ALL THE BROKEN GIRLS | Linda Hurtado Bond
08.23.2022 | Entangled Publishing
Rating: 4/5 stars
Crime reporter Mari Alvarez was never able to solve her mother’s murder ten years ago. But when a woman is gunned down on the doorstep of her West Tampa neighborhood, Mari can’t shake the eerie sense of connection. Now there have been two murders in two days. Each crime scene awash with arcane clues—and without a trace of DNA from the killer. And for each victim, a doll. The first is missing an eye. The second is missing a heart. But are these clues leading to the killer…or messages for Mari?
After reading crime fiction for years, you discover there are styles and tropes that work more for you as a reader than others. One thing I’ve come to love over the years is when an author chooses to tell their story through a journalist or reporter. While I love a good detective-led story, those with reporter narrators add an extra bit of outsider insight that I find lets me connect more with the plot. Bond takes this route with our main character, Mari, who has a lot of baggage and drama that ties her closer and closer to our killer. I loved Mari’s character and all of the secondary characters that Bond chose to add to her story. They each had just the right amount of depth to them no matter how large or small their role in the book.
Bond’s use of cold cases mixed with present day crimes was one of my favorite aspects to this story because it allowed for the reader to learn more about the community and the killer’s motives. In addition to crimes that caught your attention and pulled on your heart strings, Bond infuses a wide array of Cuban American culture and history into her story. I loved learning about all of the religious and Santeria details from the cases and our cast of characters.
ALL THE BROKEN GIRLS gave me all the feels of a well-loved crime fiction TV show with drama, heart, and mystery filling the pages.
A huge thank you to TLC Book Tours and Entangled Publishing for my gifted copy!
What Jess Reads 