A double murder in the past and now in the present day a family is held hostage and a police officer is haunted by his missing brother. Can Jack stay focussed on his policework and save the family?
Wolf is the 7th book in the Jack Caffery series but the first that I have read. I watched the TV adaptation last the summer and wanted to read the book too.
The book begins with a girl finding a dog in the woods but then goes back in time to show the Archer-Ferrers family as they make a sinister discovery in their garden and two police officers arrive. Meanwhile Jack has a new lead in his brother’s disappearance but he needs to locate the owner of a missing dog in order to find out more and get peace of mind.
I think the TV version had more of the wow factor as the twists were stunningly revealed and the baddies are vividly depicted. The book is more of a slow burn but the tension of the trapped family is highly dramatic. I preferred the Caffery plotline in the book as he is more focussed on the missing dog. The ending is terribly sad for Jack but I liked the conclusion for the house-based characters.
Wolf is dramatic and has a fabulous dark tension. I now want to catch up on the earlier books and see Jack’s character development over the series.
Book blurb
SHE’S LOCKED THE DOOR BUT THE KILLER’S INSIDE
I believe, from what I can hear, that either my daughter or my wife has just been attacked. I don’t know the outcome. The house is silent.
Fourteen years ago two teenage lovers were brutally murdered in a patch of remote woodland. The prime suspect confessed to the crimes and was imprisoned.
Now, one family is still trying to put the memory of the killings behind them. But at their isolated hilltop house . . . the nightmare is about to return.
May is caught stealing bread and is ready for any punishment. Except one that no one could have expected. She is branded as a sin eater, destined to eat the sins of the dying and dead so they can get to heaven. Her new role takes her to the court of Queen Bethany and uncovers a deadly plot…
The Sin Eater is a mix of history and fantasy. The characters are based on real life people from the sixteenth century, in particular the Tudor and Elizabethan courts.
There is a lot of darkness in this book as people repent their sins and try to atone for the past. There are big secrets as people confess: I liked the supernatural elements of the book and the hope this brings to the people. Alongside this are the secrets of the court that have been hidden for years and could bring down the queen.
Poor May is desperate and alone. Her new role brings her into contact with many people who despise her and I felt dreadfully sorry for her situation. There is plenty of mystery and danger as May negotiates her way through this alternate Tudor realm.
As you may know from many previous mentions on my blog, my degree is in history and I am addicted to the Tudors. The history depicted is very familiar to me and also credible but I like the fictional additions and fantasy embellishments. I felt immersed in the story and the history and geography have been well researched as well as expanded upon.
The Sin Eater was a curious mix of unique and familiar, full of life and death, hope and darkness.
Book blurb
For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.
Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.
Another week of the summer holiday and another day out with Mum and Dad. This time we went to the Rural Life Centre in Tilford. Me and the kids had been beforebut my parents hadn’t visited before. Matt was thrilled that the railway was running and that the ant nest was thriving.
A new arrival! Meet Poppy. Her sister died earlier this year and she has been lonely so I couldn’t resist inviting her to join our family 🙂
Laurel is struggling to move on with her life after the death of her daughter. Her marriage fell apart and her other children have grown up and moved out. She meets Floyd and feels a spark of attraction but his young daughter reminds her of her own lost child…
Then She Was Gone is a psychological thriller about the disappearance of a teenager and the impact it has had on her mother’s life.
The early part of the book shows Laurel as she grieves for her missing daughter. Ellie disappeared 10 years ago and Laurel’s life changed forever, every parent’s nightmare. A chance encounter leads to a new romantic scenario for Laurel as she finally feels ready to move on with her life.
The plot is intensely emotional and vividly depicted. The characters felt really authentic. Most of the book is written in the third person. Later parts of the book include other narrators that use the first person to show their emotional state of mind more clearly.
I did guess the twists but this did not spoil my enjoyment of the book. The ending of the book wrapped up all the plot threads and concluded on quite a sweet gentle note. I enjoyed the audio narration style by Gabrielle Glaister but I did listen at 3x speed.
Then She Was Gone is an emotional and intense psychological thriller.
Book blurb
THEN
She was fifteen, her mother’s golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.
NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.
And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.
Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.
Poppy is precocious and pretty – and meeting her completely takes Laurel’s breath away.
Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.
Andrea Evans is accused of murdering her ex. She writes to her childhood acquanitance Rylan who has had success at solving crimes in the past. Can Rylan get help from the victim’s ghost to catch the real killer?
The Haunted Child is the 4th book in the Rylan Flynn series of supernatural murder mysteries.
Andrea has been through a messy break up but agrees to meet her ex at a storage unit (bad decision). When she arrives, she finds him dying and grabs the knife (really bad decision!) The police arrive (how did they get there so fast? obvious set up!) and find her standing over the body with the murder weapon so arrest her. Andrea remembers a girl from her past and writes to Rylan to ask for her help. This instantly puts Rylan at odds with police officer Ford Pierce, her longtime crush.
The book is written from the first person perspectives of Rylan and Ford. This allows us to see their parallel investigations and their emotional attachment to each other. There are also chapters from 12 years in the past, when Rylan saw ghosts for the first time (is she the haunted child of the title?)
It is a very quick read but this wasn’t helped by the fact I couldn’t put it down! I LOVE the supernatural elements to the plot, especially the crossing over light. As well as the murder mystery, there is also the return of a ghost from an earlier book and a new child’s ghost who needs to find rest. Once again, there is a simmering romantic tension between Rylan and Flynn and I am keen for them to get together!
The Haunted Child is a gripping supernatural mystery thriller.
A young mother is being framed for a crime she didn’t commit. And only I can free her.
I’m Rylan Flynn. I hunt for ghosts and restless spirits, and solve the mysteries that make them haunt the living.
The police found Andrea Evans with a bloody knife in her hands and her boyfriend dead at her feet. But she swears she’s innocent. And I can tell from the desperation in her eyes that she’s telling the truth.
I first met Andrea at Camp Lakewood when we were just kids. That summer was meant to be one to remember, with hikes in the forest and canoeing on the lake. Instead, it’s one I try to forget.
Because Camp Lakewood is the place I saw a ghost for the very first time—the ghost of a murdered girl.
My long-time crush Ford Pierce was also at camp that year. Today, he is the detective who arrested Andrea. Ford is certain she’s guilty and he warns me off. But if he’s wrong the real killer is still walking free.
As I begin to investigate, everything seems to lead me back to camp. How is Andrea’s case linked to the summer we shared, and to that other killing decades ago?
To free Andrea and reunite her with her child, I must return to Camp Lakewood. Even if that means coming face to face with the darkest and deadliest secrets of my past…
With jaw-dropping twists, mesmerizing suspense, and a touch of romance, the Rylan Flynn series is your new paranormal mystery obsession. Fans of Noelle W. Ihli, Heather Graham and Wendy Wang will be hooked from start to finish.
Author Bio
Dawn Merriman writes creepy small town murder mysteries from her small farm in northeast Indiana where she lives with her husband and teenage children. You can often find her with muck boots on her feet and a story in her head. She enjoys animals, auctions, snorkeling and archaeology.
Dawn Merriman grew up a small town farm girl, on a small time pig farm in Indiana. She spent her young adulthood sitting on her bedroom floor scribbling stories in notebooks. She won the “Northeast Indiana Young Writers” award as a sophomore in high school.
After battling severe depression, she wrote her debut novel “How Murder Saved My Life” as therapy, mixing her love of murder mysteries and farming with climbing out of the darkness of illness.
