🚓🚨 Trace of Evil 🚨🚓 (2019) - Book Review
MY REVIEW
Hardcover:
384 pages
Publisher:
Minotaur Books (December 3, 2019)
Language:
English
ISBN-10:
1250205719
ISBN-13:
978-1250205711
Click Picture for Purchase Link
“There’s
something wicked in Burning Lake…
Natalie
Lockhart is a rookie detective in Burning Lake, New York, an isolated town
known for its dark past. Tasked with uncovering the whereabouts of nine missing
transients who have disappeared over the years, Natalie wrestles with the
town’s troubled history – and the scars left by her sister’s unsolved murder
years ago.
Then
Daisy Buckner, a beloved schoolteacher, is found dead on her kitchen floor, and
a suspect immediately comes to mind. But it’s not that simple. The suspect is
in a coma, collapsed only hours after the teacher’s death, and it turns out
Daisy had secrets of her own. Natalie knows there is more to the case, but as
the investigation deepens, even she cannot predict the far-reaching
consequences – for the victim, for the missing of Burning Lake, and for herself.”
This is review is going to be a bit different.
I had seen this book on the BookishFirst
website last year, and didn’t win it. I also didn’t have enough points to claim
it either.
Last year I requested it through my local
library and was FINALLY able to get it early last week.
After catching up on a few reviews, and while
waiting for another batch to do – I decided to finally read this.
While I enjoy suspense and thrillers, this was
definitely a WILD read.
This is apparently the first in a series of “Natalie
Lockhart” (this book’s protagonist) books.
There will be some content/trigger warnings in
this book:
** Alcohol/Drug Use
** Dead Pregnant Woman
** Animal Mutilation
** Serial Killing
** Witches/Covens/Wiccan References
** Vulgar Language Throughout
This is a deeply disturbing, dark, haunting
novel from a new-to-me author, Alice Blanchard; distributed by Minotaur Books
an imprint of St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan.
The main character is the youngest of three (3)
girls (Willow, Grace, Natalie) the oldest was killed 20 years earlier when she
was 18. Natalie and Grace are all that is left. Although the killer is locked
up, there is some doubt as to the evidence. Grace believes his guilt 100%.
Natalie is a new detective.
It isn’t bad enough that her sister was
murdered, the town has a troubled history, but there are nine cases of missing
transients that remain unsolved. She’s now tasked with trying to solve them ...
That is until a high school teacher, and close
personal friend, pregnant Daisy Bruckner is murdered. There is more to the
case, and there are far-reaching consequences, even ones that meet home.
The book is written in short chapters with a
quick pace that keeps the reader reading on. The pacing and chapters make this
a fast read.
Yet, by 56% into this novel – there was
seemingly no connection to the nine missing transients or Daisy’s murder.
Blanchard did an excellent job of keeping the “rumor”
mill flying regarding Daisy’s death due to her secrets. And, there were
theories flying all around. Although she was married to a cop and pregnant, she
had her secrets that may have led to her death. Her husband is also a suspect
as well.
One of those secrets intersects with the
friends of Natalie’s niece, who is briefly a witch in a coven – thus the Wiccan
connection. That’s not all – at one time Ellie’s mom Grace, Daisy, Lindsey,
Bunny, and Natalie were in one.
This “coven” plot turns out to have a MAJOR
connection in the novel with regard to Daisy’s death.
One interesting plot point was Natalie’s memory
of a boy who’d attacked her and who had “poked” at a dead animal in the woods.
It later connects to the missing nine, which doesn’t really get wrapped up
until the final chapters. It was pretty much a low key conclusion. Slight spoiler
– Daisy and Willow’s murders were not connected.
In comparison, the actual conclusion of both
Daisy and Willow’s murder was more drawn-out and dramatic. The writer did craft
it in a way that I didn’t see it coming. The suspect of those murders was
someone I didn’t even expect.
I’m honestly wavering between three (3) and
four (4) stars for this. I’m deciding on three (3).
The writing was solid, yet I felt there was
something lack. The end was a bit too neatly drawn up.
It was a rather interesting read despite the coarse
language.
I am glad that my library had a copy and I didn’t
spend any of my points to get it though.
RATING:
3 ⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads
3 ⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub
3 ⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in
this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALICE BLANCHARD is the award-winning author of
five novels. She has received a PEN Award, a New Letters Literary Award, a
Centrum Artists-in-Residence Fellowship, and a Katherine Anne Porter Prize for
fiction. Her debut novel, Darkness
Peering, was a New York Times
Notable book. Her work has been published in seventeen countries.
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