this story come in between Holt and Sara and with the killer known as Toxin.
Sara and Holt have a history together from college. She really liked him back then but was to shy to ever act on it and then her best friend decided she wanted Holt for herself and they ended up pregnant and married which ended all three’s friendships. The feelings that left Sara and Holt with about each other was strained to say the least.
Now to Toxin. The author created a killer that in his mind was a superhero and all killings were justified. As the story progressed and you find out what made Toxin the way he was and in some ways you felt sorry for him but yet knew he’d gone clean off the deep end.
This is an ongoing series that I think should be read in order as there are some arcs that were started in the first book that are still ongoing. I continue to be a fan of this series and cant wait for the next book.
August 3, 2013
I really liked the idea for this book and felt that it had great potential. It was just really hard to get interested in. The way the book opened with a case really bored me and made the book really hard to get through. All the detective talk was hard to understand because there was no real explanation made it frustrating to read. Otherwise this book was an okay read.
Dr. Holt was an interesting character and I felt that his emotions were presented correctly throughout the book. I liked his character’s morals but felt that there was no defining characteristic. I also didn’t like how the author wrote his point of view. It was very bland and boring.
Sara was a character that I enjoyed but felt that she was almost two dimensional. She didn’t feel real to me and I felt that her emotions weren’t always easily expressed. Otherwise her character was enjoyable.
Overall I thought that this book had a good story line but needed more depth and emotions. The police talk also needed to be toned down so it was easy to understand.
Dr. Holt was an interesting character and I felt that his emotions were presented correctly throughout the book. I liked his character’s morals but felt that there was no defining characteristic. I also didn’t like how the author wrote his point of view. It was very bland and boring.
Sara was a character that I enjoyed but felt that she was almost two dimensional. She didn’t feel real to me and I felt that her emotions weren’t always easily expressed. Otherwise her character was enjoyable.
Overall I thought that this book had a good story line but needed more depth and emotions. The police talk also needed to be toned down so it was easy to understand.
September 5, 2014
I really enjoyed this book! It was easy to fall in love with the characters and get wrapped up into their lives. I did have a hunch as to who "toxin" was--and it was right--, but that did not spoil the book for me at all! Loved the flow of the story line, and even caught myself laughing/smile at certain scenes. As my husband would say, I look like the Cheshire cat reading a book I love, and this one did not disappoint me. I will be recommending this book to my fellow book lovers!!! I won this book off of a giveaway, and must say that I'll be filling my (over flowing) bookshelf with books by Anne Marie Becker!
July 18, 2013
holy moly I enjoyed this story, I loved Sara and Holt and I loved this history between them. the whole idea captivated me and kept me interested all they way through. I didn't work out who Toxin was until near the end... doing a happy dance about that as I am usually really good at working out who did it so it is rear for me not to guess. The characters were were believable and likeable I really want to know more about the agency and I hope we will get updates from Sara and Holt in subsequent books.
October 13, 2014
This is the third book of the series and I must say that I'm a little disappointed. The book started out ok and then kinda got stuck. The book was mostly oh I love him, I love her, but we can't be together but I love them anyway. blah blah blah. There was a killer in the book which anyone could figure out almost right away. other than that the book was well written. I would recommend the first two books over this one in the series though. Sorry. I am still looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
June 26, 2014
Like this series
May 9, 2014
Full review to follow.......
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January 12, 2016Miniseries: The Mindhunters
December 16, 2015
Great read!!!:)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews