Denise

I am always looking for a new series to read so when I was intrigued by the description of Circle of Influence and saw that it was the first book in a series I knew that I had to request it on NetGalley. Circle of Influence is the first book in the Zoe Chambers Mystery series which follows Zoe Chambers (duh!), a paramedic in Vance Township, Pennsylvania.

Vance Township is filled with secrets and Zoe Chambers has quite a few of her own. There are some dark things from her past that are brought back into her life when a body is found in the abandoned car of the deeply disliked Township Board President. Zoe is a really interesting character to follow. I loved getting to read about her work as a paramedic it was interesting and easy to understand even for someone who has little medical knowledge. I felt sorry for Zoe when the dark parts of her past were revealed. She has already had to deal with a lot and now with the events that happen in the book she has to deal with so much more.

I really liked the friendship between Zoe and Police Chief Pete Adams. They both are similar in that they have things from their past that they'd like to forget. I liked how their friendship seemed to be growing into something more and am excited to see where it goes in the rest of the series.

There is more than one dead body in this book and there is plenty of mystery that needs to be solved. I was constantly trying to solve the mysteries and ending up mostly wrong. Zoe ends up in the middle of the mysteries trying to solve them along with Pete, even though she tries to keep some of her involvement away from him.

The action towards the end of the book was great. The tension and suspense just kept building and everything was finally revealed. I was horrified by some things that happened but was glad to see the book end how it did. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the galley.