Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Zach Taylor is a successful businessman, but his ascension up the corporate ladder has not been without its fair share of losses, including his five-year-old daughter Isabelle, with whom he has all but lost contact.

But his cold world, his frozen existence, is about to melt into a fiery hell.

For Zach is about to discover that his father was a serial killer.

Can the craving for killing be passed down from parent to child? Does murder flow in his veins? What kind of legacy has been lurking in the shadows of his past, waiting to step out of the darkness and reveal his true nature? And who is the handsome, mysterious stranger Zach now finds himself falling for?

In the abandoned home of his childhood, the haunted visions of his past will once again become terrifyingly real.

And Zach will be forced to meet his fate—whoever he may be.

Book Review

Sometimes the past should just stay in the past – but not all of us have the luxury of following that principle. The main character of this story, a successful businessman named Zach, has issues even before everything begins to unravel: he can’t remember anything from when he was a child, he feels as though there are pieces of him that are missing, and his personal life is in shambles. Add a fight for promotion with a nasty colleague, the fact that he has a five-year-old daughter he never sees, and seemingly fruitless sessions with his therapist, and he is not a happy camper. When I started reading this book, I wasn’t sure how things could get worse – even though the blurb makes it quite clear that Zach discovering the truth about his father being a serial killer can’t be “good” by any stretch of the imagination. As for the details? The author did an excellent job showing me exactly how much worse things could get for Zach.

Things begin to fall apart for Zach when a potential client vanishes after a night of drinking and sleeping with Zach and Zach wakes up in the park, naked, in the arms of a stone angel. The client has vanished permanently, a mysterious woman appears and says she is Zach’s biological mother, and Zach faces the fact that his father was a serial killer. Added to the vanished client and some other odd events, he has to suspect he may be just as capable of murder as his father. It is the beginning of a harrowing journey for Zach where every answered question opens up new avenues of inquiry, and where every clue only leads to more twists and turns.

Zach has to turn into a detective as he follows the evidence of past and present mysteries. He uses logic and questions really well, except when his personal history is concerned – which makes sense because it is much more difficult to understand yourself than others. Zach faces betrayal from others and multiple obstacles with courage and a determination that I have to admire. Nothing is as it seems, and yet Zach is strong enough to keep going, no matter what happens.

Reading a story told by someone who doubts his sanity is hard – but writing it must be even harder, especially when everything that is explained in the end and has to make sense. The tone is dark and creepy and had me looking over my shoulder more than once, and all I could do was hang on for the ride. The mystery is well constructed, the resolution makes sense (but I could have never guessed the truth!), and some of the supporting characters are just as much an enigma as Zach himself. For me, this story is close to horror, but mostly of the psychological kind, which didn’t exactly make it easier for me to read.

If you like dark mysteries full of intrigue, subterfuge, and surprising revelations, if a mental and emotional journey is your thing, and if you’re looking for a spellbinding novel with multiple twists and turns as the main character tries to discover the truth about his past and himself, then you will probably like this novel. Be warned: it is intense, gets quite gruesome, and is almost impossible to put down.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 298 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	25-January-2017
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Harms-Way-Geoffrey-Knight-ebook/dp/B01N37ZUXU