Dawn Girl

A Gripping Serial Killer Thriller

By: Leslie Wolfe

Narrated by: Todd Waites

A gripping serial killer thriller.

Her blue eyes wide open, glossed over. A few specks of sand clung to her long, dark lashes. Her beautiful face, immobile, covered in sparkling flecks of sand. Her lips slightly parted as if to let a last breath escape.

Who is the beautiful girl found at dawn, on a deserted stretch of white sand beach? What is her secret?

FBI special agent Tess Winnett searches for answers relentlessly. With each step, each new finding, she uncovers unsettling facts leading to a single possible conclusion: Dawn Girl is not the only victim. Her killer has killed before.

Hiding a terrible secret of her own, special agent Tess Winnett faces her inmost fears, in a heart-stopping race to catch a killer who's getting ready to end yet another life. Will she find the killer in time? Will she be able to stop him? At what cost?

The rules of the game have changed.

So has the textbook definition of a serial killer.

Special agent Tess Winnett is the bold, direct, and short-fused heroine of Dawn Girl. Putting her life on the line, she doesn't pull any punches, searching only for the truth, and for the man who takes lives on her watch. Intelligent, resourceful, and uncompromising, Tess will take readers on a memorable, white-knuckled journey in this suspenseful, gripping serial killer thriller.

Fans of David Baldacci and James Patterson will enjoy Leslie Wolfe.

©2016 Leslie Wolfe (P)2023 Leslie Wolfe

Engaging story

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the villain's MO was graphic, but not too graphic and left the reader/listener to use their imagination. Story moved along well and "heroine" was just flawed enough to be real.

A stunning, captivating read!

Leaves me wanting more Winnet stories! Definitely will be reading more with her in them!

Great Story! Bad Narrator

My title says it all. The narrator was not good, didn’t use good tone inflection and didn’t have enough voice range for the multiple characters.

The horror behind serial killers

The story was creepy to say the least. Getting into the mind of a sociopath can’t be easy.

Great Story Terrible Narrator

I almost could not finish listening because the narrator was not right for the story. There were times I lost which character was actually talking. Besides that the story was good.

Fabulous

Great story - written with good descriptions. would definately recommend to others. very nice read.

Glad I didn’t listen to this book first

Tess was really annoying in this book. Stomping her foot, hitting the steering wheel, unable to be part of a team…luckily I listened to two other books before I got to this one.
Tess came across as an arrogant brat which I suppose the author intended as Tess’s ongoing response to her past. Her unprofessional behavior was a real turn off to me.
However, The Girl From Silent Lake and Beneath Blackwater River will keep me reading. If I’d heard Dawn Girl first I wouldn’t have been interested in Leslie Wolfe’s other books.

Why a male narrator?

This is a good starting effort for a series, connected in a way but standalone with a more or less resolved plot by closing.
Tess is a great character, very committed to her victims, unwilling to let personal, official or bureaucratic concerns allow suffering to continue beyond the second it takes to solve the case. The plot and antagonist are fairly formulaic and therefore predictable, but that doesn’t really detract from the story. This is by no means the Great American Novel, but it makes no pretensions in that direction.
It’s a simple thriller and meets the requirements of the genre with a strong female lead. It also sets out an ideal world in which women are held up the the merits of their work, not what men think women should be, while also being clear about how stereotypes about women affect the way crime agains women is investigated. It did provide one more glimpse of the double standard: what do you call a perceptive and assertive law enforcement officer? “A bitch with a badge”
My one critique outside of the story is to question the choice of a male narrator for a story about a strong female character. I have to confess that I wouldn’t really have a problem with a female narrator of a strong male character, but I think the difference is clear in the sense there are a lot more stories of strong male characters than there are female. I think women should read women for the foreseeable future. Prejudiced? Yes. Do I care? No.

Outstanding!

Great story! Interesting characters in a well developed story with lots of twists and turns. I saw part of the ending coming ("I knew it!") and then got completely blind sided (WHAT! Wow!! How did I miss that!). Can't wait to read more about these characters. Well performed also. I highly recommend!

Dawn Girl

This is an entertaining and disturbing thriller, so listener beware! If you are a fan of Criminal Minds and similar stories, you will love this book.

A young couple sneak out of their homes to meet on the beach to watch the sunrise. Instead, they find a horrific sight: a beautiful young woman, strategically placed in a kneeling position and posed in death.

The case is soon taken over by an aggressive FBI agent, Tess Winnets, who is wracked by PTSD after an attack many years ago. Tess is known for her abrupt manner and disdain for the FBI's rules, but also for her case solving ability. She is paired with a local detective and the rest of Miami's PD to find out who "Dawn Girl" really is and to find her killer.

The story is fast paced, the characters are believably flawed, and the action is non-stop. If you are disturbed by the thought of sexual predators or serial killers, you need to steer clear of this book. There are some disturbing things that are described (although most of that comes from the reader's imagination, not the extensive descriptions!). The author does a great job with really drawing you into the story and making you feel the emotions of the characters.

Parts of the story are predictable, but there is enough intrigue to make the reader want to hurry to reach the end and see what happens. The narrator does a great job and added a lot to my listening enjoyment. He varies his voices enough to let you know who is talking and his depiction of women is well done, not annoying like some narrators.

I was given the opportunity to listen to the Audible version of this book by the author/publisher/narrator and chose to review it.