A Secret Rage

Book 24 of my 2014 Reading Challenge

A Secret Rage by Charlaine Harris

Summary (via the book jacket)

Nickie Callahan is full of optimism when she moves to the sleepy college town of Knolls, Tennessee, to live with her best friend Mimi.  At twenty-seven, her career as a New York City model may be over, but she plans to go back to college and become a writer.  She hopes that Mimi, who works at Houghton College, can use her influence to get her a last-minute enrollment.  Nickie's looking forward to using her brain after years of using her looks to make a living.
Nickie feels safe and happy in the small Southern town, and as if she's come home.  But the women of Knolls are not safe.  There's a violent incident at the college - and then another.  And as Nickie gets swept up in a string of brutal crimes, she must take matters of justice into her own hands if she is to keep hold of her new, promising life...

My Opinion

First, a note to the marketing/publicity crew.  I specifically looked for this book at the library because I like the author but when I got home and looked more closely, the blurb on the cover was a strange choice to draw in readers.  The quote "Recommended for public libraries" isn't a glowing review, especially when it wasn't even for this book (it was for the author's book From Dead to Worse).  It made me laugh and luckily for me, the read was better than that blurb indicated.  
If you are a person that is triggered by rape, this isn't the book for you.  The descriptions of the traumas aren't graphic but they are very emotionally charged, especially concerning the aftermath as the victims attempt to put their lives back together.
Neutral recommendation.  This would be fine to pick up if you're looking for a quick mystery, especially since it appears to be a stand alone book (seriously, how rare is it to find a mystery that isn't part of a series?) but I wouldn't rush out and buy it either.  

Quote from the Book

"In thirty-odd minutes we'd manage to establish that our assailant was one of ten men.  In making those sweeping eliminations we were able to do what the police could not, because we both were convinced that the man who raped us knew us.  Now we couldn't even try to persuade the detectives who were handling our cases.  One of them was on the list."