Monday, June 20, 2022

Paper: "Look For Her" by Emily Winslow

 Paper: Look For Her by Emily Winslow, 2018, 9780062572585.

Modern day mystery with long unsolved murder. I think I read a blurb online. I enjoyed the novel.

Set in England. A far north exurb of London. In the mid-'70s a teen girl went missing. Teen Girl was the press's missing-girl-of-the-moment. Her first name, Annalise, was the only word needed to refer to the entire case. 30 years later her name is still all that is needed in the village of Lilling. Her body was found after 20 years, but not her killer.

Things happen. Multiple narrators. A university psychologist/counselor sees a patient who thinks she is Annalise's long hidden illegitimate child. Another patient, much younger, claims to be from Lilling and named after Annalise. The older woman is found dead.

The younger woman seems to be ingratiating herself into the psychologist's personal life. Two cops from previous novels in the series are coming back to work after parental leave and a bad hand injury. They are further investigating the cold case of Annalise after DNA on the body's clothing is discovered and identified.

Things happen. Twists turn. Narrattion moves back and forth. Winslow provides excellent little insights - short paragraphs, even a short sentence - that explain and describe the characters' thoughts and motivations.

All ends well after some murders, survivor trauma, guilt of action and inaction, a grieving parent.

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Paperback: "Dead Harvest" by Chris F. Holm

 Paperback: Dead Harvest by Chris F. Holm, 2012, 9780857662187.

Fantastic cover art. ran across Holm online and tried this one out. First of a paranormal character solving crime.

Sam Thornton committed murder in 1944 and was taken by a Collector. Sam is now a collector and collects souls of people who are to be killed for their acts of general badness and murder and then sent to hell. (Yeah. It does make you wonder why Dick Cheney, Kissinger, Putin, Kim Jong-Un and several thousand other people would still be alive.)

Sam is sent to collect a teenager who murdered who family. Sam reaches into her chest, grabs her soul, and knows she did not kill anyone. Sam is determined to stop her from collection. Things happen. Sam inhabits living or dead people. Holm builds his own world with rules on collection, demons, angels, etc. 

  • Enjoyable and too long. 
  • The dialog was weak in spots. There was not a lot of differentiation among the characters. 
  • Similar vibe to Charlie Huston's HENRY "HANK" THOMPSON series.
  • Two more in series and they are available from the library. I may give the second one a try but this did not click too well with me. His more recent thrillers sound more interesting to me.