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The Sugar Man
Dakota Finch never really recovered from the day her best friend was murdered. Dakota and Flora were best friends.
But she has also never confessed her own dark secret about what she did that day.
Years later, Dakota has become a detective, hiding her broken heart behind a rock-hard shell. When her latest misdemeanour sees her re-assigned back to her small home town, she can’t help but think it could be her chance to finally catch Flora’s killer – a man who’s only ever be known as “the Sugar Man”.
When another body is found, stirring up memories of her last summer with Flora, Dakota realises the truth may be hiding in the secretive Amish-like cult based in the nearby woodland.
But this is a killer who has stayed hidden for decades, and they won’t hesitate to kill again to protect their darkest secret…
But she has also never confessed her own dark secret about what she did that day.
Years later, Dakota has become a detective, hiding her broken heart behind a rock-hard shell. When her latest misdemeanour sees her re-assigned back to her small home town, she can’t help but think it could be her chance to finally catch Flora’s killer – a man who’s only ever be known as “the Sugar Man”.
When another body is found, stirring up memories of her last summer with Flora, Dakota realises the truth may be hiding in the secretive Amish-like cult based in the nearby woodland.
But this is a killer who has stayed hidden for decades, and they won’t hesitate to kill again to protect their darkest secret…
372 pages, Hardcover
Published June 5, 2025
10 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Nicolás Obregón
7 books140 followersNicolás Obregón is a Londoner, a Madrileño, and a full-time writer. His first novel, Blue Light Yokohama, was published in 2017 across the world. It was conceived two days shy of his 30th birthday while travelling on a bullet train from Hiroshima to Kyoto.
The sequel, Sins As Scarlet, set across California and Northern Mexico, was released in 2018. The final Inspector Iwata novel, Unknown Male, came out in late 2019. In it, Iwata returns to Tokyo for one final case when an English exchange student is found murdered in the days leading up to the Olympics.
His fourth novel, a standalone about a child abductor and an Amish colony, will be released in 2025.
Having lived in London and Los Angeles, Obregón now lives in Madrid.
The sequel, Sins As Scarlet, set across California and Northern Mexico, was released in 2018. The final Inspector Iwata novel, Unknown Male, came out in late 2019. In it, Iwata returns to Tokyo for one final case when an English exchange student is found murdered in the days leading up to the Olympics.
His fourth novel, a standalone about a child abductor and an Amish colony, will be released in 2025.
Having lived in London and Los Angeles, Obregón now lives in Madrid.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 28, 2025
Devorado.
December 14, 2025
3.75 / 5.0
Solid book from start to finish, I’m just so annoyed that it was predictable (I suspected who it was going to be and was so majorly disappointed that I got it spot on!). That being said throughout the book there was an element of unpredictability where at points I felt my judgement was wavering. But the way the plot is present, the characters are portrayed and the way the story is unfolding it’s hard to guess what will happen next which keeps you on your toes. This book also book takes you on a journey to seek truth and understanding, and heal from the past events.
The book centres around Dakota Finch who left the mountain town of Nectar as soon as she was old enough, and become a detective in the making. She has put her past and her best friends murder behind her. Now she’s back in Nectar, sent in disgrace to the one place she can’t cause any more trouble only the body that greets her on the first day returning back says differently. Because Dakota fears it’s the victim of the sugar man who murdered her best friend, a crime that the nectar law enforcement want to forget and erase off the memory books. When another body shows up in a similar manner, Dakota is forced to deal with her past and find out who is the sugar man!
It’s a great book from start to finish, it’s easy to get into but once you start reading it’s a hard book to drop down!
Solid book from start to finish, I’m just so annoyed that it was predictable (I suspected who it was going to be and was so majorly disappointed that I got it spot on!). That being said throughout the book there was an element of unpredictability where at points I felt my judgement was wavering. But the way the plot is present, the characters are portrayed and the way the story is unfolding it’s hard to guess what will happen next which keeps you on your toes. This book also book takes you on a journey to seek truth and understanding, and heal from the past events.
The book centres around Dakota Finch who left the mountain town of Nectar as soon as she was old enough, and become a detective in the making. She has put her past and her best friends murder behind her. Now she’s back in Nectar, sent in disgrace to the one place she can’t cause any more trouble only the body that greets her on the first day returning back says differently. Because Dakota fears it’s the victim of the sugar man who murdered her best friend, a crime that the nectar law enforcement want to forget and erase off the memory books. When another body shows up in a similar manner, Dakota is forced to deal with her past and find out who is the sugar man!
It’s a great book from start to finish, it’s easy to get into but once you start reading it’s a hard book to drop down!
July 25, 2025
(45/2025) 4/5🌟 Crime/Thriller (Fiction) | 371 pages
“𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙪𝙨.”
Dakota Finch had long left her hometown, Nectar, because she couldn’t contain herself the day she found out her bestfriend, Flora was murdered. However, Dakota herself kept the darkest secret that nobody would expect. A secret that would probably hurt her best friend, if she were still alive.
After leaving her hometown, Dakota mended her heart by making it became harder. Presently, she was now a detective, no longer the fun loving Dakota. Caught in a misconduct, Dakota was reassigned to return to her hometown because a body was found and the Nectar police needed assistance in the investigation. It was how and where the body was found which triggered Dakota’s memories. Flora was found dead many years ago in the same manner as how the new dead person was found. Dakota also has found that there had been several missing girls and the town folks has been linking them with only one person. They had given nickname to the serial killer, “The Sugar Man”. Flora was found dead with sugar covering her face.
It had been so many years and no one yet had been convicted and the killer was still at loose. Dakota now realised that her return had probably given her the chance of redemption to find Flora’s killer and perhaps buried her dark secret. She had the hunch that the latest body found had some kind of connection to Flora’s murder. And, Dakota just knew where she should start. She should start sniffing around the secretive cult based village that had made the nearby woodland their home - because of past experience.
What could it be?
I enjoy small town murder mysteries because as a reader we would be given a unique perspective towards all the characters since everyone knows literally everybody, so it is quite a challenge to pinpoint suspects.The plot might be similar each time, in any book that has ever been written (killer on the loose, missing person, serial mystery killer etc), but it is always the investigative process that gets me, so it really depends on the creativity of the author in doing excellent storytelling and creating plot twists.
This one is no exception.
I think the suspense was killing me because of the alternate timelines and flashbacks. The way it was narrated was so nervewrecking because each chapter stopped at the right line/wording and the cliffhanger or transition between chapters or timelines made me wanted to know more. The story was told from a third person POV, so it always felt like I was there like an invisible person walking alongside the main character throughout the narration, watching everything in real time.
The cult village certainly reminded me of 𝘔. 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘺𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦 but with a twist, as they were based on the German immigrants historical background and they were not totally secluded. I found that there are several German towns across USA, which is quite interesting to do some reading on them.
This time round, I had suspected the right person just because I had a bad vibe about the person. I was thinking that I could have pointed out the wrong person (again!) because it was hard to pinpoint the suspect’s involvement in the whole camarederie, and to find out how in the end was surprising.
What’s more interesting is that I managed to list down almost thirty song references found throughout the story. Most of the songs were the ones famous among my generation, so I am quite familiar with them and it is also nice to reminisce haha!
The story centers around the theme of one own’s dark secrets we hold onto, as reminders that we should never be involved in something that goes against life principles, no matter how “fun” it could be, because there will always be consequences. Living examples are around (cough, cough Coldplay!). There will always be temptation but always ask ourselves, what good does it do to us? The cult village and the “outside world” are the parallel between pure and sinners but always with a reminder that we should never judge a book by its cover.
Read this if you enjoy small town murder mystery. Thank you #timesreads for this review copy in exchange with my honest personal review.
#justreaddontbawang #bookmehnia #2025reads #JulyReads #JulyTBRs #bookstagrammalaysia #bookstagrammy #malaysiamembaca #bookstagrammer #bookgram #bibliophile #bibliophilemy #bookish #bookaddict #bookaesthetic #readersofinstagram #goodreads #bookrecommendations #bookreview #bookworm #thesugarman #nicolasobregon
“𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙪𝙨.”
Dakota Finch had long left her hometown, Nectar, because she couldn’t contain herself the day she found out her bestfriend, Flora was murdered. However, Dakota herself kept the darkest secret that nobody would expect. A secret that would probably hurt her best friend, if she were still alive.
After leaving her hometown, Dakota mended her heart by making it became harder. Presently, she was now a detective, no longer the fun loving Dakota. Caught in a misconduct, Dakota was reassigned to return to her hometown because a body was found and the Nectar police needed assistance in the investigation. It was how and where the body was found which triggered Dakota’s memories. Flora was found dead many years ago in the same manner as how the new dead person was found. Dakota also has found that there had been several missing girls and the town folks has been linking them with only one person. They had given nickname to the serial killer, “The Sugar Man”. Flora was found dead with sugar covering her face.
It had been so many years and no one yet had been convicted and the killer was still at loose. Dakota now realised that her return had probably given her the chance of redemption to find Flora’s killer and perhaps buried her dark secret. She had the hunch that the latest body found had some kind of connection to Flora’s murder. And, Dakota just knew where she should start. She should start sniffing around the secretive cult based village that had made the nearby woodland their home - because of past experience.
What could it be?
I enjoy small town murder mysteries because as a reader we would be given a unique perspective towards all the characters since everyone knows literally everybody, so it is quite a challenge to pinpoint suspects.The plot might be similar each time, in any book that has ever been written (killer on the loose, missing person, serial mystery killer etc), but it is always the investigative process that gets me, so it really depends on the creativity of the author in doing excellent storytelling and creating plot twists.
This one is no exception.
I think the suspense was killing me because of the alternate timelines and flashbacks. The way it was narrated was so nervewrecking because each chapter stopped at the right line/wording and the cliffhanger or transition between chapters or timelines made me wanted to know more. The story was told from a third person POV, so it always felt like I was there like an invisible person walking alongside the main character throughout the narration, watching everything in real time.
The cult village certainly reminded me of 𝘔. 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘺𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦 but with a twist, as they were based on the German immigrants historical background and they were not totally secluded. I found that there are several German towns across USA, which is quite interesting to do some reading on them.
This time round, I had suspected the right person just because I had a bad vibe about the person. I was thinking that I could have pointed out the wrong person (again!) because it was hard to pinpoint the suspect’s involvement in the whole camarederie, and to find out how in the end was surprising.
What’s more interesting is that I managed to list down almost thirty song references found throughout the story. Most of the songs were the ones famous among my generation, so I am quite familiar with them and it is also nice to reminisce haha!
The story centers around the theme of one own’s dark secrets we hold onto, as reminders that we should never be involved in something that goes against life principles, no matter how “fun” it could be, because there will always be consequences. Living examples are around (cough, cough Coldplay!). There will always be temptation but always ask ourselves, what good does it do to us? The cult village and the “outside world” are the parallel between pure and sinners but always with a reminder that we should never judge a book by its cover.
Read this if you enjoy small town murder mystery. Thank you #timesreads for this review copy in exchange with my honest personal review.
#justreaddontbawang #bookmehnia #2025reads #JulyReads #JulyTBRs #bookstagrammalaysia #bookstagrammy #malaysiamembaca #bookstagrammer #bookgram #bibliophile #bibliophilemy #bookish #bookaddict #bookaesthetic #readersofinstagram #goodreads #bookrecommendations #bookreview #bookworm #thesugarman #nicolasobregon
August 3, 2025
The best book I have read in a LONG time. Kept me hooked and couldn't put it down, what a ride, what a storyteller! I'm now snapping up the authors previous books.
July 5, 2025
Some books don’t just tell a story; they press their fingers against old bruises.
The Sugar Man by Nicolás Obregón tells a story about Dakota, a detective sent back to her hometown to investigate a murder eerily similar to her best friend Flora’s years ago,
She isn’t chasing a killer as much as she’s chasing the truth she’s buried inside herself. Grief, guilt, and silence; these are the real ghosts here.
Yes, there’s a serial killer.
Yes, there’s a reclusive religious sect with dark undercurrents.
But what truly shook me was the emotional rawness. The ache of unfinished conversations. The way trauma lingers like static.
I’ve read a lot of thrillers. This one didn’t just give me suspense, it gave me the creep that stays long after the final page.
Not because of the villain, but because of how much Dakota reminded me of the weight we carry when we lose someone without closure.
Some books find you when you’re ready to feel them. This was one of them.
Thank you @times.reads and @putrifariza, for this review copy that somehow managed to find me at a time when I, too, was looking backwards.
The Sugar Man by Nicolás Obregón tells a story about Dakota, a detective sent back to her hometown to investigate a murder eerily similar to her best friend Flora’s years ago,
She isn’t chasing a killer as much as she’s chasing the truth she’s buried inside herself. Grief, guilt, and silence; these are the real ghosts here.
Yes, there’s a serial killer.
Yes, there’s a reclusive religious sect with dark undercurrents.
But what truly shook me was the emotional rawness. The ache of unfinished conversations. The way trauma lingers like static.
I’ve read a lot of thrillers. This one didn’t just give me suspense, it gave me the creep that stays long after the final page.
Not because of the villain, but because of how much Dakota reminded me of the weight we carry when we lose someone without closure.
Some books find you when you’re ready to feel them. This was one of them.
Thank you @times.reads and @putrifariza, for this review copy that somehow managed to find me at a time when I, too, was looking backwards.
August 21, 2025
I’m a huge fan of small town mysteries, dual timelines and books that feature religious cults and this definitely held my interest throughout! I read this during a family wedding and though I was consumed by all the prep, I couldn’t stop thinking about this book. Both timelines would end on such cliffhangers and the tension was palpable! I did guess the major twist due to little clues I picked up on during earlier chapters, but that did not take away from my reading experience at all.
September 20, 2025
The Sugar Man - 4⭐️
Slowburn thriller on a detective journey in figuring out a murder case.
I am surprised to see that this book has very few ratings and reviews on GR. Like it’s actually quite well written.
Unlikeable characters but with an atmospheric plot and interesting twist. Decent.
Slowburn thriller on a detective journey in figuring out a murder case.
I am surprised to see that this book has very few ratings and reviews on GR. Like it’s actually quite well written.
Unlikeable characters but with an atmospheric plot and interesting twist. Decent.
January 9, 2026
Found the mystery very pedestrian, and the flashback sections felt like padding. Worst part were the long sections of the Amish like community speaking in Olde English, really couldn’t stand that.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews