Suspenseful murder mystery with an occult element

filled star filled star filled star star unfilled star unfilled
rebeccaw190 Avatar

By

Spurred by her Chief of Police father and the murder of her sister 20 years ago, Detective Natalie Lockhart is determined to find out who murdered Daisy, her sister's best friend and a well liked teacher in the small town of Burning Lake, New York. What else will she uncover while investigating this horrific crime?

I'm not a huge fan of murder mysteries but the occult angle in this one definitely peaked my interest. Apparently, it is fairly normal for teens to dabble in witchcraft and form covens in this area, especially since the town is well known for burning witches at the stake hundreds of years ago.

The story itself was suspenseful but there were a few reasons why I didn't love it: It dragged a bit in the middle while Natalie was gathering clues and interviewing suspects. There was a dark and surprising twist at the end, but in my opinion, it was difficult to believe. Another missing piece of the story was wrapped up at the very end a bit too quickly and neatly for my tastes. And, lastly, some of the detective facts just didn't feel real to me. There was a lot going on in this story so kudos to the author for that, but overall, it was just an ok read for me, and I don't feel the need to read future installments. At least it was a fairly quick read!

Location: Burning Lake, New York (small town upstate)

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.