Book Review A Dead End in Vegas by Irene Woodbury

Title: A Dead End in Vegas
Author: Irene Woodbury
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Age Group: Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

When the nude body of Dave Sloan’s wife, Tricia, is found dead at the Bellagio in Vegas, he’s stunned.  Why was she even there when she told him she was going to a conference in Phoenix?  Tricia Sloan’s mysterious death shatters, and later transforms, the lives of those closest to her.

In A Dead End in Vegas, we meet Dave Sloan, who is leaving for the airport when we first meet him. He’s ready to pick up his wife, Tricia, when he gets a phone call from the Las Vegas cops, who tell them his wife’s nude body was found that very morning in a hotel room.

Dave didn’t even have a clue his wife wasn’t at the teacher’s conference in Phoenix, like she told him. Instead, she drove to Vegas to meet with a man she met through the internet, a man who was married none the less. And then the next morning, she’s found, murdered.

Tricia’s death changes the lives of everyone around her – her husband starts looking for revenge, even growing obsessed with it. Her close friend, Sally, tries to overcome her grief at losing her. Tricia’s early demise is the keystone that sets it all rolling, and the reader gets to watch as lives are shattered and some people find love in the unlikeliest of places.

The focus isn’t so much on who killed Tricia, as it is in how everyone deals with what happened, exploring the aftermath of such life-changing events for Tricia’s husband, Dave, and for everyone else closely connected to her. The characters are easy to relate to, but at the same time, they’re dark, consumed by either grief or guilt, and that has a way of leaving scars, even on the reader. This isn’t a light read, or one you can just put down, and then stop reading. It’s a novel that grips you by the throat and doesn’t let you go until the very last page.