This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.  This is my own honest voluntary review.

This is the first book that I have read by this author, but I certainly doubt it will be the last.
Dead Girl Walking begins with a call to 911, with someone informing the operator "She's been shot!" and from that first page I knew this book was going to have me hooked.
The way in which this book was written was really refreshing, as when the investigation begins, it is in fact nurse Jessie who takes a lead in the investigating. Although she enlists the help of her friend DI Sam Dallas, Jessie finds herself struggling to forget the sight of Anna - the victim - when she was rushed in to the ER where she works. 

I adored Jessie's character from the start. She showed so much strength and bravery, not to mention the sheer determination to find answers. I also really enjoyed the romance that was simmering between Jessie and Sam as the story progressed,

A fantastic, brilliantly written book that had me hooked on the very first page.

The excellent start of a new crime series, it's a mix of police procedural and medical crime.
The story is gripping and highly entertaining, I couldn't put it down and read it as fast as I could.
Jessie, the MC, is a very clever and brave woman. I loved her and I found the cast of characters fleshed out and interesting.
The plot is tightly knitted and fast paced, it kept me guessing and interested.
I can't wait to read the next book in this series, this one is highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Dead Girl Walking is the first book I’ve read by this author but it definitely won’t be my last!
The book starts off with a very dramatic call to 911 by someone telling the operator “She’s been shot” and from there I was immediately drawn in and hooked!!!! 
Apart from a gripping storyline I really enjoyed the fact that though she called on her detective friend Sam Dallas it was a nurse  (Jessie) who was doing most of the investigating in this story as I haven’t read a procedural from that perspective before. Jessie took it upon herself to find out what happened to the beautiful girl (Anna) with roses in her hair who presented in very bad shape while Jessie was working her shift in the  ER dept. 
I found Jessie to be very intelligent and brave and really liked her character and I enjoyed the romance aspect too. 
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC of Dead Girl Walking my review is honest and unbiased.

Dead Girl Walking is the first installment in the Jessie Novak series. Unlike most cop procedural, the protagonist is a nurse. This unique angle is what first drew me to the story. However, it also turned out to be the thing that I struggled with. I had a hard time believing that a civilian would have access to so much information about an active case. Jessie received information even from the lead detectives and also seemed to play a key role in determining the direction of the investigation. I was also not too keen on the love triangle she seemed to have been caught up in. Despite these issues, I still found aspects of the book quite entertaining and was engaged up to the last page although I can’t say the outcome was surprising.

Jessie Novak is an emergency room nurse who goes a step further when it comes to one of her patients. A young woman is barely recovering from a gunshot and Jessie is determined to get to the bottom of things. When the woman's husband has minimal injuries, Jessie begins to question the crime that just might take this young woman's life. Beginning with her friend, Detective Sam Dallas, Jessie begins asking questions and leaving no stone unturned when it comes to solving this crime. 

Jessie stops long enough to consider her romantic prospects, including wondering whether or not she is drawn to Sam. However, danger is lurking right at Jessie's feet, especially when another person turns up dead. Can Jessie act quickly enough to solve the crimes? Furthermore, what about the suspicions Jessie had from the very start? How can she shake things up enough to find the killer, all while remaining safe from harm?

I love when I get the chance to read the first book in a new series. I enjoyed meeting Jessie and seeing how determined she was from beginning to end, even when her personal life takes surprising turns. It ought to be interesting to see what else Jessie falls into, especially when things got truly hairy the closer she got to solving the crimes at hand. This book sort of reminded me of a cozy mystery with Jessie becoming an amateur detective, but it was a bit more gritty, which gave this story a very nice edge. 

I loved Jessie as the primary protagonist and the supporting characters were great additions to what turned out to be a very good story. There were a few twists that proved very interesting and this all led to a very good conclusion. Roberta Gately is a new author to me and I look forward to reading more of her as this series continues. 

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

This book just didn’t do it for me. I never ended up like Jessie and while I appreciated her tenacity to get to the answers the way she goes about it is, well, unlikable. I hated the way she was with Sam. Apparently Sam needs to give her every minute detail about what he finds out but she claims Hippa every time anything is asked of her.

She gets involved with another cop even though she is attracted to Sam and I, honestly, have no idea why. This other officer and the love triangle bring nothing to this story. 

The storyline was obvious to me and it was no surprise that I figured out everything pretty early in the book.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a unique twist on a police procedural, as the main character was a nurse and not in law enforcement. It was a bit unrealistic, though, as she had access to info that the average civilian wouldn’t. The story, first of a new series, centers on ER nurse, Jessie, who questions the story of a young couple who comes into the ER, seemingly shot by a stranger. The police think the story is viable but Jessie is convinced that the husband had something to do with it.

While the book moved at a fast pace, and Jessie was fun to read about at times, I had some major issues with this story. The first one is that there is no real mystery in my opinion- it felt glaringly clear to me the entire time what was happening and my hunches were proven true. Secondly, it bothered me greatly that Jessie was not only overly involved in police and coroner work that was not her job, but that she was able to solve issues that the experts in those fields could not solve, yet while making some really stupid personal decisions.  Lastly, without giving anything away, Jessie’s attitude at the end of the book confused me- maybe the author is setting up the next book but I didn’t really get why she acted like she did. 

Overall, the pace of the book was fast but I wasn’t  blown away by this book due to the issues mentioned above. Not sure I’ll read the next book. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Start of a new series with an interesting mix of characters. I look forward to seeing how Jessie develops in the next one.

A young couple is brought to Boston City Hospital after they are shot in an alley while out celebrating. Nurse Jessie is the first on the scene and cannot help but notice the husband does not appear worried about the wife. He is allowed to stay in the hospital long after he's ready and she learns what a true jerk he is and begins to question if he's not the one who shot his wife.
This book was only okay, not suspenseful by my standards. Jessie was more concerned which police officer she was going to hook up with and how her makeup looked. Where she was smart, she also appeared high maintenance and it drove me nuts. I lost count the number of times she "touched up her makeup", how does she have time for that? When her apartment starts getting broken into and all the sudden her work schedule disappears, she just shrugs it off and says "Well I don't need it anyway". Where she is smart in some areas, she's completely stupid in others.
The reader knew throughout the entire book who was to blame, that was obvious. I wish I could have enjoyed this more, but I didn't. Thank you NetGalley for another book for my honest review.

Jessie Novak is an ER nurse and the story is told though her. I like the idea of a thriller being told, not through a policeman’s prospective but  through a nurse that maybe could teach the detectives a thing or two!!  I read that there will be a Jessie Novak No.2 book - so hope I can read this..... I need to know what she is up to next!! 

Thanks to #bookouture  & #netgalley for letting me read this in advance.

#deadgirlwalking  #Robertagately  

Publish date - 24th November 2020

Great characters! This new heroine is fantastic!

I loved seeing an ER nurse as the main character, and I thought she was well constructed and authentic. I generally don't like a "torn between two guys" storyline, but this one was written pretty well, was mostly believable and wasn't overly dramatic. Both of the male characters, as well as most of the secondary characters, were fleshed out enough to be interesting but not so much that the details felt unnecessary, which can be a hard line to walk, especially if you're setting up for future books in the series. Well done there. 

The plot was interesting. The storyline took you for an interesting ride, thought the end was ultimately very predictable. The thing I struggled with was that an ER nurse bound by HIPPA laws and a Detective bound by the restrictions of an ongoing investigation is a pretty unbelievable team. Gately seemed to address this by throwing "I couldn't tell you, that would be a HIPPA violation" and then heavily implying something, or "Keep that under your hat, this is an ongoing investigation" in there when the characters were sharing information.. I *might* have believed that his unlikely professional pair might have shared information at night if an ER nurse had been married to a Detective for years... but it all just seemed very unlikely with a pair that's just casually dating (or not? still unsure).. 

I did like that the corner invited Jessie to work in the morgue/with the PD, but the call from Jessie's boss was, again, just a little unbelievable "Hi Jessie, yes you can split your time between here and there and keep all your benefits and schedule and overtime and it'll all be great! Good luck!". Jessie working part time for the PD is a good idea in theory but it still doesn't solve the privacy issue. 

All that being said, I truly liked Jessie & Sam and the writing was compelling so I do hope she finds some way to help Jessie evolve into a forensic nurse or a CSU employee or something so that her nursing experience is helpful with examining wounds and corroborating  evidence rather than having her input be a privacy violation concerning a specific case.

Always a new take on the detective story: this is a new one, having a triage ER nurse suddenly begin to investigate crimes. 
When a pretty woman arrives essentially DOA and the supposedly distraught husband is being weird, Jesse's suspicions are raised. 
The combination of medicine and crime is a newish one and has fun qualities. 
As this is the first of a series, hopefully her crime busting will become more refined over time.

Dead Girl Walking by Roberta Gately is the first book in her Jessie Novak series. As an ER nurse, Jessie Novak is both observer and participant. She’s a smart new female protagonist, even though she’s not the usual cop/former cop or private investigator. I warmed to her personality as the story and her background details evolved. The story is well-written and the plot is engaging. Some of the elements are predictable, but I still enjoyed this mystery and will read any future installments to follow Jessie’s development.

My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However, the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

"Something was wrong here, very wrong." 
 
It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a great crime series. With Dead Girl Walking I've added yet another to my ever-growing list. 

ER nurse Jessie Novak finds herself embroiled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse after becoming determined to bring a killer to justice. She is sure she knows who brutally attacked Ann Hart, but the police don't agree. So she sets out to find the evidence herself, putting her own life in danger. Can she find the proof and expose the killer before they can silence her? 

"And that was what she liked best about the ER. It was a metaphor for life; unpredictable, unexpected, both deadly boring and wildly exciting, and you could have all of that in one shift." 

Reading this was like watching a mash-up of ER and Rizzoli & Isles. It is a riveting start to a new series and I flew through this book in just a few hours. The author knows how to keep the reader on the  edge of their seat and is  full of heart-stopping tension. Jessie's job as an ER nurse only adds to this, the chaos leaping from the page. It is obvious from the detail in these scenes that the author has experience of working in that environment and this added to the authentic feel of the story. 

For any series to be successful, it's characters have to be believable, interesting and memorable. The author has given the reader just that with the creation of Jessie and Detective Sam Dallas. Jessie is easy to like and get behind. I quickly felt invested in her life and was rooting for her to bring the killer to justice. The dynamic between her and Sam is entertaining and they have the perfect amount of chemistry and tension to make a great crime duo. I'm looking forward to seeing what the author has in store for them in book two. 

A captivating start to a new crime series, this taut, twisty and suspenseful book is one you'll find hard to put down. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well written thriller or mystery.

Dead Girl Walking is the first book in a new series featuring Jessie Novak, a Emergency Room Triage Nurse as its lead. Set in Boston Massachusetts, the story follows Jessie’s quest for answers after a beautiful woman is bought into the emergency room, with a gunshot. Who would do this? Why?

The story has been well plotted, executed and with Roberta Gately bringing her own knowledge as a nurse to the table, this makes for an interesting medical drama crossed with a crime thriller. The mystery itself plays out well and kept me on my toes and while there are no big shocks or surprises, still made for an entertaining read. 

Jessie’s character has been written very well. She is smart, gutsy and has good instincts. While there were no big surprises, there were plenty of distractions for Jessie, first and foremost, her love life. Can Jessie find the find balance in her life? And a killer?

What I like most about this book and what initially drew me to it, was that Jessie is an Emergency Room Triage Nurse and not a police detective as is normally the case with these types of stories. Her role puts her front and centre into the thick of things and brings a refreshing change, with a different point of view. 

Dead Girl Walking is a strong start to a new series. The prologue kicks things off in spectacular fashion and from there it hits the ground running, never letting up on its frantic pace until the final page. The story is interesting, the characters are real and relatable, the writing is sharp and I look forward to seeing the direction the series takes next.

This is the first in a new series that adds a new take on the police procedural genre,a nurse who works in the ER and finds herself unable to resist investigating the murder of one of her patients. It's a fascinating blend of Diagnosis Murder, ER and the brilliant Code Black which were three of my favourite television series. I suppose, in retrospect, doctors and nurses are a bit like detectives because they have to follow the clues that enable them to diagnose and treat their patients. I love a drama that is set in a hospital so I really enjoyed the scenes that were set in the ER, the fast and frenetic atmosphere as the doctors and nurses worked their healing magic on their patients. And the author's descriptions of the sombre and peaceful atmosphere of the ICU were so realistic (which is not surprising considering the Author is also a nurse) that they brought back memories of the time that our daughter spent in the ICU when she was younger. The only sound being the noise of the machines and equipment that were vital for the survival of the patient.

I had mixed feelings about the main character Jessie, I had no doubt that she loved her job and genuinely cared about her patients and I loved her interactions with her elderly neighbour Rufus. She did have some realistic character traits and there was some likeable aspects to her character but i really didn't like how she was fancied by almost every male character she encountered during the story. I'm not sure wether the police would really ask a nurse about what her opinion was on a active investigation but this is the world of fiction and what do I know,I'm just a lowly reader and blogger. I also had mixed feelings about Detective Sam, he seemed like a likeable character but it did get frustrating when he constantly  dismissed Jessie's fears and opinions especially considering he was the one that originally drew her into the case in the first place. The secondary characters were a mixed bag of vivid, realistic individuals from the staff who worked in the hospital, the homeless man who sleeps in the hospital, Jesse's kindly neighbour Rufus to Patrick who was the proprietor of the shop near were Jessie lived where she got her newspaper and muffin.

This is a fantastic start to what looks like is going to be a brilliant series. I loved the hospital scenes and the thriller elements of the story but the plot contained a  bit too much romance for this reader's liking. The book does end on a cliff hanger that paced the way for book 2 and I look forward to reading what the reader has got planned for Jessie's next adventure

Dead Girl Walking by Roberta Gately is the beginning of a brand new series in which an E.R Nurse Jessie Novak is our main character. I found this idea alone a refreshing one, to have an E.R nurse involved in a crime thriller, in a way it almost made a cross-genre, a medical crime thriller!
The story hit the ground running with a couple being shot as Jessie is about to clock off from her shift in Triage. The call comes in and Jessie gets everything together for their arrival at E.R. The couple are of high media attention so as she is leaving, she finds the corridors blocked by all manner of people, police and reporters mainly. The pressure is on for the police to find who did it straight away.Jessie's friend Detective Sam Dallas is at the head of the team.
As I said, a refreshing change to see an E.R Nurse involved in investigating a crime. Jessie is an intelligent and sharp woman who goes about her daily job and also helps where she can with the police. The fact she works in the E.R allows her to keep an eye on people being admitted and what they come in for. That extra dimension in the investigation is  a clever twist in the tale really. An excellently paced read with an interesting protaganist that I can see has the potential to add many adventures to this series. 
One thing I also noticed when I picked up the book to read. The dedication is to her brother and I don't know why but it stayed with me throughout the book. Roberta has put her everything in this story and I think I felt that with the dedication.
Thank you to Bookouture, Roberta Gately and  NetGalley for my copy of the book to write my review for Dead Girl Walking.

Thank you to bookouture for letting me take part in this tour and for my copy of this book via netgalley. This book is the first of a new series following Jessie Novak. Jessie is an ER nurse who becomes involved in helping to solve the shooting of Ann Hart.

This book was very interesting as it was a crime novel where the lead character was not a detective or even a police officer. This gave a very different POV. I love a good medical drama. I watch Greys Anatomy, The resident. Chicago Med, New Amsterdam, The Good Doctor. I’ll stop there because I could be here for days naming them all. Suffice to say I really enjoyed the ER aspect of this book.

I really liked Jessie. She has some guts and grit about her and I can’t wait to see more of her. She did at times have a bit of naivety about her, to the point where I wanted to shout don’t do that or don’t go there but I’m sure she’ll soon lose that.

This is probably not one of those crime thrillers that will give you a big shock ending but I really enjoyed following the clues.

I also enjoyed Jessie’s relationship with Rufus. He seems such a sweet old man. I think their friendship will be really good for the pair of them.

I’m very excited about where this series is going to go.

An Emergency Room nurse, Jessie Novak, plays detective in this crime thriller. 

When a young couple is attacked, shot, and left for dead in an alley, they are brought to Boston City Hospital by ambulance. Jessie is on duty and finds the wife, Ann Hart, barely alive and the husband with a less serious wound. For some reason, she can't get the crime out of her mind and is quite suspicious about the event. Meanwhile, she's harassed by a reporter and is involved with two local cops who share many investigative details about their investigation with her. NO SPOILERS.

I confess I picked this up solely because I have also worked as an ER nurse. I'm always interested in medical thrillers and thought that this first in a new series might hit the spot for me. Unfortunately, I found it all fairly ludicrous and my ability to take the necessary leaps to credulity was strained to the max level. I simply could not stand the main character, Jessie, nor could I even remotely imagine the level of her involvement in a crime such as this as an ER nurse. The other main irritation I developed was with Jessie's romantic entanglements. Overall, I did not find this gripping or suspenseful -- it all just seemed silly to me. I doubt I'll be interested in another installment featuring this character. 

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for providing a copy of this e-book ARC for me to read and review.