Title: Capturing The Huntsman
Author: C. J. Miller
Mills & Boon imprint: Romantic Suspense
Year of publication: 2015
The heroine: Campground owner Autumn Reed
The hero: FBI agent Nathan Bradshaw
The blurb: Autumn Reed is shaken when the latest victim of ‘The Huntsman’ is found near her campgrounds. When FBI agent Nathan Bradshaw rents a cabin, they share a fierce attraction but past betrayals make Autumn wary.
Nathan won’t be distracted by his growing feelings for Autumn. The Huntsman killed his sister, catching him is a sacred mission. Autumn’s profile fits The Huntsman’s victims and Nathan’s torn between protecting her and using her. The idea of losing her is turning him into a desperate man…
Standalone or series: Standalone
The review: Autumn’s campground near the Appalachian trial is not doing so well since The Huntsman, a serial killer, has been picking off victims hiking on the trail. After being cheated on by her ex-fiancé, who also happens to be the town’s sheriff, losing her father, being estranged from her mother and having her uncle disappear, Autumn has become somewhat of a recluse. Her brother, Blaine, has been hiking the trial and she’s desperate to get in contact with him and make sure she’s okay.
Nathan’s twin sister, Colleen, was one of The Huntsman’s victims, so his interest in the case is personal. He’s not allowed to work it, so he takes leave to do so privately. Strangely, his former brother-in-law is the agent in charge. At first, I thought Roger Ford was Colleen’s husband, but it turns out Nathan was married to his sister. This subplot really made no sense; apart from being confusing, it was unnecessary. Ford is cold and antagonistic towards Nathan because of his failed marriage and warns him away from the case, but I felt this was strange because you’d think that even though Nathan’s marriage to Ford’s sister ended, Ford would be a bit more sympathetic, given that Colleen was one of the victims.
Anyway, Nathan enlists Autumn’s help because she knows her section of the trail backwards and she’s skilled in hiking and outdoor activity. They fall into a pattern throughout the book: they go out hiking to find clues about The Huntsman, go back to the cabins and have sex, and then Autumn acts all weird around Nathan because she’s been burned and doesn’t trust men. While I can understand that, given her history, Nathan never does anything to earn her distrust and she keeps pushing him away, but then continues to have sex with him. The book seemed to drag a little, to be honest, with the same thing happening over and over. Blaine eventually turns up and is promptly arrested for the murders, and even though Nathan has proven he can be trusted time and again, Autumn refuses to let him help and won’t tell him what she knows that could help solve the case.
Blaine is not the killer, although I won’t say who is, and the latter is eventually caught. Nathan declares his love for Autumn and ends up wanting to stay. I wanted to like this book a whole lot more than I did, because the mystery was interesting, but Autumn was a little too wishy washy for my liking.
the romance shelf 