Borderline by Terri Breneman

Publisher:             Bella Books

Borderline is the second installment in the Toni Barston mystery series and once again Assistant Prosecutor Toni is the target of a psychopath.  This one believes that Toni loves her and that they are meant to be life partners, so she stalks Toni waiting for the moment for them to be together.  Unfortunately, anyone who causes Toni to be hurt or upset is perceived as an enemy and dead bodies start turning up.  As it becomes clear that the murders are connected to Toni, there is some suspicion that Toni might be the killer.  Toni’s girlfriend, Victoria “Boggs” Boggsworth, and their friends, a mixture of police detectives, FBI agents and investigators for the prosecutor’s office, rally around her to try and find out what is going on and who is responsible.  The suspect list shifts around as information is uncovered and Toni is forced to use her skills as a psychotherapist to out think the killer.  

That might be easier if her personal life wasn’t also a mess.  Toni knows she loves Boggs, but Boggs seems conflicted and appears to be withdrawing from the relationship.  Toni struggles with her emotions as she tries to understand Boggs and deal with the idea that people are dying because of her.  Based on clues given to them by a psychic, the group begins to narrow down the list of suspects, but sometimes understanding a psychic’s visions is difficult.  A mistake could cost another life and the final target is Toni.

Breneman, like her main character, has a background as a psychotherapist who changed careers to become a lawyer.  She uses her knowledge of both to shape her stories and blend the legal aspects with the medical.  The mystery is standard fare with lots of clues and misdirection and can provide a few hours of light reading.  Unfortunately, the characters aren’t one of the strong points.  Toni is constantly on the verge of a breakdown and Boggs’ behavior in the relationship is simply exasperating.  Their attraction to each other appears to be based primarily on lust.  Except for having sex, there isn’t much more interaction between then.   

The supporting characters are better drawn, but everyone seems to spend a lot of time drinking one alcoholic beverage after another.  It’s a wonder any of them are capable of doing any work.  It’s a cautionary aspect when the best character in the entire book is Toni’s cat Mr. Rupert.  His interaction with Toni as her “friend” and “confessor” is the most realistic and enlightening relationship in the story and provides some humor.  The reader will have to trust in Breneman’s experience to know if someone as psychotic as the killer can actually function in a normal situation without tipping someone off that something is seriously wrong with her before it happens in the book. 

Borderline is moves along quickly, is written in easy sentences and doesn’t require the reader to focus much to pick up the threads of the story.  Serious mystery fans probably won’t be challenged, but most readers will find it enjoyable enough.

Compulsion by Terri Breneman

Publisher:                Bella Books

“Why are crazy people always fascinated with me? Jeez!” (Toni Barston, p.95)

Terri Breneman should listen to her lead character.  This is the third installment in the Toni Barston series and once again she has a psychopath after her.  The problem with writing a series is that the stories can become stale if there isn’t significant diversity among them and that is what is happening with this series. 

Things seem to be going better for Toni.  She’s back at work after recovering from the last insane woman who tried to kill her and her relationship with Victoria “Boggs” Boggsworth has finally stabilized to the point where they’re going to move in together.  Toni has been assigned to a case that could lead to breaking up one of the biggest drug rings in her town, but that is the heart of the problems she’s about to have.  The woman at the head of the drug ring blames Toni for all of the trouble she’s been having lately and has decided that Toni has to be eliminated, but not before she’s “had her way with her.”  Toni endures having her car torched, being drugged with date rape drugs, and attempted kidnappings as her friends try to figure out who is after her.  The same assortment of police officers, prosecutor’s investigators and FBI agents rally around trying to put the clues together before tragedy can strike.  One tip, people who like to use webcams may change their minds after reading this book.

The reader looking for a light mystery will find it here.  There are plenty of suspects and red herrings to distract from figuring out who the bad girl is.  A lot of the background information comes from a previous book, but there are repeated references so that the reader can get the gist of what happened.  The characters are puzzling.  Toni and Boggs’ friends are supposed to be talented members of the law enforcement community, but they make ridiculous mistakes.  While they know Toni is in danger, they leave her unguarded time after time and allow bad things to happen to her.  If these people were in real life, their careers would have short spans.  The romance between Toni and Boggs also feels forced or uneven.  Boggs responds very immaturely to some situations and seems the less desirable of the choices Toni has available to her.  The source of their attraction still isn’t clear.

The only real “problem” with this book is that it’s basically the same story that was told in the first two books in the series.  The only difference is the psychosis that the villain suffers from in each book.  Otherwise, Compulsion has the same basic plot and situations.  If the reader hasn’t read any of the other books, this one is good for a few hours of entertainment.  If the reader is a fan of the series, it’s questionable how long that will last.  Why keep buying the same book over and over again?

If the object is to read a quick easy book for a few hours of entertainment, this one will do the job.  The good news is that the reader probably won’t figure out who “the boss” is until the end of the story.