Dead Stop is nothing new - a romantic suspense story with a detective, a journalist and a serial killer. Despite this lack of novelty, however, author Jamie Denton still crafts a good read.

When Ainsley Brennan is delivered a mysterious CD with the sounds of a woman being tortured, her journalist instincts lead her to try to investigate. Deputy Police Chief Beck Raines doesn't trust journalists and doesn't want Ainsley around, but her tenacity leaves him little choice, especially since he finds himself attracted to her. When dead bodies of young women are discovered and it becomes clear there's a killer in the locale, Ainsley and Beck have to work together and trust each other to get to the bottom of the crimes, especially when they hit close to home.

The plot of Dead Stop is reasonable, but there were some weaknesses - particularly in the motivation of the killer and why he starts sending out CDs and dumping bodies for people to find. The romance between Ainsley and Beck is fairly predictable, as is the identity of one of the victims. The author also chooses to reveal the identity of the killer fairly early on in the book. Dead Stop is ultimately a reasonable read with rather stereotypical characters but doesn't break any new ground.