WRITER.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 stars

255 pages

Mystery, Thriller

Spoiler-Free section

This book is technically book 3 in a series focusing on Lily Kintner and Henry Kimball mysteries, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel.

In this story, a newlywed librarian named Martha is starting to believe her husband might be a serial killer. She had agreed to marry Alan more because it was comfortable than out of deep love, and in fact, he sometimes seems like a stranger to her. He’s a “plain even-tempered man who sometimes made no sense.”

First, she sees him practicing his expressions outside when he is getting ready to greet her. She thinks to herself that “Humans – real humans” do not practice smiling or their emotions. I disagree with this assessment, as I have several autistic friends who told me they have practiced expressions in the mirror in order to fit in better in social situations. So it can definitely be a neurodivergent thing, not a serial killer thing.

Second, she finds some blood on one of his shirts and questions him. Still, if my partner had blood on a shirt I would have suspected a scratch or something, not immediately jumped to murder.

But then after research she finds five unsolved murders, each at a location and time coinciding with the educational conferences her husband attended, selling his merch to teachers. (Merch made up of novelty items like a shirt that says “Math teachers aren’t mean. They’re above average!”)

She doesn’t want to confront him, because if she does her marriage will likely be over, whether he is or is not the killer. So she calls up an old friend from graduate school, Lily Kintner, who once got her out of a terrible relationship. She wants a second opinion from someone she knows to be intelligent and calculating.

I honestly didn’t understand how Martha came to the conclusion that her husband might be a killer. It all is conjecture based on very little evidence, and I can’t understand marrying someone I didn’t trust completely.

Oh, and I found one detail kind of funny. Martha decides to fire one of the volunteers at the library for talking too much to patrons, telling her they no longer need her services. I volunteer at a library as well and often am stressed beforehand because I don’t want to disappoint the librarians or make a mistake. My therapist and mother both said, well, you are a volunteer, so it’s not like they can fire you. So when I got to that part of the book I laughed.

Despite the fact that the book stretched belief and was somewhat predictable, I found it to be an enjoyable read. I wish it didn’t go into such detail in sections describing the mundane, but I admit that did up suspense by making me impatient.

Spoiler time!

I really liked Josie Nixon, the first point of view character. I don’t see a lot of good polyamorous rep, so I was pleased to see her healthy open relationship with Travis. They are not cheating because they are honest about their sexual exploits and they had agreed that they could have sex with other partners as long as they didn’t keep it a secret. I found it touching and sad that Travis insists she was murdered after her death because she wouldn’t have committed suicide.

I grew to like Martha, so I was quite devastated after her death by Ethan Saltz’s hands. Turns out her old ex was trying to ruin her life by making it look like Alan committed all those murders. It wasn’t particularly surprising with all of the heavy foreshadowing. Part of Ethan’s deal is that he wants to be known as a great serial killer when he gets older, and keeps a list in a hollowed out book – which is probably what the cover of this novel was depicting.

Ethan is a properly creepy antagonist. Back in graduate school, he called Martha his project and involved her in increasingly kinky roleplay that was obviously far beyond her comfort zone. When they had threesomes, he wanted her to actually hurt the third partner. He micro-manages her life and he seethes when Martha breaks up with him, seemingly using Lily’s words.

His first kill is his grandfather, who he asphyxiates. From then on, he makes each murder different and is careful to cover his tracks. Even his sister and brother hate him, because he was so sadistic and tried to ruin people’s lives.

Even though I don’t believe in curses, I have to admit that Martha does not have much luck when it comes to love. She believed in high school that a peer had put a love curse on her, and I wonder if that’s why she suspected Alan. Because having love she was comfortable with was too good to be true.

The twist that Alan had been the one to actually kill Josie Nixon was mildly surprising. I was a bit confused when someone appeared in his room much later and convinced him to jump off a balcony. I suspected it was Lily but had to look it up to be sure. I suppose that would be poetic justice.

The part titles are all taken from Anne Sexton poems – “Half winter, half spring,” “Listen to its throat,” and “Even the trees know it.” I haven’t read much by Anne Sexton, but now I am intrigued.

Overall, this book was quite the ride. Although it had some pretty predictable pit stops, the overall effect was intriguing.