This Is Why We Lied Review

Author: Karin Slaughter

Series: Will Trent #12

Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: Aug. 20, 2024

Many thanks to the publisher for an arc of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

Watch for my interview with Author Karin Slaughter coming soon in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

The next thrilling suspense featuring Will Trent and Sara Linton from Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and After That Night!

Everyone here is a liar, but only one of us is a killer…

Review:

As fans of the critically acclaimed Will Trent television series celebrate news of the show's renewal for another season, Author Karin Slaughter prepares for the August release of THIS IS WHY WE LIED, Will Trent book #12, a locked room style murder mystery that derails the idyllic honeymoon Will Trent planned for his bride Sara Linton. As in previous series books, the subject matter is dark, disturbing and brutally in-your-face honest highlighting the life shattering effects of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and child abuse on victims and their families. Isolate yourself in your own locked room with minimum interruptions before diving into this one as it's a cover-to-cover, break your heart, edge of your seat thriller.

GBI Investigator Will Trent and his new bride Medical Examiner Sara Linton tell a trivial lie to conceal their real occupations when signing in at the McAlpine Lodge as a honeymooning mechanic and chemistry teacher. Will surprised Sara with the remote getaway, hoping to celebrate their marriage by leaving work behind for long days and nights in each other's arms. The secluded location boasts breathtaking scenery, private cabins, a large scenic lake for fishing and swimming, and a luxurious lodge where guests gather for drinks and meals. When their first lodge dinner ends in an ugly, threatening family quarrel, Will second-guesses his choice of venues. His reservations prove true later that night when his romantic skinny-dipping outing with Sara is shattered by a bloodcurdling scream, sending them scrambling to find a woman succumbing from fatal wounds. Will and Sara are sickened by the lack of grief exhibited for the victim and concerned when they discover each family member, as well as several guests, has a motive for wanting the victim dead. As ties to the outside world are severed by a raging storm, Will manages to send an SOS to Amanda receiving a reply indicating Faith and Amanda are on the way. Will they arrive in time to stop a psychotic killer before he/she strikes again?

THIS IS WHY WE LIED unfolds through the dual points of view from Will and Sara with Mercy's point of view and backstory revealed via journal entries written to her son over the years chronicling her mental and physical abuse as well as the resentment festering within her toxic family. Slaughter doesn't sugar coat anything as she expertly manipulates characters and readers through a complex, twisted plot line with the remote setting and fury of Mother Nature playing a key role in creating havoc while setting the stage for a highly volatile, locked room situation where every stranded character on the mountain is a viable suspect. An ill-fated, malignant tone saturates the air driving a frenzied pace through a minefield of shocking revelations waiting to detonate. While my suspicions on the identity of the killer proved true, reasons surrounding the savage stabbing left me reeling and heartsick. Warning triggers include domestic violence, addiction, child abuse, rape and incest with each one professionally managed within the context of the story by Author Karin Slaughter. The darkness is lightened with evidence of the power of love and trust to heal and reform woven throughout. Fans of the series will love seeing Will surrender to his love for Sara and enjoy the interaction between Will and his boss Amanda with comic relief provided by Faith's inner monologue soothing the heavy load.

THIS IS WHY WE LIED has it all. A secluded setting with a raging storm. A hate fueled murder. A malevolent, dysfunctional family. Eight conspiratorial guests. A race against time to unmask a deranged villain. Everyone has a reason why they lied in this gritty thriller by the queen of psychological thrillers. It’s up to readers and Will to sift through all the lies and red herrings to deduce which liar is also a killer. Intense, gripping, gutsy, multilayered and highly emotional, THIS IS WHY WE LIED is Karin Slaughter at her best. Highly recommended to fans of the series and all readers who enjoy a fast-paced, dark suspense thriller.

 Synopsis:

A secluded cabin retreat

For GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, McAlpine Lodge seems like the ideal getaway to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-the-grid mountaintop property, it’s the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night.

A murderer in their midst

Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the McAlpine family and the other guests, they realize that everyone here is lying….Lying about their past. Lying to their family. Lying to themselves.

Who killed Mercy McAlpine?

It soon becomes clear that normal rules don’t apply at McAlpine Lodge, and Will and Sara are going to have to watch their step at every turn. Trapped on the resort, they must untangle a decades-old web of secrets to discover what happened to Mercy. And with the killer poised to strike again, the trip of a lifetime becomes a race against the clock…

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby Review

Author: Ellery Lloyd

Publisher: MacMillan Publ.

Release Date: June 11, 2024

Many thanks to The Big Thrill Magazine and author for an arc of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review first published in The Big Thrill Magazine

Some women can’t be erased from history...

Review:

THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY is the third book from Ellery Lloyd, a pseudonym for the London-based husband-and-wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. A compelling conflation of several genres including mystery, suspense, romance, and history with hints of mythology woven throughout, the story catapults readers back in time to find themselves entwined in a dark, century old family drama steeped in ugly secrets, manic obsession, and revenge. Readers are challenged with determining if the answers to three mysterious deaths are hidden in a once lost painting by deceased surrealist artist Juliette Willoughby.

THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY is an epic, richly atmospheric, often sordid, dark family saga spanning more than a decade. The story unfolds through dual points of view beginning with the tragic love affair between surrealist artists Juliette Willoughby and her married lover, Oskar Erlich, who perish in a suspicious fire in 1938 Paris. The couple's story surfaces again in 1991 Cambridge when two university students in possession of Juliette's diary and long-lost painting, "Self-Portrait As Spinx", raise significant questions concerning the death of Juliette that threatens to divulge long buried secrets of the famous Willoughby family. The story continues in the current time with a scandal surrounding the arrest of art dealer Patrick Lambert for the murder of the last remaining descendant of the Willoughby family in Dubai.

Flawlessly executed through brilliant characterizations, THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY accentuates the fascinating world of historical art and women's struggle for recognition within it, a sordid illicit love affair, a highly dysfunctional family drama, and an intriguing murder and missing person mystery. The duo's mesmerizing writing style draws readers in, holding them in the palm of their hands until the final page. This book is a highly entertaining, fast paced, scandalous murder mystery I recommend to art history buffs, and mystery and suspense readers.

Synopsis:

A story of love and madness, of obsession and revenge.

Paris, 1938: Runaway heiress Juliette Willoughby perishes, with her married lover, in an accidental studio fire alongside her Surrealist masterpiece, Self-Portrait as Sphinx.

Cambridge, 1991: Two art history students stumble across proof something sinister was at play in Juliette's death, threatening to expose the long-buried secrets of the artist's aristocratic family.

Dubai, now: An art dealer is accused of the brutal murder of his oldest friend – the last surviving member of the Willoughby dynasty.

Three suspicious deaths over the course of a century.

Is the key to unlocking them all hidden in Juliette Willoughby’s lost painting?

THE BURNING ROOMS Review

Author: Anni Taylor

Series: Tallman's Valley Detectives #4

Expected Release Date: June 30, 2024

Many thanks to Author Anni Taylor for an arc of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

First reviewed in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

4 Chilling Hearts

A serial arsonist with a burning desire...

Review:

THE BURNING ROOMS is the fourth book in the Tallman's Valley Detectives series by Australian Author Anni Taylor. I was first introduced to this author's work when I read ONE LAST CHILD, the first book in this suspense series, and was immediately drawn to the author's expertise in setting a steadily increasing dire tone of impending doom that kept me on the edge of my seat. Taylor has crafted the same sense of urgency, complex characters and emotional turmoil in THE BURNING ROOMS. While each book in this series stands alone, I advise reading the previous books for an evening of entertaining reading.

Javier and Nicole Garcia are having a celebratory anniversary dinner at a nice restaurant when a creepy phone call sends them rushing home to find their house burning down - presumably with their children inside. Without any thought of their own safety, they rush inside and find themselves trapped by the fire. By the time their friend, Detective Franco, arrives on scene, the only person he can save is their young son. After the ashes cool, Javier and Nicole's bodies are recovered but there's no trace of the remains of their teenage daughter Sienna who was babysitting her young brother. Deeply disturbed by the devastating experience and the haunting flashback to a similar fire over a decade earlier, Det. Franco vows to find the arsonist he suspects has done this before - despite the fire being ruled accidental. Calling on his ex-homicide partner Kate Wakefield, Franco begins a frantic search for the missing girl and a serial arsonist. His superiors believe he's losing it and close to a breakdown, but Kate was also at the scene of the earlier fire and agrees Franco may be on to something.  Can they unmask a murderer and arsonist before he strikes again? Where is Sienna? Is she hiding . . . or in danger?

THE BURNING ROOMS is a tense, action-packed thriller that had me burning through pages searching for answers. Taylor expertly sets a dark tone of desperation early on that drives the increasing pace throughout until the final shocking reveal. Multiple points of view, including one from "the Incinerator", gives readers insight into the minds and motivation of various players, and yet the identity of the arsonist remains a mystery until the end. With a large cast of red herrings, the author does a clever job of misdirection challenging Kate and Franco, as well as readers, to sift through the evidence and unmask a villain. Taylor's attention to minute details is evident as she meticulously builds suspense through twists and turns as is her gift for manipulating and developing strong characters. Fans of previous books will enjoy seeing Kate in action again.

THE BURNING ROOMS is a raw, emotional, suspenseful story that's impossible to put down. Once again, Author Anni Taylor has rendered a mesmerizing story rich in suspense and place. Highly recommended to fans of mysteries and suspense thrillers and especially to fans of the Tallman's Valley Detectives Series.

 Synopsis:

In a country town, a serial arsonist is burning homes down. Their signature move is to place an identical model house on the front porch before they start the blaze. But no one is there to witness this in the silence of each dark winter night.

Javier and Nicole Garcia are celebrating their anniversary at a restaurant when they receive a chilling phone call – a recorded children's verse warning them their house is on fire and their children gone. They race home to an inferno and missing children, unaware the blaze is about to take their lives.

Detective Jace Franco is first on the scene and is confronted by something that will haunt him – a matching model house on the front porch. He sighted exactly the same thing thirteen years ago, at a house fire that claimed the lives of a whole family.

Franco's team and superiors think he's close to a psychotic break as he launches a relentless investigation. The fire has been judged accidental and the Garcia couple were Franco's good friends.

There is just one other person who saw what Franco did at the house fire of thirteen years ago – his former homicide partner, Kate Wakeland.

Can he convince her to return for this one last case?

(This story happens 3 ½ years after the last Tallman's Valley book, The Silent Town..)

This Summer Will Be Different Review & Book Tour

Author: Carly Fortune

Publisher: Berkley Publishing

Release Date: May 7, 2024

Special thanks to Berkley Publ. for an arc and book tour invitation! All opinions expressed are my own. #BerkleyPartner

5 Beautiful Hearts

This summer they’ll keep their promise. This summer they won’t give into temptation. This summer will be different.

Review:

THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT is a perfect summer read. Think vacation, beaches, best friends, long days frolicking in the sun . . . and steamy nights with the local hot guy you'll never see again. Think about finding out that local hot guy you spent the best night of your life with is your best friend's younger brother. The one she explicitly warned you not to fall in love with.  Oops! Too late.

I love a good best friend's younger brother romance story, and THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT is the best one I've read in a long time.  Lucy and Bridget are long time best friends. Each summer, Bridget invites Lucy to her family's beach home in Prince Edward's Island. The one-year Lucy arrives before Bridget, she has a one-nightstand with a local guy who rocks her world while threatening to wreck her heart. Imagine Lucy's shock when she realizes that guy is Bridget's brother. The chemistry is insane, the emotional connection real, but the one thing Lucy will not risk is her friendship with Bridget.  And so Lucy and Felix vow to be friends and only friends . . . and they break that promise once a year when Lucy visits Bridget. As years pass, Lucy and Felix's feelings grow as they struggle with the guilt both feel over keeping secrets from Bridget . . . until the summer one unforeseen event forces everyone's hand.

Carley Fortune has crafted a sweet, heartfelt, love story in THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT. She has an obvious gift for rendering real characters with depth that readers have empathy for. While the trope has been done many times before, Fortune draws readers into the setting with vivid descriptions of Prince Edwards Island that engages all the senses and feels.  I love that the romance develops and matures slowly over the years until it consumes them, refusing to be denied any longer. The sense of family, both by blood and found, and friends is strong throughout and highly relatable.  As much as I loved the relationship between Lucy and Felix, the love, respect and sisterly affection between Lucy and Bridget makes the story.

THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT is different and highly entertaining. The emotional turmoil is real, the chemistry sizzling and the friendship beautiful.  Highly recommended to fans of romance and a great forbidden love, best friend's sibling stories.

Synopsis:

Lucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. The only problem: Lucy doesn’t know he’s her best friend’s younger brother. Lucy and Felix’s chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again.

It’s easier said than done.

Each year, Lucy escapes to PEI for a big breath of coastal air, fresh oysters and crisp vinho verde with her best friend, Bridget. Every visit begins with a long walk on the beach, beneath soaring red cliffs and a golden sun. And every visit, Lucy promises herself she won’t wind up in Felix’s bed. Again.

If Lucy can’t help being drawn to Felix, at least she’s always kept her heart out of it.

When Bridget suddenly flees Toronto a week before her wedding, Lucy drops everything to follow her to the island. Her mission is to help Bridget through her crisis and resist the one man she’s never been able to. But Felix’s sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, and Lucy’s beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is.

Mind Games Review

Author: Nora Roberts

Publisher: St. Martins Press

Release Date: May 21, 2024

Many thanks to St. Martins Press for an arc. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Identity presents a suspenseful new novel of tragedy and trauma, love and family, and the evil that awaits.

Review:

MIND GAMES is an intriguing smorgasbord of suspense and romance with a side of supernatural served up via Author Nora Roberts's signature style. A multi-layered, character driven story with a strong yet vulnerable protagonist, MIND GAMES pits good vs. evil in an epic battle of the minds between two individuals with the gift of sight.

Twelve-year-old Thea Fox and her younger brother Rem are excited to be spending two weeks of their summer vacation with their maternal grandma Lucy on her idyllic farm in Appalachia, Kentucky. Unfortunately, their happiness is shattered when tragedy strikes during a home invasion in which their parents are brutally murdered back in Virginia . . . An attack both Thea and Lucy witness in horrifying graphic color in their nightmares. Thea inherited her psychic gift of sight from her grandmother as it's been passed down through generations of women in the family. Thea's powers of sight surpass those of her grandmother's, and it's her detailed description of the killer and his subsequent actions that aids authorities in locating, capturing and locking him away for life. Over time, Thea realizes the killer can also "see" her, and a mental battle of the minds begins between them.

Like several of Roberts's books, MIND GAMES unfolds in parts beginning with Thea Fox's early formative years starting at age twelve and continuing over a span of fifteen years into adulthood. Over the course of the story, readers get a sense of the love, respect, kindness, and tradition in which Thea and Rem thrive, growing into productive, caring adults with a keen sense of family. Over the years, Thea continues perfecting her gift of sight while utilizing her abilities to keep an eye on her parents' killer locked away in prison. She's careful, or so she thinks, to never let him "see" her watching him, but as she soon learns his powers are growing also, and he taunts and threatens her while stalking her nightmares. There's no doubt a confrontation is coming. Will she survive the challenge?

MIND GAMES is an emotional story that evolves slowly over time. Roberts gift for crafting heartfelt, emotional family sagas is highlighted as is her talent for rendering characters with deep family roots and tradition. Some readers may find the development of this story a bit slow as the author takes time to introduce the characters and set the stage for the coming battle while building tension. While the pace is slow, there's an escalating undertone of malice lurking that builds to the final showdown and epic battle of the minds. For those looking for romance, a love interest appears in the second half of the book with a relationship developing slowly, but for the most part MIND GAMES is a family drama about a girl who grows up learning to accept and embrace a unique gift while yielding it in ways to help not harm her fellow man. It's a showdown of good vs. evil reminiscent of the epic battle at the O.K. Corral, but with weapons of the mind not guns. It's another Nora Roberts classic in the making. Highly recommended to fans of Roberts and romance suspense as well as those who enjoy stories featuring protagonists with psychic gifts.

Synopsis:

As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb.

Back in Kentucky, Thea and her grandmother Lucy both awaken from the same nightmare. And though the two have never discussed the special kind of sight they share, they know as soon as their tearful eyes meet that something terrible has happened.

The kids will be staying with Grammie now in Redbud Hollow, and thanks to Thea’s vision, their parents’ killer will spend his life in supermax. Over time, Thea will make friends, build a career, find love. But that ability to see into minds and souls still lurks within her, and though Grammie calls it a gift, it feels more like a curse―because the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability. Thea can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away. He knows it, and hungers for vengeance. A long, silent battle will be waged between them―and eventually bring them face to face, and head to head…

The Five Year Lie Review

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Release Date: May 14, 2024

Many thanks to Harper Perennial for an arc of this title. All opinions expressed are my own. #oliveinfluencer

Review published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

For fans of Laura Dave and Julie Clark, but with a heart-stopping romance that only Sarina Bowen can execute, The Five Year Lie is a page-turning, spine-tingling thriller that will have you guessing until the very end.

Review:

When I first heard Author Sarina Bowen was releasing a domestic thriller, I knew I had to read it as I've enjoyed several of her contemporary romance titles, especially the True North series. THE FIVE YEAR LIE kicks off with a captivating, heart stopping prologue designed to grab readers' attention while enticing them into shutting off their phones, setting aside all snacks and drinks and settling in for the duration so plan accordingly. You don't want any distractions once starting this mysterious story.

Ariel Cafferty is a single mother living in her mother's guesthouse while pursuing her passion of glassmaking and putting in required appearances at the family business, the Chime Co. Five years prior, the man Ariel loved ghosted her - disappearing without a trace unaware she was carrying his child. Years later, she reads his obituary in a newspaper, effectively closing that chapter of her life. Drew was a programmer with her family's cybersecurity company, secretly exploring suspicions of fraudulent activity when he left. In the present, Ariel is sitting in a business meeting when a disturbing text pings her phone - a text that rocks her to the core. A text from a dead man asking her to meet him immediately. Is this a cruel hoax or is Drew alive? Needing answers, Ariel goes to the meeting spot, but no one shows. Confused and unsettled, Ariel begins digging into the past, looking for answers about what really happened to Drew. What she uncovers alarms her, leaving her wondering if she ever really knew the man she loved at all and quite certain that someone has been lying to her all along. Pushing ahead, it's soon obvious someone doesn't want the truth to surface. Can Ariel solve the mystery of what happened to Drew before the same danger claims her and her son?

Through concise, alternating chapters of past and present, a chilling story of deceit, secrets, and family drama emerges in THE FIVE YEAR LIE. The past becomes known via Drew's point of view, and readers are apprised of present events through Ariel's point of view. The transition is seamless and highly engaging. A sinister tone drives the plot forward at a steadily increasing pace with mini shockers keeping characters and readers on their toes as they work to unravel a mystery. Bowen does an excellent job of incorporating the dangers posed to careless, unsuspecting victims of technology and cyber security schemes into a riveting plot line that's relevant today. Long time readers of her work will appreciate the well-developed, relatable characters like those everyone loves from her contemporary romance stories.

THE FIVE YEAR LIE is a riveting, thought provoking suspense thriller that blends an engaging mystery with a light side of romance. Readers and characters are challenged with solving a mystery while considering the many ramifications and ethical questions involving technology in today's world. Author Sarina Bowen successfully makes the transition to suspense with an immersive, chilling thriller that will keep readers on alert from start to finish. Highly recommended to fans of good mysteries and engaging romance suspense.

Synopsis:

Dead men don’t send texts…

On an ordinary Monday morning, Ariel Cafferty's phone buzzes with a disturbing text message. Something’s happened. I need to see you. Meet me under the candelabra tree ASAP. The words would be jarring from anyone, but the sender is the only man she ever loved. And it's been several years since she learned he died.

Seeing Drew’s name pop up is heart-stopping. Ariel’s gut says it can’t be real. But she goes to the tree anyway. She has to.

Nobody shows. But the text upends everything she thought she knew about the day he left her. The more questions she asks, the more sinister the answers get. Only two things are clear: everything she was told five years ago is wrong, and someone is still lying to her.

The truth has to be out there somewhere. To safeguard herself—and her son—she’ll have to find it before it finds her. And with it, the answer to what became of Drew.

THE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER Review

Author: Nicola Solvinic

Publisher: Berkley Publishing

Release Date: May 14, 2024

Many thanks to Berkley Pub. for a copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

Interview published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

A hypnotic, sinister debut mystery about a seemingly good cop who is secretly the daughter of a notorious serial killer.

Review:

THE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER by Author Nicola Solvinic is a chilling, highly addictive debut that gave me serious goose bumps. There's a supernatural element with an air of malice lurking that saturates the pages of this story, leaving readers jumping at night sounds. I burned through this book with trepidation over what would happen next, afraid to continue but unable to stop. You'll want to settle in with the lights on to read this one!

As a young child, Elena loves nothing more than spending long days meandering through the forest with her beloved father Steven Theron, listening to him speak of spirits, fairies and the Forest God. Despite her mother's disapproval, her days are idyllic until the day she ventures out alone and stumbles across a horrific discovery. Severely traumatized, Elena’s memories are repressed, and she grows up to be Anna Koray, a respected police officer where no one knows she's the daughter of the notorious Forest Strangler.

Lt. Anna Koray is off duty when she arrives at the scene of a domestic dispute. Things quickly go south when she inadvertently comes in contact with PCP and is forced to shoot the domestic perpetrator in the line of duty. Awakening in the hospital, Anna is disoriented and suffering hallucinations. She's assured it's her exposure to the PCP, but as more of her dark memories surface, Anna's left fearing the unknown. When a young woman's body is discovered in the same manner as her father's victims, rumors of a copycat serial killer arise. Anna panics when she starts getting cryptic notes claiming to "know who she really is", leaving her to wonder what she does during periods of blackouts. One thing is clear. Someone is killing young, blonde women again. Is it a copycat serial killer? Did her father somehow escape execution? Or has the darkness brewing inside her surfaced? Anna needs answers and to get them, she must unmask a killer. Even if it destroys her world.

Author Nicola Solvinic has rendered a mesmerizing tale that's impossible to put down in THE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER. Anna is a unique, conflicted character that struggles to separate fact from myth. As a respected police officer, she strives to do the right thing, but as the traumatized daughter with the genes of a serial killer father in her veins, she's lost in a world of smoke and mirrors. Slovinic does an amazing job of drawing attention to the long-term psychological effects of trauma on fragile minds as she explores the issue of nature vs. nurture. She flawlessly weaves the supernatural aspects of this story with forensic science. The imagery is brilliant creating a highly visual, tingle all the senses setting. Characters are as real as they are illusive, charging readers with sifting through all the hidden clues and red herrings to follow the breadcrumbs through twists and turns before arriving at the epic climax. While I had an inkling about what was happening that proved to be true in the end, it in no way lessened the dramatic impact of experiencing this stunning story.

THE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER is a raw, gritty, all-consuming psychological thriller that is masterfully rendered - a unique jewel in the genre. Author Nicola Slovinic's skill is evident as she expertly manipulates characters and readers and monsters through a tunnel of darkness to emerge at the end. Themes of good vs. evil, nature vs. nurture and the aftereffects of trauma are managed with skill and grace. Highly recommended to fans of mysteries, suspense and thrillers.

 Synopsis:

Anna Koray escaped her father’s darkness long ago. When she was a girl, her childhood memories were sealed away from her conscious mind by a controversial hypnosis treatment. She’s now a decorated sheriff’s lieutenant serving a rural county, conducting an ordinary life far from her father’s shadow.

When Anna kills a man in the line of duty, her suppressed memories return. She dreams of her beloved father, his hands red with blood, surrounded by flower-decked corpses he had sacrificed to the god of the forest.

To Anna’s horror, a serial killer emerges who is copying her father – and who knows who she really is. Is her father still alive, or is this the work of another? Will the killer expose her, destroying everything she has built for herself? Does she want him to?

But as she haunts the forest, using her father’s tricks to the hunt the killer, will she find what she needs most…or lose herself in the gathering darkness?