Book Review: Decimated Dreams by Brennan LaFaro
Title: Decimated Dreams (Slattery Falls, Book Two)
Author: Brennan LaFaro
Release date: December 13th, 2022
Huge thanks to Brennan for sending me a digital ARC of this one!
Book one was a blast and when Brennan announced a book two was coming, I was super excited to see where he went with it. Brennan is on a roll right now, with exciting new releases on the horizon and a ton of stuff in the works. His storytelling is solid, quick and powerful and he has a knack for creating characters that you immediately know and root for. Saying that – this one is a sequel and in this case – you definitely need to have read book one to follow along with book two.
What I liked: Set five years after the events of book one, we arrive as Elsie and Travis are trying to continue on with their lives and do their best to remember their friend Josh. They have a daughter now, April, and this is the jumping off point for their return to Slattery Falls. One night, April gets taken, and while the police try and find her, Elsie and Travis know exactly who/what is behind her disappearance and they go in search of them and April.
Over the course of one full novella (book one) and a quarter of book two, I soon realized just how familiar Slattery Falls felt and how easy it was to slide back into this world. LaFaro has done such a solid job with these characters, that even when this book has periods of, let’s call it ‘lightness’ – where we go from scene to scene with minimal between developments, it still works and holds up.
This novella works purely as a set up for book three, which means some questions won’t be answered, but it does a great job of getting us from point A in book one to where we need to be for point C in the finale. The ‘why’ of the novella is the true catalyst for a lot of what happens and guides the characters along nicely.
The ending, while a bit rushed and not as fleshed out as I was hoping for, does what I mentioned, setting us up fantastically for where things need to go for the final book in the trilogy.
What I didn’t like: Even though Elsie and Travis knew who took April and where they were taking her, it still felt a bit like they weren’t as affected as someone would be if their child was kidnapped. For instance, they rush out to Slattery Falls and we get a scene where they sit and chat with the owner of the Bed and Breakfast they’re staying at. It was an odd juxtaposition. Yes, they need to get clues and collect info to find where their daughter is, but at the same time, it came off as very relaxed when they should be wracked with anxiety.
Why you should buy this: If you loved book one, this will be a must read and if you love Brennan’s storytelling, definitely dive into book one before this one comes out. The characters are top notch, the bad guy is a really intriguing bad guy and the town of Slattery Falls is a fantastic back drop for all of the going-on’s that give us readers so much stress.
This was a blast and I’m now going to have to wait for book three!
4/5
