Notorious by Allison Brennan

Title: Notorious
Author: Allison Brennan
Series: #1 in the Maxine Revere series
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reissue edition (March 25, 2014)
Source: Library Find
Rating: ☕☕☕

Synopsis: Maxine Revere has dedicated her life to investigating murders that the police have long since given up any hope of solving. A nationally renowned investigative reporter with her own TV show and a tough-as-nails reputation, Max tackles cold cases from across the country and every walk of life. But the one unsolved murder that still haunts her is a case from her own past.
When Max was a high school senior, one of her best friends was strangled and another, Kevin O'Neal, accused of the crime. To the disgrace of her wealthy family, Max stood by her friend, until she found out he lied about his alibi. Though his guilt was never proven, their relationship crumbled from the strain of too many secrets.

Now Max is home for Kevin's funeral―after years of drug abuse, he committed suicide. She's finally prepared to come to terms with the loss of his friendship, but she's not prepared for Kevin's sister to stubbornly insist that he didn't kill himself. Or for an elderly couple to accost her at the airport, begging her to look into another murder at Max's old high school. Max is more interested in the cold case at her alma mater than in digging around Kevin's troubled life, but she agrees to do both. As Max uncovers dark secrets, she finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies that hit far too close to home. And it's becoming increasingly clear that someone will do whatever it takes to make sure the truth stays buried.

My Thoughts: An alright book with a hard to connect to heroine but an interesting murder mystery.

The Good: While I might not have enjoyed the ultra rich people and their surroundings I did think the actual mysteries involving the old murder case and the new one were quite intriguing. I liked learning about both murders and Kevin's suicide but honestly this was just about it for the good things in this book.

The Bad: This book was pretty tedious to read. It seemed to take forever because of all the details that were actually not necessary to the progression of the storyline. Max was also a detriment to the story as she starts investigating for personal reasons all the while denying she is investigating. Her background is supposed to make her seem more real to us and help us connect to her. For me this didn't work because all I could think about was "Oh poor Max. Abandoned by her mother as a child and she never knew her dad. How terrible she had to endure living with her billionaire grandparents and go to the elite private school." She would complain and then back it up with how she was privileged as a child and shouldn't complain.

Have you ever read a book where you think "If only this (insert plot twist of your choice) would have happened instead of the one the author actually used. I'm not saying I could have written this book better. I am a reader not a writer...obviously. However, I would have loved if Max's mother had been discovered in this book and a certain Uncle, who is nothing more than a douche-canoe, knew all about it. I'm assuming the re-entry of Max's mother will happen in one of the next two books but as of right now it's a dangly bit. I don't like dangly bits.

In a Nutshell: So, not a terrible book but not great either. I know Allison Brennan writes some really good books and I'll continue with this trilogy if only to finish something I started. And of course with the hopes I'll connect with Maxine at some point.