#review copy
Rating: ★★★★★
Brilliant.
Twenty years ago the Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women before seemingly going underground. Now, he’s back.
Detective Annalise Vega lost someone she loved to this killer twenty years ago, and now she has the chance to solve the case once and for all. Starting with the recent murder of Grace Harper, who may have discovered something incriminating that no one else knew.
The best part of Joanna Schaffhausen’s writing, is her characterization. Right from the introduction Annalise comes across as a well-rounded character with both positive and negative traits, and she’s very self aware. You become suspicious of every new character but she’s able to endear some of them to you so that you hope it isn’t them.
This book was a great police procedural and was so fun for me to figure out, and I was pleased to get it all except for one detail that even slipped by me! This was an enjoyable read and this book definitely got me out of a reading slump.
Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, and Joanna Schaffhausen for the opportunity to read this review copy.
Saylor Rains
Find me and this review on Goodreads.
Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: August 20th, 2020
Jim is a department store security guard with an unhappy marriage and a condescending boss younger than him. He used to be a member of the Gardaí. He also happens to secretly be The Nothing Man, Cork’s very own serial killer at large since his first assault occurred two decades ago in 1999.
In 2001, he commits his last known crime. The murder of almost all of the Black family. Now it’s eighteen years later and survivor Evelyn Black is back on his radar- and this time she’s coming for The Nothing Man.
With this book’s unique format we are seeing through Jim’s eyes as he discovers a newly released book titled The Nothing Man, named after his media-given moniker from all those years ago. We fall down the rabbit hole with him as he reads through Evelyn’s collection of interviews, reports, and memories.
Right from the beginning of this book Catherine Ryan Howard hooks you by drawing you into the mind of an easily angered, unhappy man. Her knowledge and care of the subject is obvious as you read about the progression of his crimes and the accuracy of an escalating killer. The attention to detail doesn’t stop there as she dazzles the reader further by giving us an example of the way trauma shapes a child’s mind. Howard keeps you hooked and doesn’t let you put this book down by using her ability to write something simultaneously terribly tragic and in the realm of possibility.
I’ve never read a book quite like this and the uniqueness alone made for an excellent read. The narrative rarely dragged and the characterization and behavior was true to the profile of the killer. One of my favorite parts of this is the way that Howard sends a message: the men who commit these acts are nothing and we shouldn’t be glorifying them. The emphasis on this is important today in this desensitized age when sometimes we need a reminder.
Thank you to Catherine Ryan Howard, Blackstone Publishing, and Edelweiss for this DRC in exchange for an honest review.
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Saylor Rains
Find me and this review on Goodreads.
