Aries - The Sign Behind the Crimes Book 2

It's been over two months since I attended Ronnie Allen's book signing and purchased my autographed copy of Aries. Since I mostly read e-books these days, I had to plan a time that would make sense for me to read a traditional book. I knew I'd be traveling to New York from Florida in April and promised myself that Ronnie's book would be the book that I'd read on the plane.


It's hard to write a review for a book penned by a friend. I feel it's important to state upfront that I'm not a fan of crime novels, thrillers (psychological or otherwise) or the paranormal. I'm not a fan of the genre but I am a fan of Ronnie. I wanted to see how all her hard work paid off. (I hope it's okay here to mention that I found 3 typos in the book. That's something I'd have no trouble mentioning in a review of a novel written by someone I don't know so I feel it's only fair to mention that here as well.)

After reading and enjoying Book 1, Gemini, in The Sign Behind the Crime series as a beta reader and in its published format,  it made sense that I'd read subsequent books in the series.

Aries follows rookie Detective Samantha Wright. Prior to beginning her first day as detective, Sam goes for a jog and literally runs into a murder victim. Literally. She integrates herself into her detective team as they attempt to solve that - and several more connected murders. She's also working on the cold case of the murder of the wife of the psychiatrist on the team, Dr. Frank Khaos. And it wouldn't be a Ronnie Allen novel without the sexual tension of a developing relationship, in this novel it's between Wright and Khaos.

Ronnie and I talked many times throughout the writing of Aries about how she develops a story and about all the research involved to add the details of the story. I can only imagine all the hours spent talking to her experts about weapons, martial arts, psychological evaluations, police protocol and the like. How she even comes up with her ideas is an astonishing accomplishment to me. Should I imagine that most of the sexual content comes from Ronnie's personal experience? That stuff is hot!

Like me, Ronnie was born and raised in Brooklyn. Brooklyn was one of the main settings in Aries. It's always fun to read a novel that mentions actual places that I am very familiar with. (Gemini was set in both NYC and in rural central Florida so I had a similar connection to the first novel.)



Ronnie Allen is a master at plotting and character development. She expertly wove her sub-plots together seamlessly. I also like how she brought in the main characters of Gemini as more minor characters in Aries. Great connection. I can very easily see both of these novels adapted for the big screen.

Ronnie is currently working on the third book in the series, Scorpio. I haven't had a chance to talk to Ronnie about the plot or the setting of Scorpio nor of how it connects to the first two titles in the series. 

For fans of the genre, I can easily recommend getting started with the series, starting with book 1, Gemini.

Way to go, Ronnie, for turning your dreams into reality!