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Book Review: Olivia: The Sequel to Doll House by John Hunt

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

Posted on September 28, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: The Next Time I Die by Jason Starr

The Next Time I Die by Jason Starr

The Next Time I Die by Jason Starr. ( Bookshop.org. |  Amazon.com )

Hard Case Crime, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1789099515

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

 

I received an unfinished ARC of this from Hard Case Crime.

 

Steven Blitz is the defense lawyer for serial killer Jeffrey Hammond, a high profile case. He is working on the case at home when out of seemingly nowhere his mentally Ill wife demands a divorce, says she’s in love with a woman, and locks him out in a snowstorm. He is driving through the snow when the car skids and he is nearly in an accident. He stops for gas and intervenes in a domestic dispute that ends with him getting stabbed and bleeding out.

 

Or is that really what happened? He wakes up in the hospital with a concussion to a loving wife, and a daughter and dog he never owned, wealthy, a survivor of brain cancer, and with a good life… but he is not a good person. The world has changed and nobody believes him.

 

Steven is a bizarrely unreliable narrator and I was glued to the pages trying to figure out what crazy turn the story would take next, and if it could be believed. The Next Time I Die has been optioned for a movie, and if it’s made, it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on August 30, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: Doll House by John Hunt

 

Doll House by John Hunt  (Bookshop.org)

 Black Rose Writing, 2017

ISBN: 9781612968070

Available: paperback, Kindle

 

Doll House is a white-knuckle horror/thriller that takes a common plot device and spends most of the book on “well, what about after it happens?'” The plot you know: young person abducted by a psycho or two, held captive and tortured for months or years, then escapes at the very end of the book, often killing their torturers in the process.  It’s been done before, sometimes well (Jack Ketchum, Whitley Streiber) and sometimes not so well (Ryan C. Thomas).  In Doll House, that basic plot is wrapped up in the first fortysomething pages.  It’s the “what next?” part that makes up the majority of the book, and it makes for a compelling story.  How will Olivia, the victim, cope with the rest of her life, knowing that one of the abductors got away?  Will the abductor give up and move on, or come back and try again?  How long can the cops provide protection, as the story fades from public eye and budgets are stretched thin?  All good questions, and the book delivers on them all, while providing a rip-snorting good read.

 

A critical part of this story type is hiding the killer’s identity until the end, keeping the reader guessing. The author does an excellent job concealing it, using red herrings and a few scattered clues extremely well.  The clues are there, but you have to read pretty carefully to catch them.  I didn’t guess right, and most readers probably won’t either.  It is very well done.

 

It’s worth nothing that the book is definitely heavy in the narration department, and pretty light on dialogue.  It’s a stylistic choice, but a bit more dialogue would have helped break the story up a bit and pushed it the extra mile. There’s still plenty to generate reader interest, and the story doesn’t drag at any point.  Some of the most interesting parts concern the police and their struggles to track a killer who left no evidence: it’s interesting how difficult detective work really is, and that unfortunately, it can be limited by financial constraints.  As far as nastiness, the author wisely shows restraint and only uses it where needed.  There are a few ugly scenes like toes getting snipped off and an ear getting razored off, but there’s not much blood, and no graphic rape sequences. It’s a horror novel with a few quick bouts of ugliness, and it’s a good one.  There is a sequel to Doll House due to be released later this year, and it will be reviewed here shortly.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on August 13, 2022 by , Reply
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