Darlene's Book Nook: #Audiobook #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley @NabenRuthnum ‏@SimonAudio #CanadianAuthor

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

#Audiobook #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley @NabenRuthnum ‏@SimonAudio #CanadianAuthor

TITLE: Find You in the Dark

AUTHOR: Nathan Ripley

NARRATOR: Corey Brill

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Audio

PUBLICATION DATE: June 19, 2018

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook

LENGTH: 10 hrs and 25 mins

GENRE: Mystery
ISBN: 9781508254447

In this chilling debut thriller, in the vein of Dexter and The Talented Mr. Ripley, a family man obsessed with digging up the undiscovered remains of serial killer victims catches the attention of a murderer prowling the streets of Seattle.

Martin Reese is obsessed with murder.

For years, he has been illegally buying police files on serial killers and studying them in depth, using them as guides to find missing bodies. He doesn’t take any souvenirs, just photos that he stores in an old laptop, and then he turns in the results to the police anonymously. Martin sees his work as a public service, a righting of wrongs that cops have continuously failed to do.

Detective Sandra Whittal sees it differently. On a meteoric rise in police ranks due to her case-closing efficiency, Whittal is suspicious of the mysterious caller—the Finder, she names him—leading the police to the bodies. Even if the Finder isn’t the one leaving bodies behind, who’s to say that he won’t start soon?

On his latest dig, Martin searches for the first kill of Jason Shurn, the early 1990s murderer who may have been responsible for the disappearance of his sister-in-law, whom he never met. But when he arrives at the site, he finds a freshly killed body—a young and recently disappeared Seattle woman—lying among remains that were left there decades ago. Someone else knew where Jason Shurn buried his victims . . . and that someone isn’t happy that Martin has been going around digging up his work.

When a crooked cop with a tenuous tie to Martin vanishes, Whittal begins to zero in on the Finder. Hunted by a real killer and by Whittal, Martin realizes that in order to escape the killer’s trap, he may have to go deeper into the world of murder than he ever thought.

MY REVIEW:

This was a dark and thrilling ride, and I hope that Naben Ruthnum continues to write more books as Nathan Ripley!

The story starts off with Bella, a young woman who has recently cleaned up her life and gotten off drugs. Someone is watching her and, before she can react, a syringe is plunged into her neck.

Then we meet Martin, who made his fortune working in the technology field. He is married to Ellen, and they have a teenage daughter named Kylie. Since Martin doesn't have to work to earn a living anymore, he has found a better use of his time which is solving crime. Specifically, he tries to find the buried remains of female serial killer victims on cold cases. He buys his information from someone who works in the police department, and he sets off on somewhat of a scavenger hunt. When he finds what he is looking for, he uses a computer-generated voice to inform the police of the GPS coordinates where the victim can be found. Does his obsession have anything to do with the fact that his wife's sister vanished 20 years ago and is believed to be the victim of a serial killer? Yes, that's part of it. Does Ellen know what her husband is up to on these trips? No, definitely not! She thinks that he's away camping.

When I picked this one up, I actually had no idea that this was by a Canadian author so that was a pleasant bonus. I liked the sound of it, and I was not disappointed. It was dark and twisted and very suspenseful. Yes, Martin is a little bit "off" and is probably in need of some psychological help but he also has some redeeming qualities.

Corey Brill is a new-to-me narrator, and I thought he was excellent. His voice truly captured the darkness of the characters and the story. If you're looking for a chilling thriller to listen to on these chilly autumn evenings, this is the one!! Here is a sample of the narration:

MY RATING: