The Serial Killer's Girl by L.H. Stacey
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 22nd April 2022
Published: 27th April 2022
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Does a killer’s blood run in the family?
Lexi Jakes thought she could run from her past.
But when her biological mother is found dead, strangled with a red silk scarf and holding a chess piece, Lexi knows that her worst nightmare has come true. Because the murder has all the hallmarks of her own serial killer father, renown strangler Peter Graves.
Now with her own precious daughter’s life in danger, Lexi will do anything to keep her child safe…she is her father’s daughter after all.
MY REVIEW:
I went into this book with an open mind and high hopes for the story as the premise was intriguing to say the least. And the setting...Holy Island, cut off from the mainland by a causeway that is only open twice a day when the tide recedes - atmospheric. I found myself googling Holy Island just to check it out via street view! Very definitely the perfect place for a chilling, sinister and atmospheric thriller. It had all the promise of one but, in the end, it failed to deliver. But having said that, I still enjoyed it...I just wasn't WOWed.
The main character, Lexi Jakes, is a journalist who really doesn't do much in that she could have had any occupation and ended up in the same predicament. The only tangible link between her and her occupation was that she got news of her biological mother's murder before it hit the press. And it was this news that sent her world into a complete tailspin and lead her to make some idiotic decisions. But that wasn't all...her mother was murdered in the same way her father had committed his crimes, with a red silk scarf and leaving a chess piece behind as a calling card. But her father, Peter Graves, has been serving a life sentence in prison for the past twenty years. So who could have committed this latest murder using his MO? Could it be someone known to him? Or a copycat?
Lexi is so disturbed by the news she rushes home where she processes it all via a bottle of wine...which is where Nate finds her when he gets in. Lexi's first thought is "Where's Isla?" (their two year old daughter) but is relieved when Nate informs her that she's at his mother's. Her first instinct as a mother is to protect Isla at all costs which is why she insists they bring her back home.
But the following morning, Isla is troubled when "Agafa" doesn't respond to her shaking the treat box before breakfast. And so Lexi begins the hunt for the kitten to appease her distraught daughter while Nate heads off to work. But Agatha is nowhere to be found. And then the doorbell rings with a delivery which Lexi assumes is for Nate. But it's the banging and mewling coming from her wheelie bin that Lexi rushing to free her distressed kitten...but she's shocked to discover the sight that greets her. A rather perturbed Agatha with a red silk scarf tied in a bow around her neck. Lexi drops the package she'd been holding which opens to reveal chess pieces. What the...?
Without a second thought, she hurriedly packs her, Isla and an unamused Agatha in her crate in the car and flees the home she had thought she was safe in. Under a new name, a new life...she thought no one could tie her to Peter Graves, the serial killer. But someone has...and has left a warning. So where does she go? To the only other place she felt safest - Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, a tidal island off the coast of Northumberland, and the foster home where she grew up. She and Isla will be safe there.
But...didn't she think that if the killer could find your new identity and where you now live, then surely they can figure out the first place you'd run to. And then there were the other decisions Lexi made, or non-decisions in some cases where she'd say one thing and do another. The only thing Lexi was consistent in was being inconsistent.
But she wasn't the only one that was inconsistent - the author was as well. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed THE SERIAL KILLER'S GIRL but the story as a whole was a tad convoluted with of lot of filler-fluff that didn't need to be there. It didn't even provide readers with red herrings to lead us astray. It just didn't go anywhere. The killer's chapters were too long, for a start, and too wordy and didn't need that amount of description. It is a case of less is more, in that respect. Just a few well placed sentences and nuances to keep readers guessing and the tension palpable.
And then there are the scenes which have no real bearing on the plot at all. Didn't even drop a little hint or a fabricated clue...they just didn't seem to have a place in the story and went nowhere. Again, less is more. On the whole, the book seemed to be too long and sluggish in parts with parts that could been editted down to keep the pace moving along and the reader engaged. Need I say it again? Less is more.
The concept was definitely intriguing but it has been done before a little more successfully. I did figure out the killer around 30% so it wasn't entirely a mystery but even after working it out, there was nothing happening to put me off the track or give me cause to question myself. A few well-placed red herrings would have kept things interesting. As it was, the killer was a tad obvious.
That aside, I did generally enjoy THE SERIAL KILLER'S GIRL but would have probably enjoyed it more had it been shorter and pacier. But I really did love the whole isolated setting of Holy Island which was incredibly atmospheric and really is the perfect place for a thriller.
Overall, the book had a lot of promise but was poorly executed. So much could have been editted out for a seamless, tense and chilling thriller. But I did enjoy it somewhat. It was a good read but not a great one.
I would like to thank #LyndaStacey, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #TheSerialKillersGirl in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Over the past 30 years she's often worked two jobs and has also been a nurse, a model (in her much younger days), an emergency first response instructor and a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor ... and yes, she was crazy enough to dive in the sea with sharks, without a cage.
Following a life changing car accident in 2008, Lynda was left with limited mobility in her right arm. Unable to dive or teach anymore, she turned to her love of writing, a hobby she'd followed avidly since being a teenager.
Her own life story, along with varied career choices helps Lynda to create stories of romantic suspense, with challenging and unpredictable plots.
After joining the Romantic Novelist Association in 2014 under the umbrella of the New Writers Scheme, Lynda's debut novel 'House of Secrets' won the Choc Lit Search for a Star competition in 2015. She's previously published five books, her sixth book 'No Place Like Home' will be brought out in July 2021, with her new publisher Boldwood Books.
She currently lives in a small rural hamlet near Doncaster, with her 'hero at home husband', Haydn, whom she's been happily married to for over 25 years.
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