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Slaughter Creek #3

Worth Dying For

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One man wants to kill her the other will die to protect her.

Just when the residents of Slaughter Creek think they're safe, a sadistic serial killer strikes. Someone they're calling The Dissector. Someone who keeps his victims' body parts as gruesome trophies.

Special Agent Liz Lucas has been on leave, recovering from the trauma of her last case. But returning to find the Dissector will demand extra caution especially with her former lover Special Agent Rafe Hood leading the investigation. The last time the two worked together, passions ran high and Liz nearly lost her life.

Now, even though their attraction is more magnetic than ever, Liz and Rafe must resist getting involved again and focus on stopping this crazed killer. But as the body count rises and the Dissector's kills become more personal, Rafe soon realizes that Liz may be his next victim.

279 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2014

735 people are currently reading
1226 people want to read

About the author

Rita Herron

321 books937 followers
USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Rita Herron fell in love with books at the ripe age of eight when she read her first Trixie Belden mystery. But she didn’t think real people grew up to be writers, so she became a teacher instead. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job.
With over ninety books to her credit, she’s penned romantic suspense, romantic comedy and YA novels, but she especially likes writing dark romantic suspense and crime fiction set in small southern towns.
For more on. Rita and her titles, visit her at www.ritaherron.com. You can also find her on www.Facebook/ritaherron.com and Twitter.com/ritaherron.

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5 stars
1,295 (45%)
4 stars
1,008 (35%)
3 stars
433 (15%)
2 stars
95 (3%)
1 star
31 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
Profile Image for Tracy T..
1,023 reviews24 followers
July 11, 2015
Not as good as the previous two books 2.5 stars. Great 5 star Narration! (audible whispersync review)

While I am enjoying this series, this is my least favorite so far. It just seemed like a filler book to continue on the series. I wasn't bad, it was just okay.

This book in Slaughter Creek series continues with the same story line and plot. One of the kids in the experiment goes crazy and gets revenge on the people in charge. And goes on a killing spree. However, we did get an extra killer in this book so there is that.


The romance portion seemed a bit forced and not real genuine. The chemistry between Rafe and Liz just sort of fell flat. There is a sex scene that was nicely written, not erotica.

Also, another thing I notice in the book is there sure are a lot of government officials in this small town of Slaughter Creek. I mean there is a sheriff, the FBI and serial killer profilers. Just seems unrealistic they all live there. LOL

There is lots of great dialogue, which did help the book immensely.

As for the narration. It was great. I would have not finished this book if I was just reading it. So Tanya Eby made this book 10 times better that it was. She does a great job of giving everyone their own distinct voice. The men sound like men and she reads with emotion. I really like her narrations. It also seems like she gets better with every book I listen to that she has narrated. I highly recommend this narrator.

I would move if I lived in that town. LOL

Anyway, this book was a free read free listen whispersync with my KU subscription so it was worth it for sure.
Profile Image for Dee.
2,664 reviews20 followers
July 23, 2014
Two-haiku review:

They're both state agents
Seeking serial killer
History between them

Didn't love this chick
She's just too stupid to live
Continuing plot
395 reviews12 followers
March 6, 2017
I was hoping that we wouldn't see Brenda at all in this book but to my dismay, she still presented a pretty active role in this new one. I get that her prominent role in the last one was supposedly because the killer interacted with her and she made herself part of the investigation even though she had no right to be involved and so close to the case. In this one, she's still out for her damn story and still interfering in the investigations. While Liz and Rafe do a much better job in keeping the investigation details quiet, they still are allowing her too much presence she's not entitled to. I'm glad that they aren't answering every single question she has because it encourages her unprofessional behavior, but they need to tell Nick that she's interfering and possibly jeopardizing the murder investigations by asking too many questions the media and people don't need to know yet, showing up at their crime scenes and trying to interview them as they're literally doing their job, and also by stupidly announcing their full names and occupation status that could put their own lives at risk. At one point Rafe says he does like her, but a person like Rafe wouldn't like or respect someone like Brenda in real life, because she's making it harder to do their jobs and only cares about getting her name out there in the spotlight. Someone please put this bitch on a leash in the next book, better yet, kill her off completely for putting her nose where it doesn't belong.

I did like Liz enough much better than Sadie and Brenda but there was just something missing about her, to where I didn't love her. I think it was most likely that she was a pushover and very much a doormat for Rafe. She blamed herself for everything and was supposed to be this tough agent who could hold her own but I didn't see it. She seemed like a rookie and didn't use her head when her instinct told her not to go alone but was determined to prove herself to the men on the team. She made rookie mistakes and I guess that's an effect of her kidnapping and torture with Harlan, in that case she should have never been cleared to go back to work. Just because she thought she was ready didn't mean she actually was and regardless if they were short handed you don't put an agent that hasn't dealt with her issues back in the field just because she says she can. That not only endangers her own life and potential victims for the killer still on the loose but more importantly, her co-workers who depend on her to back them up and have her head in the game. She just didn't seem like she was the trained, quick thinking, focused agent she was supposed to be. She even managed to get abducted twice I think it was, so easily. She let Rafe blame her for something that wasn't her fault and even more heartbreaking for her than it was for him. She didn't have to tell him because he practically abandoned her when she needed him the most. If he had stayed he might have known, but he left and as far as she knew didn't look back. What would have been the point of telling him when he made no effort to visit and check up on her? She didn't stand up for herself or call him out on leaving her to fend for herself which was weak and showed that she let him walk all over her.

Rafe was someone I initially liked at the beginning but once the story really got rolling, I started to lose respect for him and resent him for how he treated Liz. He got angry over something that he shouldn't have, offered no explanation to her for why he left, and regarded her with indifferent professionalism which she didn't hold against him. He treated her like they were nothing but co-workers and doubted her ability to do her job. I also didn't feel like he felt what she felt for him. It was very bland and mild at best. I had more fun and interest in reading the short yet sweet and flirty meetings between Six and Seven than the "romance" of Rafe and Liz in the entire book. Like the other books, the main characters seemed thrown together at most with very little effort in creating a relationship or a bond.

I liked the story but it didn't meet my expectations as much as the first did. I was curious to figure out who Six was, why Harlan killed Liz's mother, but it didn't give me the same excitement in trying to figure out what happened and who was involved like the first book. It might have been because there was too much going on in one story because you had Harlan, Six, the commander, his followers...Towards the end you had everything happening back to back to back and there was no break, it sort of clumped together and overwhelmed me. I think all the events should have been spread out more to give us time to process what was happening especially because from what I've seen, there isn't really a police force. The only ones we've seen in action are Jake as the sheriff, Waterstone as his deputy, Nick as a Special Agent who I guess now is working locally but still with the FBI, and then Rafe and Liz as Special Agents on hand for the Slaughter Creek cases. They're got multiple things going on and only five people to handle it all it seems.

I was glad that they gave a name to Seven aka Gemma. That was one of the things I addressed in the review for book 2 and was glad to see it come up in this book. I'm nervous to read the last book now because I didn't enjoy book two and this one as much as the first but I've always enjoyed and looked forward to Amelia's snippets of her pov's in all the books. Out of all the female characters we've come across, she's been my favorite and most likable, I'll even go as far as to say she's the only one I've come to love, respect, and care for out of all our heroines. I'm worried that my image of her will be ruined or won't live up to the pedestal I've put her on. I was confused at the end about her dream and what we're in for in the next book which I expected her to be a book about her and Six. I'm kind of disappointed it's going in a different direction because I liked the chemistry between them and just figured they were darker characters than the others so their behavior would be a little different or rather scary as Amelia felt sometimes with Six. Fingers crossed, the author won't let me down.
23 reviews
August 3, 2014
SORRY, BUT A REALLY BAD BOOK!

This is the second book in a series, and I hoped it would be better than the first. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The premise is interesting -- similar to the 2007 action/thriller movie Hitman about an evil group of fanatics who create soldiers/assassins from children. But the book is a jumble of unrealistic events involving really stupid, stereotypical characters in a plot that lacks anything that resembles development. I hate to be unkind to the author, but there are better mystery/romance novels to spend your money on . . . maybe something by Laura Griffin or a really terrific writer, Nora Roberts. If Amazon had a hand in editing this disaster, then shame on you! And the really bad news is that the ultimate bad guy, the Commander, will probably return in a sequel . . . because his body was identified by the ring he was wearing. And everyone except the police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the author knows that someone who has just escaped from prison doesn't escape wearing his jewelry.
Profile Image for Sandra R.
3,330 reviews47 followers
August 23, 2021
WA well written serial killer/crime suspense, with a small amount of romance between two of the lead detectives. I didn't really feel the romance or their attraction, but this story is all about the crime anyway, so that didn't bother me a great deal. It's probably a good idea if you read this series in order to understand all the characters, but it can be read as a stand alone. I listened to the audio, as it was included in my KU subscription and it was nicely acted. 3.5 stars.
Profile Image for Megan.
413 reviews10 followers
January 16, 2018
Decent sequel to the other books. I'm interested to see where the next book will lead.
Profile Image for ⚜️XAR the Bookwyrm.
2,341 reviews17 followers
September 8, 2016
If there is one thing I can count on, it's that the Slaughter Creek series will be a spooky and twisted read. This book was no exception to that. There are quite a few surprises in this, but I couldn't really understand why Rafe was there, let alone Liz. In the prior books, I don't remember Rafe being boots on the ground in Slaughter Creek, just Nick. Liz just felt too damaged to be effective as an agent, and I never really saw her build an actual profile of Six, just do suppositions. The attraction they felt together felt forced to me, especially with how much they tried to deny it and claimed it messed things up on their last case together. It was a good read, but only barely made great status.
Profile Image for Casey.
20 reviews
May 4, 2018
Flop for the Series

This one is definitely not as good as the others. The plot seemed somewhat choppy at times and I found myself having to reread certain chapters to remember the order of events and stay pm track. A LOT of characters and situations made it confusing at times. I'm still gonna read through the series, but, this one could be improved.
Profile Image for Michele bookloverforever.
8,336 reviews39 followers
June 12, 2014
this is truly a very disturbing and dark series about torturing fragile children to turn them into killers as part of a government plot. there is a pair of lovers who find each other but the plot is very dark and disturbing. well written.
Profile Image for Kiri.
139 reviews12 followers
April 14, 2022
Hmm.. No

This book was… not good. Yes it was well written, but it was confusing and there was inconsistencies that I found it hard to ignore. For instance the season. This book takes place right after the previous book, in which it was spring, but in this book it’s starting on winter - makes no sense to me. Also I’m getting SO tired of the played out sappy love story part, of “oh, I shouldn’t, but I love him so” ending in a marriage proposal. It is possible to end a book with something other than a proposal! I’m also getting tired of being constantly introduced to new and unnecessary characters. The characters of this book weren’t even likable. This book series could have featured the characters from the first two books, and that would have been plenty of people to solve the case and move the story forward. I’m just not a fan. But I bought the series, so I have to read it to get my money’s worth. But this was not a good book. 2 stars.
Profile Image for Pam.
4,625 reviews67 followers
May 5, 2017
Worth Dying For: A Slaughter Creek Novel book 3 is by Rita Herron. This is the third in the series about the serial killer in Slaughter Creek. It is just as hard to put down as the others. Rita Herron does an excellent job of adding twists and surprises to her novels. One is never sure who is the killer or who is the next victim.
“Two teenagers found a severed hand floating in Slaughter Creek.” Thus, begins the investigation with Special Agent Rafe Hood and Special Agent Nick Blackwood. In some way, this crime ties in with the work of trying to prove Nick’s father, Commander Arthur Blackwood, had been in charge of the CHIMES program which used children as guinea pigs in mind control. They had located six of the seven children involved in the program. Only the subject known as Six was missing. Was Six now killing people? Who was Six? Who would be the next victim and why?
Profile Image for Jan O'Kane.
29 reviews9 followers
September 20, 2018
This was a new author for me, but I will be looking for all her books. I read them out of order, however that did not change my enjoyment of Rita's work.

Special Agent Liz Lucas is in Slaughter Creek along with her former lover Special Agent Rafe Hood. They have a history, and still the attraction is strong. Maybe too strong.

They will need their wits about them to deal with "The Dissector". A serial killer moving closer to Liz, his killings are personal for her. Still she and Rafe attempt to deny their attraction will taking on this clever killer. How strong are Rafe's feelings? Is he willing to die for Liz? Will he be put to the test?

Rita Herron's thrilling ook "Worth Dying For", is definitely worth reading.
Profile Image for Alison.
185 reviews
August 30, 2019
After reading the other two books in this series, I felt this needed to be my next read.
I did enjoy the story but found myself think Liz was maybe a little dumb. I found myself thinking that would never happen, someone who is supposed to be FBI couldn't be so naive. In parts it just seemed slightly a little far fetched.
I do like the way the author writes and will be reading the next in the series.
Profile Image for Sally.
100 reviews
September 15, 2018
Is it finished?

I borrowed this book as part of my Kindle Unlimited subscription as an audio book. I finished all three books in record time. For me this one was a little rushed and I’m still not 100% convinced about the commander.

Everything came together and all loose ends tied up...........or where they?!
Profile Image for Brenda Brown.
72 reviews16 followers
May 30, 2019
Good read but too much romance for me

From Authour~"Seven children had been used as guinea pigs, tortured, drugged, and given electroshock treatments to alter their personalities and minds, all in hopes of creating perfect soldiers for the United States. Instead of names, they were given numbers to make the project less personal and eliminate the human element."
Profile Image for Ski Croghan.
609 reviews5 followers
May 16, 2022
One he'll of a book!!!!!!!

I don't even know what to say about how good this book is. I wish I could give it unlimited stars! One of the most suspenseful books I've ever read, but, big but, was Blackwell on that helicopter? We still don't know. Is it really over. I don't think so! Highly recommended.
1 review
September 29, 2022
repetitive

Same rubbish as so many other books,can’t sort out relationships but waffle on about love..over and over..nearly gave up reading it!!! Has been kidnapped (numerous times)but still does stupid things and …gets kidnapped again..plot was great but main characters deserved to be killed off in first chapter for their personalities alone
10 reviews
February 6, 2017
I really liked the other 2 books but I just couldn't connect with main character. The book is good but it just didn't draw me in as the other books. But will definitely keep reading more of her books.
Profile Image for Colleen.
172 reviews
July 12, 2017
Great

Excellent continuation of the story of The Chimes project. Race and Liz's story was touching. This w!as filled with suspense, twists and turns unexpected and an all around great read!
Profile Image for Suzie.
2,517 reviews23 followers
September 7, 2017
Another chilling read! I enjoyed the "will they/ won't they" attraction between Liz and Rafe amid the gruesome deeds of the serial killer they hunted. I am looking forward to the last book in this series!
Profile Image for Vikki Vaught.
Author 12 books159 followers
October 25, 2017
My Musings

An exciting read with a fantastic ending. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. The narrator did a great job of snoring plenty of tension in the suspenseful scenes. Happy ☺reading 📚!
27 reviews
June 29, 2018
Great

This book was definitely worth the read. What was weird,was Liz managing to get kidnapped twice in like 3 days n never once telling anyone where she was going to perhaps prevent it. N of course her bf managed to save her both times
Profile Image for Ileana Mazzurco.
39 reviews4 followers
January 30, 2019
Fast paced and thrilling

Rita Herron did it again! I didn't want the book to end yet I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen. Highly recommend this book but make sure to read the two prior ones to get the while experience of what each character is experiencing
Profile Image for Stephanie Herron.
733 reviews11 followers
January 7, 2021
Mystery and a thriller

This is a series but it isn't totally necessary to read the previous ones. Just helpful. The author has a lot of twists and turns in this book. Surprises go to the very end.
Profile Image for Tania.
201 reviews3 followers
March 26, 2022
Had to subtract half a star for the explicit scenes that really add nothing to the story. The plot is great; interesting and fast-paced but no thank you for the unnecessary overly explicit scenes. So 3.5 stars
172 reviews1 follower
October 10, 2023
Captivating

This series gets better and better with each book. I couldn't put it down. Is the commander really dead? A!it of bad and crazy people in this series. Can't wait to read the next book. Everyone should read this series.
Profile Image for Tammy Lavergne.
17 reviews
May 21, 2017
Okay

Disappointed in this book. Actions in the book were unbelievable. Seemed more like a romance novel with a little mystery.
Profile Image for Karen  Clagett.
188 reviews2 followers
May 30, 2017
A Really Good Series

Just finished Book 3 moving on to Book 4. Very fast paced, can't put these books (Kindle) down. A must read for suspense.
Profile Image for Valerie Simons.
10 reviews
July 2, 2017
Great Story

Hard to put the book down. Can't wait to read the next one. Don't read the book alone at night or you will be looking for ghosts outside
3 reviews
September 19, 2017
Good series read

Was hard to put the book down and can't wait to start the next one in the series. Will definitely read other books from this author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews

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