A Deeper Darkness by J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison launched a new spin off series this year with The Deepest Darkness, the first book to feature Taylor Jackson's ME friend, Dr. Samantha Owens, as the main character.

It's been two years, but Sam Owens's wounds are still fresh. The grief she feels over the loss of her family has not lessened at all. Then Sam receives a call about yet another death: her ex, Eddie Donovan, has been shot in  what the police are calling a carjacking, but his mother isn't so sure. She's asking that Sam travel to DC to do a second autopsy on the body. Sam knows the case will be difficult to bear but can't refuse the request. When she arrives, Sam makes a discovery the original autopsy missed. Alone it's not necessarily enough to question the entire case, but when the body of another man with a connection to Donovan is found, the police have to admit that the case may not be as open and shut as they once believed. 

Considering I was a fan of Sam Owens as a character in the Taylor Jackson series, it was a given that I would love seeing her with her own series of titles. But I also grieved for her and the circumstances that she's gone through! I know she's fiction, but geez! Such torture for one poor character. 

Ellison undoubtedly has a talent for creating characters that readers sympathize with. It's one of the things that's made the Taylor Jackson series so popular and will no doubt make Samantha Owens equally as popular with fans and newbie Ellison readers alike. 

The mystery is equally well developed and this case is very different from what we've seen in the other series. Owens is an ME, not a cop like Taylor, so it makes sense that the cases would be different and told through an ME's perspective rather than a cop's. Plus, there's just as much action and suspense as you'd expect in a book from Ellison. 

Books one and two (The Edge of Black) are both out now. Be warned, the synopsis for book two has slight spoilers for this first in the series (I made that mistake and ruined the surprise). 

And for some extra reading, here's a piece J.T. wrote on the above mentioned traumas she inflicted on Samantha.