A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
At sixteen, Anglea Wong, one of the most popular girls at school, disappeared. She left behind wonderful parents, and two best friends, Georgina Shaw and Kaiser Brody.
Fourteen years later, Angela's remains are found in the woods right near the house that Geo grew up in. Her father, a respected physician still lives in the family home. Nobody ever suspected that Geo, now an executive at a pharmaceutical company owned by her fiancé's family, had anything to do with Angela's disappearance.
Kaiser, now a detective with the Seattle PD, learns that Angela was a victim of Calvin James a.k.a. the "Sweetbay Strangler" who is also responsible for the murders of at least three other women. To Geo, Calvin James is something else—he's her first love. It was an instant attraction that grew into an intense, obsessive, and abusive relationship.
For the past fourteen years, Geo has carried the secret of what really happened to Angela until all comes to light with her arrest. Or is there more to the story? Geo is sent to prison while James has escaped from prison. Past and present collide when a string of copycat murders start happening. Did Geo set in motion a new chain of events or is she the missing piece to catch the killer?
This is my first book by Jennifer Hillier and I was super impressed! Her writing is sharp and the pages flew by. Hillier developed the characters enough to not be predictable or stereotypical (but I did want more from Kai).
Told by alternating points of view between Geo and Kai, past and present, this style really served the story well and helped lay the ground work.
Hillier does a great job with the pace of the story. She doesn't show her hand, she plays her cards one at a time and lets the story unfold naturally. Sometimes with this genre, I feel that plot twists are forced and I didn't get that sense here. Readers will be intrigued right off the bat when Calvin hands Geo a note in court that says "You're welcome," welcome for what?
The difference between four and five stars is for a couple of reasons. For a detective, Kai is incredibly daft. Is it because he was too close to the case? Actually he shouldn't have even been on this case—wouldn't this be a conflict of interest because he knows both the victim and the perpetrator? I guess you have to suspend your belief on that front. And it was a little too gruesome for me, but if dark and twisty is your bag, you will love it!. All-in-all this was an excellent read.
JENNIFER HILLIER writes about dark, twisted people who do dark, twisted things. Her novel, Jar of Hearts, was the Winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Hardcover Novel. Jennifer is also the author of Freak, The Butcher, Wonderland, and Creep.
Hillier was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and lived in the Seattle area for years before returning home to Toronto, where she now lives with her family.
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