Well, it does begin with a rather disturbing scenario in the prologue which prepares you for a wild story. A detective 25 years later facing a similar disturbing crime scene. This crime scene is oddly staged with a tableau and red hand prints carefully placed around it. What is one to make of such a coincidence? Or is it? A man visits his mother after 25 years away where she is in hospice dying from dementia and cancer. What does she say when she wakes up and sees her son after 25 years? “You shouldn’t be here!” “There are red hands everywhere!”
If that isn’t enough to get your heart racing then I think you need to finish reading this thriller!
I received a complimentary audiobook from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an unbiased review.
The prologue begins with a bloodied playground and the narrator being driven to the police station by his mother. At 15 yo he felt “responsible” for Charlie Crabtree and the tragedy that followed.
It’s 25 years since that brutal crime was committed by troubled teens. It seems their legacy lives on with the recent onset of copy cat killings. Detective Amanda Beck fights her own nightmares being the daughter of a former police officer. She makes her weekly visits to Rosewood Gardens Cemetery to connect with her father and seek guidance.
When Elliot Hick and Robby Foster are found bloodied and carrying a knife, the police are led to the crime scene in the quarry. There they discover a teenage boy on a circular stone floor surrounded by bloodied handprints.
Paul Adams returns to his hometown when contacted about his mother’s ailing health. Daphne was his mother’s hospice caretaker since her fall, cancer and worsening dementia. He sadly remembers it’s been 25 years since he last visited his mother and hometown. Although, he would call his mother he never really invested much effort in maintaining contact. He preferred to leave the past just as he left it in the shadows all those years ago.
Paul is startled when he visits his mother and discovers she had been reading a book he borrowed many years ago, The Nightmare People” with the red devil face in the cover. Suddenly, his mother boots up in bed and warns Paul that she should never have come. She screams as she recalls something from the past yelling about red hands everywhere.
As he is in town, Paul confers with a friend and former crush Jenny Chambers who had lent him “The Nightmare People”. They reminisce about the past and try piece together the dreadful events that divided all the friends. Back then, it seemed Charlie Crabtree had a following who were desperate to believe his claims of lucid dreaming. Paul was a loner who followed along until Charlie’s suggestions became to incredulous and dangerous.
It takes Paul returning to his family home to make sense of his mother’s ramblings. As Paul is trying to piece together events from the past, Detective Amanda Beck makes a visit to Billy Roberts who had been released from prison for the crime many years ago. It seems the only one who seemed to escape the scene was Charlie who was never seen again. Rumors spread that perhaps his lucid dreaming theory was true which led to copy cat killers.
This is a wild story which keeps you in the edge of your seat. There are several stories from past and present that seem to be swirling around. It was at times difficult to keep track of the many characters. Everyone wonders what happened to Charlie. What really happened that night? Why does Paul’s mother seem to have a collection of articles regarding the crime and every copy cat murder since? This book will keep your mind spinning until the end.
If that isn’t enough to get your heart racing then I think you need to finish reading this thriller!
I received a complimentary audiobook from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an unbiased review.
The prologue begins with a bloodied playground and the narrator being driven to the police station by his mother. At 15 yo he felt “responsible” for Charlie Crabtree and the tragedy that followed.
It’s 25 years since that brutal crime was committed by troubled teens. It seems their legacy lives on with the recent onset of copy cat killings. Detective Amanda Beck fights her own nightmares being the daughter of a former police officer. She makes her weekly visits to Rosewood Gardens Cemetery to connect with her father and seek guidance.
When Elliot Hick and Robby Foster are found bloodied and carrying a knife, the police are led to the crime scene in the quarry. There they discover a teenage boy on a circular stone floor surrounded by bloodied handprints.
Paul Adams returns to his hometown when contacted about his mother’s ailing health. Daphne was his mother’s hospice caretaker since her fall, cancer and worsening dementia. He sadly remembers it’s been 25 years since he last visited his mother and hometown. Although, he would call his mother he never really invested much effort in maintaining contact. He preferred to leave the past just as he left it in the shadows all those years ago.
Paul is startled when he visits his mother and discovers she had been reading a book he borrowed many years ago, The Nightmare People” with the red devil face in the cover. Suddenly, his mother boots up in bed and warns Paul that she should never have come. She screams as she recalls something from the past yelling about red hands everywhere.
As he is in town, Paul confers with a friend and former crush Jenny Chambers who had lent him “The Nightmare People”. They reminisce about the past and try piece together the dreadful events that divided all the friends. Back then, it seemed Charlie Crabtree had a following who were desperate to believe his claims of lucid dreaming. Paul was a loner who followed along until Charlie’s suggestions became to incredulous and dangerous.
It takes Paul returning to his family home to make sense of his mother’s ramblings. As Paul is trying to piece together events from the past, Detective Amanda Beck makes a visit to Billy Roberts who had been released from prison for the crime many years ago. It seems the only one who seemed to escape the scene was Charlie who was never seen again. Rumors spread that perhaps his lucid dreaming theory was true which led to copy cat killers.
This is a wild story which keeps you in the edge of your seat. There are several stories from past and present that seem to be swirling around. It was at times difficult to keep track of the many characters. Everyone wonders what happened to Charlie. What really happened that night? Why does Paul’s mother seem to have a collection of articles regarding the crime and every copy cat murder since? This book will keep your mind spinning until the end.