Trust No One
Debra Webb, 2020
Amazon Publishing
428 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781542018098
Summary
A double homicide and a missing woman lead a detective to unearth disturbing secrets in this gripping thriller from USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb.
It’s the worst possible time for Detective Kerri Devlin to be involved in an all-consuming double-homicide case. She’s locked in a bitter struggle with her ex-husband and teenage daughter, and her reckless new partner is anything but trustworthy.
Still, she has a job to do: there’s a killer at large, and a pregnant woman has gone missing.
Once Devlin and her partner get to work, they quickly unearth secrets involving Birmingham’s most esteemed citizens. Each new layer of the investigation brings Devlin closer to the killer and the missing woman, who starts looking more like a suspect than a victim.
But just as answers come into view, the case twists, expands, and slithers into Devlin’s personal life.
There’s a much more sinister game at work, one she doesn’t even know she’s playing—and she must unravel the truth once and for all to stop the killer before she loses everything. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Debra Webb is an American author of romance-suspense novels. Webb grew up on a farm outside Scottsboro, Alabama. As a child, she created stories in her head, and began to write them down when she was only nine.
Even as she got older, Webb continued to invent stories. But, once she married, her heavy work schedule as vacuum cleaner salesperson, factory worker, and fast-food worker afforded her little time to write her stories down.
After the birth of the couple's child, Webb returned to school to earn a degree in Business Administration. Her husband joined the military and was eventually stationed in Berlin. The family joined him there, and Debra continued working, this time as a secetary in the commanding general's office. In 1985 the family returned to the US, and Webb went to work as an executive secretary at NASA.
In 1995, after a chronic illness, Webb decided to focus on her stories again. For three years, she researched the romance novel market, and in 1998 she sold her first novel—a comedic romance. Six weeks later, she sold a second novel, this time to Harlequin.
Today, Debra Webb is the author of more than 150 novels, a number of them bestsellers on the USA Today list. She has more than four million books in print in many languages and countries.
Webb is the recipient of the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Romantic Suspense, as well as numerous Reviewers’ Choice Awards. In 2012 became the first recipient of the L. A. Banks Warrior Woman Award for courage, strength, and grace in the face of adversity. When she published her 100th novel, she received the distinguished Centennial Award. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[G]ripping.… Det. Kerri Devlin and her junior partner, Det. Luke Falco… investigate a double homicide.… [T]he action barrels along to the explosive conclusion. Police procedural fans who like to see evil rich people get their comeuppance will be satisfied.
Publishers Weekly
Can wealth and power shield the privileged from justice?… [A] game of cat and mouse in which the mice have all the power. A powerful combination of police procedural and psychological thriller whose every clue provides a fresh shock.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use our GENERIC MYSTERY QUESTIONS to start a discussion for TRUST NO ONE … then take off on your own:
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?
4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?
5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.
- Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
- Are they plausible or implausible?
- Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?
6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?
7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?
- Is the conclusion probable or believable?
- Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
- Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
- Perhaps it's too predictable.
- Can you envision a different or better ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)