Olivia: The Sequel to Doll House by John Hunt

Black Rose Writing, 2022 (to be released October 27)

ISBN: 9781685130473

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

If the first book in the series, Doll House, was a sleek sports car purring down the highway at an acceptable rate over the speed limit, then Olivia is a smoke belching, fire breathing locomotive roaring down the tracks that flattens anything in the way.  This book will run you over.  When you read it, block off enough time to read 200 pages in a sitting.  Once you start, you won’t want to stop.  

As in Doll House, the book features an extremely patient and methodical killer, but this one preys on the hikers of remote trails, abducting and then killing them.  A young lady named Bibi is the first to escape him, but five years later she is still an emotional mess.  Detective Davis, who worked on the Doll House investigation, introduces Bibi to Olivia, the heroine of the first book, in hopes they might be able to bond and bandage each other’s mental scars.  However, it also causes them to be drawn into the investigation of the ‘hiker killer’  It then becomes a question of stopping the killer, and whether Bibi and Olivia can ever live what passes for normal lives.

Doll House was good, but this is that rare time when the sequel betters the original, in every possible way. The story structure is one example. Doll House was narrative heavy, and more dialogue would have improved it.  With Olivia, the author does exactly that. The book is a perfectly balanced blend, and it makes the characters much more real, real enough you will react to them.  You’ll scream in anger at some parts, and possibly shed a tear or two at times, especially if you love animals.  That’s a mark of outstanding writing when you react as the characters do.

The author also did a better job on the police investigative material this time: he clearly did a lot of research.  It’s more detailed, but not overwhelming, and shows how the legal system can be exploited by the wrong people.  Olivia also nicely builds the elements of chance and randomness into the investigation.  In the book, as in real life, it can be the smallest things that trip a killer up.  You simply can’t account in your murder plans for nosy neighbors, or where someone decides to take a leak in the woods.

Finally, the scare factor is higher in this book, for two reasons.  One, it’s written better than the original.  Two, the plot is all too plausible, and it has happened. Australia’s ‘Backpack Killer,’ Ivan Milat, springs to mind. That’s why books like this can horrify: they remind us that the worst monsters do not merely exist in our imagination, they often live right next door to us.  Hunt understands that, and writes some truly chilling scenes.  The killer in the book knows how to prey on people’s worst fears, and it will prey on the reader as well.  

Bottom line: this is horror writing of the highest caliber. Read Doll House first, then be sure to get this one when it is published.  This is mandatory reading for horror fans: you won’t be disappointed.  It’s enough to keep hikers who read it out of the woods for a good, long time. Highly recommended, and then some.

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson