Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Fatal Pattern by Kate Angelo

FATAL PATTERN

by Kate Angelo

September 14 – 25, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for FATAL PATTERN (The King Legacy Book #2) by Kate Angelo on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, and excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

A COVERT INVESTIGATION

A stalker attacks behavioral analyst Dr. Tori Crew at knifepoint, shattering the fierce independence she’s built since her parents’ unsolved murder. Forced into an off-the-books criminal investigation, Tori must push her expertise–and her fiercely guarded heart–to the breaking point as a killer’s pattern emerges.

A LOOMING THREAT

Homicide detective Blade St. James has been Tori’s friend and protector since childhood. Haunted by his own past of parental abandonment, Blade is determined to build a stable life and find the peace that always seems just out of reach. But when Tori’s life is threatened, his guardian reflexes collide with everything he’s been trying to build.

A HIDDEN MENACE

As the conspiracy rooted in Tori’s past pulls them deeper, the boundaries of their friendship blur, and the truth neither can deny becomes impossible to ignore. Can they unmask the sophisticated serial killer before they become the final, fatal piece in the pattern?

In this gripping romantic suspense thriller, Kate Angelo delivers pulse-pounding psychological suspense and forensic investigations threaded with slow-burn romance and a heart-stopping cold case.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249031857-fatal-pattern?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2DSXG553wU&rank=1

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

FATAL PATTERN (The King Legacy Book #2) by Kate Angelo is a fast-paced, emotional roller coaster of a Christian romantic suspense that delivers more answers tied to the over-arching criminal conspiracy plot from The King Legacy book #1, Girl Lost, and a new romance between two members of the previously introduced group of friends. I recommend reading book one first because of the large amount of crossover between the two books.

Dr, Tori Crew has a stalker. Detective Blade St. James has been Tori’s protector since childhood when they were taken into Stryker’s Warriors program for troubled and or delinquent children. As the stalker escalates, Tori and Blade receive information that this may all tie back to Tori’s childhood and the murder of her parents.

The conspiracy is even deeper than they imagined. Her parent’s deaths are leading them to clues that grow into a serial killer investigation and conspiracy in local law enforcement agencies that tie into organ harvesting which almost got their friends killed previously. But who can they trust, and will their discoveries lead them to the killer or their own deaths?

This second book in The King Legacy series is full of surprises and twists. The characters and the over-arching suspense plot from book one around a criminal conspiracy involved in organ harvesting keeps the plot moving with an ever-increasing sense of dread and peril. The killer’s fascination with fractals made an interesting, and to me, unique plot point. Both Tori and Blade had not only a serious investigation to solve but also had to face many of their childhood traumas to move forward and move from friendship to couple. The romance is a slow-burn romance with no sex scenes due to this being a Christian romantic suspense. The author ties the scripture verse in the preface of the story to the denouement perfectly and does not make the reader feel as if they are being preached at throughout the story. There are still more questions to be answered, and I look forward to reading more books in this series.

I highly recommend this thrilling Christian romantic suspense addition to The King Legacy series.

***

Excerpt

THE COLD EDGE OF THE BLADE kissed Tori Crew’s throat, drawing a rivulet of blood that began its descent down her neck. “Don’t move.” The whisper brushed against her ear. Tori tasted bile at the back of her throat, and for one horrifying moment, she thought she might throw up. Her pulse thumped against the knife pressed to her carotid. Each beat reverberated through the steel and deep into her bones.

The parking lot at the Kingdom MMA Gym stretched dark and empty around her. It was her stupid idea to meet at 4:30 a.m., and now here she was all alone. No witnesses. No help.

Stryker should be here. Setting up folding chairs in a circle near the boxing ring, brewing that industrial- strength coffee that could wake the dead, preparing for morning Bible study with the kids who lived in the residential program.

But Stryker wasn’t coming.

Stryker lay unconscious in a hospital bed, his salt-and-pepper hair loose around his pale face instead of tied back the way he always wore it. Some lunatic had tried to kill her mentor. One of the greatest men she’d ever known, and now—

The blade pressed deeper. “I said don’t move.”

Her knees wanted to buckle, but she locked them straight. Stryker had taught her that. Stay strong. Stay focused. The fighter in her knew what to do. Elbow to solar plexus. Heel to instep. Grab the wrist. Twist. Three seconds and he’d be on the ground. But he had the knife pressed just right. She couldn’t make a move without him slicing through a major artery. One wrong angle, and she’d bleed out before she hit the pavement. She forced her breathing to slow. Fought the adrenaline that wanted to flood her system and make her do something stupid. Assess. Analyze. Act.

The mantra from Krav Maga training steadied her racing thoughts. Observe first. Plan the attack. Strike when the odds shifted.

“You’re bleeding.” His breath was hot against her neck. “I’ve always liked the color of blood.”

She cataloged details. Male. Less than six feet tall, based on the angle of the knife. Maybe 5′9″. Right-handed. Gloves. No discern able accent. No alcohol on his breath. Not impulsive. Calculated. Educated.

He drew in a breath. “Such a pretty shade of red, don’t you think?”

“Who . . . who are you?” She worked to keep her voice steady despite the tremors threatening to overtake her body. “I’m the one who watches. I’m your . . . shadow. A part of you.” His free hand clamped around her chest, crushing her arms against her ribs. The blade pressed deeper, stealing her breath. “You’ve been busy. Two new cases, six trips to the gym, and you changed your coffee order to vanilla instead of caramel.”

Her stalker. The one who’d been leaving notes on her car. The one who’d been calling and hanging up. The one the police wouldn’t pursue because the “non- violent harassment” apparently didn’t meet the threshold for a credible threat.

He’d been watching everything.

Her stomach twisted, not with fear— she could handle fear—

but with fury. “You think that makes you powerful? It makes you pathetic.”

The knife pressed deeper. Not enough to do serious damage, but enough to elicit another drop of blood. His gloved finger caught the droplet sliding down her neck, then traced it back up to the wound.

“Ah. We mustn’t lose too much. Not yet.”

She analyzed his posture. The way he held the knife. How his chest rose and fell against her back. “What do you want?” “To show you that I can kill you anytime I want.” His laugh was soft, almost tender. “This is just the beginning, Dr. Crew. I’m not done toying with you yet.”

Fight instinct coiled through her muscles, but her mind weighed the odds again and overrode them. Information. Get information. Every criminal had a pattern, a motivation. Understanding him meant catching him. And catching him meant ending this night mare.

She strained her eyes to the right, trying to catch even a sliver of his face in her peripheral vision. “Why me?”

“Because you think you understand the darkness,” he said. “But you don’t. Not like I do.”

A pair of headlights sliced through the blackness, white light stabbing her retinas. The blade lifted from her throat. She spun, fist cocked for a power jab at his face, but she only struck air. Gone. The coward had melted into the shadows along the wall, black clothing swallowed by the darkness as he disap peared into the alley beyond. Her chance—blown. She could have ended this right here, right now. Could have put him down and dragged answers out of him. Instead, she was standing here bleeding while he slipped away like the roach he was.

A car screeched to a halt beside her. The driver’s door flew open. Detective Blade St. James erupted from his unmarked Charger with his hand on his holstered weapon. “Tori? You okay?” Her fingers went to her throat and came away sticky with blood. She stared at the crimson smear. A savage anger bubbled up inside her chest. He’d touched her. Cut her. And vanished like smoke.

“What the—” Blade’s eyes widened at her blood- slick fingertips. “You’re bleeding.”

“It’s just a scratch.” Her knees felt shaky. She’d had every skill and training to handle situations exactly like this, and she’d let the stalker get the drop on her.

“What happened? Who was that?”

“My stalker.” She pressed the cut to stem the bleeding. “Stalker?” His voice rose in disbelief. “What stalker? Since when do you have a stalker?”

“Three weeks, give or take.” A crimson droplet had dropped on her knuckle. Perfect. Round. Like a bead of glass. “I’ve always liked the color of blood.”

Ice slid through her veins.

“And you didn’t think to mention this?” Blade had his phone out. “We need to call this in. Get you to a hospital.” “No.” She caught his wrist. “The locals are aware, but you know stalker cases. Nothing they can do.”

“Tori, he had a knife to your throat.” His voice ticked up. “That’s attempted murder.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple. Let’s do this right. Get an officer out here. Take your statement, photos, dust for prints, canvass witnesses—” “There are no witnesses at four thirty in the morning!” She swept her arm toward the deserted street and empty parking lot. “And he wore gloves, so no prints. We’ve got nothing.” “All the more reason to report it. You say this guy’s been watch ing you for weeks, and now he’s crossed the line to physical assault. He’s escalating.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She dropped her hand from the cut and stormed over to Blade’s car.

***

Author Bio

Kate Angelo is the Publishers Weekly bestselling author of Hunting the Witness, Selah Award winner of Deadly Holiday Hijack, and Amazon Top 100 bestseller of Driving Force. Kate works alongside her husband championing stronger marriages and families. Her journey from foster care to bestselling author fuels her fast-paced romantic suspense, where flawed characters discover hope and healing through life’s fiercest trials and relationships. When she’s not putting fictional people through the wringer, she’s out creating real-life happily-ever-afters at conferences and events nationwide.

Social Media Links

KateAngelo.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads – @kateangeloauthor
BookBub – @kateangeloauthor
Instagram – @kateangeloauthor
Facebook – Kate Angelo- Author

Purchase Links