Once Is Never Enough: Revenge Never Sleeps
by Monique Gliozzi
Tellwell Talent
 
“It’s not unusual for this sort of sociopathic behavior to have origins from a deep-rooted childhood trauma.”

Dual tragedies in the life of Larissa La Roche, once as a child and later as an adult, generate a traumatic break that sends her on a sociopathic killing spree. Working as a flight attendant gives her access to traveling businessmen who are more than willing to be alone with her in a hotel room. Their fates are sealed when they meet the dangerous Larissa, whose trauma compels her to prey on men. She becomes the hunter until one FBI agent begins to see similarities in the suspicious deaths of men in various cities. Special agent Isabella Ashford leads a team in pursuit of Larissa before she strikes again. Both will be tested as Ashford sets a trap to catch her and eventually follows her trail to Europe. Will she slip through their clutches and get away free and clear?

Buzzing with suspense, this mystery is packed with intrigue and thrills as Larissa’s life begins to move down an unexpected and shocking path. Female serial killers are unusual in life and fiction, but Gliozzi has created a compelling and dynamic character. The killer’s motives are clear, and the FBI profiling and use of psychoanalysis add to the authenticity and realism throughout the story. Tracking Larissa’s moves becomes a race against time and propels the plot to intense moments of uncertainty, close getaways, and even closer captures. As Larissa outsmarts at every step, special agent Ashford persists but is often restricted by her superiors, protocols, and proper procedures. Readers will be unnerved by the callous killing and by the vulnerabilities of the men that Larissa manipulates so easily. But they will cheer the brilliant tactics and clever insight of the special agent balancing her life at home with her career as she faces down a serial killer on the loose.

The US Review of Books