352 pages - 14.99 $ (Kindle Edition)
In this 15th of July, The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier, a young author who has already made a it with her two books Creep and Freak, is out. I confess that I didn't know her but after reading some reviews that said she had a talent for creating monsters, I've been tempted.
Description
From the author of the acclaimed suspense novels Creep and Freak and whom Jeffery Deaver has praised as a “top of the line thriller writer,” The Butcher is a high-octane novel about lethal secrets that refuse to die—until they kill again.
A rash of grisly serial murders plagued Seattle until the infamous “Beacon Hill Butcher” was finally hunted down and killed by police chief Edward Shank in 1985. Now, some thirty years later, Shank, retired and widowed, is giving up his large rambling Victorian house to his grandson Matt, whom he helped raise.
Settling back into his childhood home and doing some renovations in the backyard to make the house feel like his own, Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him… Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands.
Meanwhile Matt’s girlfriend, Sam, has always suspected that her mother was murdered by the Beacon Hill Butcher—two years after the supposed Butcher was gunned down. As she pursues leads that will prove her right, Sam heads right into the path of Matt’s terrible secret.
A thriller with taut, fast-paced suspense, and twists around every corner, The Butcher will keep you guessing until the bitter, bloody end.
What's good about that book
The monster that Jennifer Hillier successfuly created. Even if you know quickly who the real butcher is, he nevertheless is very present in the story and he gives you shivers up and down your spine! Sam, who we want to warn to stop snooping so naively and to drop this selfish Matt. For Matt, the person whose ambition is paramount until the day his life changed (serves you right Matt!)
I also enjoyed the portrayal of the nursing home where Edward goes and the various relationships that are forged. Funnily enough, while appearing realistic. Assuming that this is a residence for wealthy and healthy, the fact that this is akin to a college brings a little levity in the book while making some murders even more cold and cruel.
It's true that the identity of the butcher is so unthinkable for the characters (because we know who he is quickly and without any doubt), that it's difficult to believe for them and that the conclusion can only take time to establish. However, the end may be a bit faster compared to the ramp-up. Even so, Hillier managed very well to make us feel some dread, whereas one can only witness murders perpetrated by a monster as cold and cynical as Hannibal Lecter can be.
The Butcher is a novel we read in one sitting, not to find the culprit but because we wonder where he will strike next time. We suspect some of the victims but we do not know when or how he will murder them. At the victims that can be guessed, adds other girls whose misfortune makes them meet the butcher (and ok, I prefer to tell because I know that some people don't want to read about it: there is some rapes). This is a stressful book where the dead accumulate and where the monster continues to become even more horrible by his coldness, his cynicism and his obvious lack of emotions.
In a nutshell
An Hannibal Lecter-like character, a series of murders to which we feel powerless, a good ramp-up, it's a 4/5 for me.
Warning: An e- galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review has been promised and chronic above is an unbiased review of the novel.
Warning: An e- galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review has been promised and chronic above is an unbiased review of the novel.
