My Favorite Review from Another Country!
My debut detective novel, In Our Blood: A Jake Hawksworth Thriller, has received hundreds of 4 or 5-star ratings on Amazon. But for all the amazing reviews, I think my favorite is from an author in the UK. Here it is:
Absorbing: above all things I found this book an absorbing read and, at first, I didn’t know why. The opening seemed standard stock thriller stuff. A prologue with a killer gloating over the remains of his last victim and gloating even more over his intentions for the next two. A battle weary cop, Jake Hawksworth – a widower, his wife killed in a hit and run – dragged most unwillingly from his bed in the small hours to attend the crime scene and then the onset of a murder enquiry.
I’d read it all before. But yet, from the off, I was deeply absorbed and then it occurred to me that this was due to the technique of the author: the skilled use of prose in the generation of dialogue, the creation of characters and the setting of scene. In all parts it was good, it was better than average, it was, in fact, way above the norm and thus I was absorbed.
The killer calls himself Chance. “You’re taking a chance if you get involved with him.”He is described by a surviving witness as having eyes that are beautiful and yet sinister: like the eyes of Charles Manson on the cover of Life Magazine. A psychopath then, a serial homicidal maniac void of conscience and remorse? Well, yes, but there’s rather more to him than that. This psychopath has motive and as well as killing he’s into kidnapping and collecting ransom, yes and seduction too. Above all things he is driven by hatred and an insatiable thirst for revenge though this is not wholly revealed until the completely unexpected and truly shocking end.
But forget the end for a moment. First the plot: I’m not even going to attempt to enter into detail. I leave the plot unspoilt for the reader. But it is a twisting, turning, writhing serpentine like plot, as mesmeric, to this reader at least, as a stalking snake to a rabbit. A roller coaster of a plot that repeatedly climbs high and plunges low, generating a succession of thrills, perpetual nail biting tension and fear: a plot that accelerates from the outset gaining velocity, gaining mass and then slams to an abrupt stop in an ending which is not only unexpected in nature and shocking but wholly destructive, even to those who don’t die. Destructive to this reader’s ego too because there are clues implanted in the book, in the plot, and, alas, I didn’t spot one.
“In Our Blood” by William J. Goyette: (Outskirts Press) I recommend it to all who enjoy a good thriller and I say again, above all things, it is an absorbing read.
Watch for the next Jake Hawksworth installment, Phobia, coming soon!
Absorbing: above all things I found this book an absorbing read and, at first, I didn’t know why. The opening seemed standard stock thriller stuff. A prologue with a killer gloating over the remains of his last victim and gloating even more over his intentions for the next two. A battle weary cop, Jake Hawksworth – a widower, his wife killed in a hit and run – dragged most unwillingly from his bed in the small hours to attend the crime scene and then the onset of a murder enquiry.
I’d read it all before. But yet, from the off, I was deeply absorbed and then it occurred to me that this was due to the technique of the author: the skilled use of prose in the generation of dialogue, the creation of characters and the setting of scene. In all parts it was good, it was better than average, it was, in fact, way above the norm and thus I was absorbed.
The killer calls himself Chance. “You’re taking a chance if you get involved with him.”He is described by a surviving witness as having eyes that are beautiful and yet sinister: like the eyes of Charles Manson on the cover of Life Magazine. A psychopath then, a serial homicidal maniac void of conscience and remorse? Well, yes, but there’s rather more to him than that. This psychopath has motive and as well as killing he’s into kidnapping and collecting ransom, yes and seduction too. Above all things he is driven by hatred and an insatiable thirst for revenge though this is not wholly revealed until the completely unexpected and truly shocking end.
But forget the end for a moment. First the plot: I’m not even going to attempt to enter into detail. I leave the plot unspoilt for the reader. But it is a twisting, turning, writhing serpentine like plot, as mesmeric, to this reader at least, as a stalking snake to a rabbit. A roller coaster of a plot that repeatedly climbs high and plunges low, generating a succession of thrills, perpetual nail biting tension and fear: a plot that accelerates from the outset gaining velocity, gaining mass and then slams to an abrupt stop in an ending which is not only unexpected in nature and shocking but wholly destructive, even to those who don’t die. Destructive to this reader’s ego too because there are clues implanted in the book, in the plot, and, alas, I didn’t spot one.
“In Our Blood” by William J. Goyette: (Outskirts Press) I recommend it to all who enjoy a good thriller and I say again, above all things, it is an absorbing read.
Watch for the next Jake Hawksworth installment, Phobia, coming soon!
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