Review: Don’t Tell A Soul, by D.K Hood. 3 stars

MY REVIEW:

3 stars

Thank You NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There is a lot going on with Don’t Tell A Soul… probably too much. I was really excited to read it based on the description, some awesome reviews, along with the first fifteen pages or so.  But, after that it was kind of rocky for me. It took me quite a while to get through this book, and it drove me nuts that I couldn’t just get attached enough to finish it faster. Some parts sucked me right in and were SO well written, but then some parts I really had to force myself to get through.

For the first half of the book I blamed it on a reading slump, but once I got over halfway through I realized it wasn’t me so much, as my dislike for the main characters and the chaos of too many angles contributing to the suspense. I would have been happy if it would have only been about the missing people with regular ol’ police force on the case, rather than both the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff having such outrageous backstories. Their characters felt a little too convenient, and yet still rather irritatingly inconsistent.

There are two factors I loved about this book: 1. The opening was creative and sharp and it sucked me right in. 2. Each time it jumped into the disappeared victim’s stories, it was absolutely engaging. (if D.K. Hood ever wrote a horror story without the investigative aspect, I’d be the first in line to read it!!!)

Now, I really hate writing reviews that just list all the things I don’t like, so I’ll cut this short. Jenna’s character I struggled with. Sometimes she was a rock solid, brilliantly a don’t mess with me type, and I loved that… But then she would flip a switch and make weird rookie mistakes and turn into a helpless damsel. As for Kane, he drove me insane. All technical (paranoid over-thinker type), no personality.

At this point I’m about 70% sure I’ll read the next in the series. But, only because of the aspects I liked, I REALLY liked… Also out of curiosity in the potential that D.K. Hood’s writing truly has.. Not so much emotional or personal investment in the story.

DESCRIPTION:

When a body is found stuffed into a barrel at the local dump, covered in long red cuts, Detective Jenna Alton and her new deputy, David Kane, rush to the scene.

Nothing ever happens in the small town of Black Rock Falls, so Jenna believes the victim must be one of two recent missing persons, and she fears for the life of the other.

Both were strangers to the town, but there’s nothing else to link them. Jenna knows someone must have seen something, but no one’s talking; how well does she really know the people around her?

Then a disturbing clue makes Jenna suspect a connection with other disappearances in the town’s history. Just when she begins asking the right questions, she realises she’s being followed. Is she next on the killer’s list?

In a race against time, Jenna and David must unlock the dark secret at the heart of the town, before it’s too late…