"Rebecca intended to track down David and take him out, in other words drop him like a sack of flour just like she had his fat ass brother, Big Al."
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Fool Me Once... Part II (A Rebecca Novel) by Mary Burton King Trafford Publishing
book review by Karyn Saemann
Burton King continues the story of Rebecca, whose abusive husband was presumed murdered in Part I of this planned trilogy. Although his remains were not conclusively identified Rebecca's husband, Marcus, is declared dead and she gains his vast fortune. However, as Rebecca tries to move on she is stalked by David, a violent drug addict who seeks revenge for her role in his brother's death.
Burton King does a fine job of developing her characters and situations. Even secondary characters and lesser scenes are sketched in abundant detail. However, the novel could have been improved by focusing more narrowly on Rebecca and situations in which she is directly involved. Passages about Rebecca's daughter being a hoarder, Marcus being a drag queen and the niece of the girlfriend of a police detective being a sex slave are interesting but do little to advance the main story. More focus on key plot elements, such as whether Marcus is actually dead and the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between Rebecca and David, might be a great place to expand the novel. Much more could have been made, for instance, of a potentially dramatic scene in which David breaks into Rebecca's condo and plans to terrorize her upon her return, but Rebecca is away on vacation and David simply leaves after messing the place up; a potential spine-chilling moment is missed. Regardless, Fool Me Once is good writing.