Finlay Donovan’s story continues over (at least) four books, and this is the second one. I didn’t love Finlay Donovan is Killing It as much as I thought I would, but I’m invested now and need to see what kind of hijinx our main character and her nanny Vero get up to. When the first one ended, someone was out to kill Steven, Finlay’s ex-husband. And that means Finlay’s kids could get caught in the crosshairs.

Finlay Donovan is―once again―struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she’s dealt with lately is that of her daughter’s pet goldfish.

On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he’s a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she’d like.

Meanwhile, Vero’s keeping secrets and Detective Nick Anthony seems determined to get back into her life. He may be a hot cop, but Finlay’s first priority is preventing her family from sleeping with the fishes… and if that means bending a few laws then so be it.

With her next book’s deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn’t a noose at the end of it…

A lot of my thoughts were very similar to my last post (Finlay Donovan is Killing It) if you want to take a look there, so I’ll give some overarching thoughts on this book specifically. I enjoyed the mom group/chat forum angle because we all know moms on the internet can solve any problem themselves and I will admit that this story kept me guessing at who the big bad was going to be this time (I did not see it coming). That being said, I wasn’t particularly impressed with who it ended up being. It didn’t mean much to me.

I enjoy that there’s this main plot that’s going on throughout all the books (seemingly) with Felix and the mob that I hope will resolve itself at some point in a final book, and I know there’s more to Vero than meets the eye… I can’t wait to dive into her story even further. I also hope we get more of her family members as time goes on—they’re quite entertaining so far.

3.5 STARS

“As far as Vero and I could tell, the forum was a virtual cesspool thinly disguised as a mom’s support group—an anonymous gathering space for hundreds of disgruntled middle-aged women to bitch about things that bothered them, namely their husbands, bosses, and boyfriends. Apparently, for those with means, it was also a way of getting rid of them.” —Elle Cosimano, Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead