Not This Way

Rachel Blackwood #1

by Blake Pierce

Texas Ranger (and part Native American) Rachel Blackwood, fierce and resilient, must cross the harsh Texas landscape, tracking the most notorious serial killers. But when a killer surfaces deep in oil country, Rachel realizes she is up against she has never seen before…

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Native American, Suspense

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2023

About the author

Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seven books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising four books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising four books (and counting); and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series.

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Reviews

[Sarah B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fast Read with Car Chases

So I read this whole book in one sitting. It definitely was a fast read and it kept me turning the pages. This is also my first book from this author but I will definitely read more.

The main character in here is part native American and she is also a Texas ranger. I admit I had to go look up what a Texas ranger was. Before I had looked it up I was confused why she was doing the job of the police. The only kind of ranger I had heard of before was a park ranger.. But Rachel Blackwood is chasing after a serial killer, one who is dumping dead girls in oil fields. So this is basically a procedure type story where she tries to follow the clues to hopefully find the killer.

Her partner is Ethan Morgan and he is a new to her. I felt I really didn't get to know him very well at all. He seems to be almost a side character. He doesn't say much or do too much either. Which I guess is kind of weird?

I must say that Rachel has a strong drive to get the killer. She doesn't give up and she is willing to take some extreme risks. She is good at tracking and she has family issues. I am unsure about how strong her native American vibe is. She mainly seems to be a very driven officer and that certainly seems to come before any native beliefs or habits.

The plot was very decent but I would not call it a thriller. Its not really thrilling. It's a police procedure story even though she is a ranger.

Rating it 4 stars because the plot is decent and tricky. Plus I was never bored with this one. It certainly is entertaining.

[Ron Walker · Rating 1 out of 5]

It has been several years since I read a few of this author's books and I either forgot how shallow they were or he has just sacrificed quality in his rush to churn out more books. There were many inconsistencies in the story, such as being at Lake Caddo one minute and in West Texas oilfields the next without any explanation of how they got there, and he has the killer sitting in a car without his pants but after he has a fight with a police officer, the killer wipes the bloody knife on his pants which must have miraculously clothed him. He must not be from Texas or he would know that we do not have saguaro cacti here and he seems to confuse pump jacks with drilling rigs. The heroine's "dark brown eyes" was repeated over and over. The blurb on Amazon describing the book being about a Native American female Texas Ranger chasing a serial killer sounded interesting, but unfortunately that summary was more interesting than the book itself. I doubt I will buy any more of his books.

[Patty Ventola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este autor siempre me gustó mucho. Pero tengo que decir que este no es ni lejos su mejor historia.
I always liked this author a lot. But I have to say that this is not by far his best story.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who holds their 10 year old niece responsible for solving her parents’ murder when the kid grows up?

[diannscollins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Worth It

This serial killer has the silliest reason for killing women. The text was too wordy, and could have had at least 50 pages cut out of it.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad

Wasn't the most enthralling read for me, but i did enjoy reading this story.

I'm not sure if I will read the next instalment but I probably will as I want to give this highly rated author another try.

[Stephan Huston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't think this story was believable. She just wondering around looking for clues, not finding anyone. Gives up on the guy that seemed like the one, no real explanation for why he wasn't. Then stumble upon a chauffeur for that guy's attorney. Connection to the crime seemed weak, as I said, not believable. And the description of the fight with the suspect was over the top, don't think she could have won that. And she was out in the middle of nowhere, no signs of civilization, yet then she knows how to drive directly the the hospital? Come on, any writer should do better than that.

[Valerie J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series to read

This is an easy quick read book. I liked the main character and sense upcoming books in the series will see her personally grow too. A good selection for murder mystery with alternating perspectives from the main character and killer she is in pursuit of.

[Thomas Calhoun · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, just when I thought books couldn't get any worse. The motel scene at the beginning was so awful I couldn't go any further. Good grief, when do authors wake up to the fact that if you don't know anything about firearms find another genre - revolvers DON'T have safeties. YIKES! And the whole scene revolves around this mistake. And these two Rangers broke so many established police procedures in the scene that I lost count. Well, that was it for me. What I was beginning to find interesting in terms of plot and characters totally evaporated. Oh well, maybe Pierce will get an editor who can help him next time. Rachel Blackwood is not off to a good start.

[Jeanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s just okay. Short and a little too neat. Blackwood has a lot of promise to be an interesting character but there’s not a lot of information built around her.
A ton of repetition “white knuckles on the steering wheel” was overused to exhaustion. A couple of times the sequence seemed off…bad guy didn’t have pants on but then put his knife in his pocket. Not a deal breaker but annoying.
I was really hoping for more Native American information and that was totally lacking for the most part. She’s a tracker, taught to her by Aunt Sarah but no details. That might be what encapsulates this story-lack of good, quality detail of how the characters are made up.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

As an indigenous person… ✨no✨

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this main character is be very interesting. Very different from the other main characters in these kinda of books and I liked her partner so I hope they keep them together. I like how they incorporated her Indian background and her hunting ability into the story as a strength she uses.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not This Way - a review by Rosemary Kenny.


A stunning series opener by the amazing Blake Pierce, Not This Way sees mixed heritage Ranger Rachel Blackwood drawn into a murder hunt. Austin PD Homicide Officer Ethan Morgan works well as her new partner, though the two could not be more socially and culturally diverse.
The duo are set to work on a case where female victims' remains have been discovered at an oil drilling site bordering the Rez. What's the strange cause of death?
The investigation leads to a dramatic race against time - and deadly danger for Rachel, before a thrilling denouement.

Want to know what Rachel's next case will be?
Or what personal tragedy she can't let go of?
Then get your hands on Blake Pierce's Not This Way, A Rachel Blackwood Suspense Thriller Book 1, and let the adventures begin!

[Kate Powers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Possibly one of the worst written books I have read in a long time. Characters start out going to Beaumont area in Texas which is in southeast Texas - very green, lots of rain and parts almost swampy. Next we see they are in a desert area!! What? Dry parched earth, dust everywhere? How did they get to what is surely west Texas - a day long drive from southeast Texas. Then they have to drive through what is essentially a monsoon of rain! Next day, dry desert again! What?

And the fight scene at the end is totally unbelievable - especially for female protagonist. Not saying it is impossible for her to win, but the way it is written, it is unlikely.

I found the whole book to be unrealistic and I certainly won't be reading any more of this author.

[May H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this series on accident (oops lol) but I actually really like the main characters - I'm not sure real natives will but maybe? It feels a little sensationalized in that department, but I'm not native, so what do I know. This is a long but kinda quick series (though only half of it is out so far i think) and basically each book is a little story that has a thread of a big story in it and I guess this is how I'm going to spend $40ish on 8 books, to read 8 mini stories and 1 main story that I care the most about LOL. But I'm not mad at it :) I wanna keep seeing where it goes, I think I've loaded all that's available on my kindle, so I'm sure I'll blow through them.

[Makayla Jenkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t even know where to start. The plot wasn’t very believable and the audio was done by AI. The AI kept mispronouncing words and speaking with a random French accent… ugh. Not to mention who tells their niece that they are responsible for their mother’s death? And what self respecting woman hears that and keeps that aunt in their life, let alone BELIEVES it? If she had said something else too like ‘you know more than you think you do about that night,’ or something along those lines it would’ve been better than her straight up blaming her. Jeez. I do like the character though, besides that stuff.

[Maryann Hornbaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really Liked It

Rachel Blackwood is a Native American Texas Ranger. She and her partner, Ethan, are called to a bizarre murder scene in the Texas oil fields. A woman has been found buried beside an oil rig and cause of death is unreal. Then several more bodies are found with the same cause of death.
Rachel uses her tracking skills and other skills learned from her family to hunt down the murderer.
We get a glimpse of her life before the Rangers and it’s very interesting.
There were a few places I found some more editing would have helped but overall it was well written.

[Lillian Cummings · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new evil is in town

Rachel Blackwood has just been given a new partner Ethan Morgan even though she works better alone. This is their first case together and it will make or break them. Bodies have found on the oil fields and they need to find the killer before more young women are murdered. Will they be able to able follow all the clues or will they be too late? A good read. Great partnership. Both very different but they both want to do right by the victims.

[Annette Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ive read better from authour

A clean book in the aspects of language and bedrooms.
Living in Australia I couldn’t relate very well to the Native American ‘side’ to this story, so though I enjoyed the crime solving side of it, a lot of the writing involved things I failed to grasp.
I can see future books revealing more from both main and side characters but this book doesn’t urge me to try.

[Q Cash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really disinterested in the book to start with. It was an audiobook that was about 3.5 hours on 1.75x speed. As the book got about 65% percent of the way in, it started getting a little better. I would have like more information and mindset of what caused the killer to think/act the way they did. It wrapped up pretty quick in the end and was somewhat suspenseful. It would be a decent episode for Criminal Minds tv show.

[Pete Ffrench · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this story and it's main characters, Rachel and Ethan. Some of the descriptive writing was a bit flowery and over the top but ignoring that and concentrating on what is going on is not a problem. It makes a thing about her ethnicity, being part Indian and not being accepted because of her job which also doesn't seem relevant to anything but is a bit of a cliché which occurs in a lot of American writing.

[Savannah Keller · Rating 3 out of 5]

has….has the author ever met a native american person? take a shot every time the word “predator” comes up and you’ll be drunk within the first few chapters.

that said, the book was okay. The plot twist was lackluster…one thing I always long for with Pierce’s books is for the killer to be more underneath the protagonists nose. The thrill isn’t there when it’s always some random character they never met (not necessarily this one but in general).

[Jim Southard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a decent murder mystery story, horribly told. It's a quick read, so the pain won't last long. It's badly written, badly researched, and badly edited. Geographic features that don't exist (e.g. saguaro cacti and Joshua trees in Texas), plot sequences that don't make sense, and elements that are too odd to be believed. And the prose is so stilted and over-the-top that it sounds like it was written by an AI chatbot.

[Jessie hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH YEAH

A really well written, well conceived and laid out book. I immediately liked the protagonist, the also rans, and the stories of those already gone. I’m not easily drawn in these days but this one ad me at page one and never let go. I’m off to find more and read all he wrote.

[Sherry L · Rating 1 out of 5]

Who Knows - not me?

Don't read books with profanity. In my opinion, I can understand and enjoy books without these types of words - in fact it makes me feel like the author thinks I don't have much of a vocabulary . As a matter of fact I enjoy books that (with the ease of today) that I have to look up a word. A win-win: a book that is enjoyable and educational.

[Keith Withers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing action

Ranger, Rachel Blackwood, becomes involved with a truly disturbing murder case. A number of women are found dead on the sites of oil drilling rigs, all of them apparently killed and buried underground, apparently drowned in oil. Can Rachel, and her ranger partner, solve the mysterious killings.

[Cynthia A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why hide bodies in an oil field?

Rachel Blackwood, a Texas Ranger, has her work cut out for her. Several woman are found dead in an oil field. No idea what is happening as she follows the clues.
A quick read and likable characters. The theme was ok, but I didn’t like the ending.

[Shannon Duffek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy, interesting read

Ranger Rachel Blackwood, tough with a mission to solve her parents murder and solving other crimes. She is tough and disciplined. This book was a decent quick read about a killer leaving women's bodies in the Texas oil fields. The motive was really weak and I didn't feel closer about the killer. That was disappointing.

[Scherrie Manes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edge of your seat...

heart-pounding, thrilling roller-coaster ride of your life. Keeps you interested and turning pages till the very end. The waiting on needles still the next book.

[Josephine Pizzimenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

I liked the main character and interesting to get snippets, if they are small, of native American customs. I would like the story to delve deeper into the history there.