Hello all! Today is Tuesday and Tuesdays mean it’s thriller time! Today I will be doing a book review on The Butcher, written by Jennifer Hillier.
A rash of grisly serial murders plagued Seattle until the infamous “Beacon Hill Butcher” was finally hunted down and killed by police chief Edward Shank in 1985. Now, some thirty years later, Shank, retired and widowed, is giving up his large rambling Victorian house to his grandson Matt, whom he helped raise.
Settling back into his childhood home and doing some renovations in the backyard to make the house feel like his own, Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him… Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands.
Meanwhile Matt’s girlfriend, Sam, has always suspected that her mother was murdered by the Beacon Hill Butcher—two years after the supposed Butcher was gunned down. As she pursues leads that will prove her right, Sam heads right into the path of Matt’s terrible secret.
A thriller with taut, fast-paced suspense, and twists around every corner, The Butcher will keep you guessing until the bitter, bloody end.
Jennifer Hillier writes about dark, twisted people who do dark, twisted things. Born and raised in Toronto and a proud Canadian, she spent eight years in the Seattle area, which is where all her books are set.
She loves her son, her husband, the Seahawks, and Stephen King. Not equally, but close. She’s the author of five novels. Her newest psychological thriller JAR OF HEARTS, is available now from Minotaur Books.
So this is the first time I have read Jennifer Hillier’s books and I have wanted to read one of her another psychological thriller books, Jar of Hearts. But I cam across this book on E-book, The Butcher, written before the Jar of Hearts and so started to read it.
So in a nutshell, Edward Shank is a retired police chief who moves into the Retirement house. He is well known among the community as he was the one who caught Rufus Wedge who was the notorious serial killer nicknamed as “Beacon Hill Butcher”. His grandson, Matt Shank, also a well known chef owning a fancy restaurant moves into the family home after his grandfather retires into the house. Matt also has a girlfriend, Samantha who is an author and who is convinced that her mother was murdered by the very same Butcher, two years after the police caught the real Butcher. Then the story begins to get interesting when Matt discovers something, he shouldn’t have.
So let me point out the things that I like about the book.
- We already know who the serial killer is in the beginning but we do know that the other characters in the book are clueless about it–I like that concept.
- There were twists in each of the chapters, particularly the ending–the ending was unexpected and literally put me at the edge of the seat as I was reading it.
- This is not a typical thriller book–this has more family drama, the turmoil unfolding the drama and of course the relationship between Samantha and Matt.
- I like Hillier’s writing style and so her style also kept me hooked into the story as well.
- I like how Hillier had made many of the main characters in the book sound more complex — particularly with Matt and his anger management issues (won’t spoil too much about it), Edward Shank’s facade (again not too much spoiling about it). Some of those characters sound like real people as well as how real people would be dealing with the situation
Now I’ll start with the things that I didn’t like.
- It was slightly disturbing, particularly the ending, though it didn’t really matter
- There were some violent parts but again it didn’t affect the story much either.
Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read a good thriller with more family drama. Four stars!
Tropical Girl Reads 