Steamy police procedural with some angst, some flirting and a fair few laughs. Detective Sawyer Key has been through hell the last few years and a fresh start in a new job is just what he needs to pick himself back up. But his new partner, Detective Royce Locke is still dealing with his own tragedy and isn't so keen on rolling out the welcome mat.

I read this author's other book, Ride the Lightning and I was really impressed with the way she weaved a romance and procedural together, but I was disappointed to find it was somewhat of a spinoff series and I'd missed a whole bunch of books. Specifically this one!

So instead of reading the sequel I decided to start at the beginning with Ground Zero. And I'm glad I did. This was fantastic. Unlike a lot of procedurals where the focus is on one specific case, Walker does a great job of portraying an actual case load with multiple investigations taking place and even chipping away at some cold cases. I really liked the way it was done and I was totally invested in the outcomes.

The romance was pretty angsty at points but to be expected with Locke and Key's back story. Sawyer Key was married and lost his husband to cancer. Locke has just lost his best friend/unrequited first love/cop partner to suicide. But when it wasn't angsty it was steamy and flirty and really sweet. And it was pretty funny as well. The puns were hilarious and the banter was gold.

I liked the rest of the characters in the police department, Sawyer's mother, Evangeline and the cat, Bones and I loved the puns about Locke and Key. The character development was really good and the plot was riveting. I can't wait to read the next one. 4 stars. ( )

Started reading Ride the Lightning, realized there was a series (trilogy, turns out) predating it, so paused RtL to read it.

Hmm. At the halfway point I already know I won't be reading the next two books as neither gets better ratings than this one.

2/3: I've scrolled through some of this one's reviews. Turns out many reviewers can't articulate what they disliked about Ground Zero. I can. First, this was written by a newbie author. Although the pub date is 2019, the actual work is at least five years older, if not more. Second: the style is less mature than RtL's. There is a lot of amateurish telling of feelings that action just showed, as several reviewers intuited but couldn't state clearly. And third; it's written as if the reader's never seen or read a police procedural before, when it can't be younger than the internet & laptops as those things are included. Police procedurals predate it by decades. As a reader, I find this insulting. Also, she gets some things either wrong or inconsistent, also common with newbie writers and/or inferior editing.

Unlike some reviewers, I like the characters well enough. But they could have been better.

Done. I sped-read through the last ten chapters. Not terrible, as others have said, but not as good as it could/should have been. Better for newer readers than experienced ones. ( )

So much happened in so little time? ( )

[2.5] (Okay but Royce Locke & Sawyer Key? HAH, I see what you did there, author ( )

Time of death: 16%



There's awkward dialogue and then there's awkward dialogue. Some examples are in my reading updates for this book, but there are many many more. You don't even have to look for it to see it, just open a random page and start reading.

I couldn't bring myself to read a moment longer, it tested the limits of how far to the back of my head I'm able to roll my eyes. I was going to push through it in hopes the story or the characters might turn out okay. I was hoping a little bit of bitching to my GR friends and searching for the right .gif reaction would make it fun enough even with the writing such as it is. But no - I give up. There are books I want to read and not enough time already, so I'm not going to waste my time on a book I'm not enjoying one bit.