Review - The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart #NetGalley #AlainaUrquhart #ZandoProjects

I want to thank NetGalley and Zando Projects for the opportunity to read and review The Butcher and The Wren by Alaina Urquhart.

I sooo love the cover. There is something about eyes that fascinates me.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

First off, a round of applause to Alaina Urquhart for her debut novel, The Butcher and the Wren. I am suitably impressed. I loved the title, but once I saw the cover, I had to have it. And the fact that there is something dark lurking in a Louisiana bayou, oh yeah. Just keeps getting better. I love when authors draw on their experiences to pen their work. It helps create a sense of reality, filled with accurate details, enriching my reading experience.

I love that Detective Leroux, who Wren works with to solve serial killer cases, is a bit different from the usual police officer, and you will need to find that out for yourself.

I love the way Alaina Urquhart wrote The Butcher and the Wren, because when I found out what really happened to Emily in the beginning of the book, I was about sixty percent and it hit me hard. I think I see what’s coming and it would have been too easy to see if she hadn’t written this the way she did.

Books like this is why I keep my ‘heavy’ drapes closed.

I would love for part of the book to be fleshed out more, more detail, more evil. I missed the cringing, spinetingling menace that oozes off a five star read, for me.

I must warn you, though. It isn’t a fingertip dangling cliffhanger, but you will need the next book to know the ending. I wish authors and publishers would make that known from the getgo. I look forward to seeing how Alaina Urquhart’s writing career develops and what the outcome will be for Wren and her fellow characters.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart.

GOODREADS BLURB

From the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast Morbid, a thrilling debut novel told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious serial killer and the medical examiner following where his trail of victims leads

Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.

But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner’s office, she’s never encountered a case she couldn’t solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up on Wren’s examination table, and soon she is sucked into an all-consuming cat-and-mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day.

An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.

ABOUT ALAINA URQUHART (From Amazon)

Alaina Urquhart is the science-loving co-host of the chart-topping show Morbid: A True Crime Podcast. As an autopsy technician by trade, she offers a unique perspective from deep inside the morgue. Alaina hails from Boston, where she lives with her wonderful husband, John, their three amazing daughters, and a ghost puggle named Bailey. She is about 75 percent coffee, and truly believes she and Agent Clarice Starling could be friends.

Before writing her first psychological horror novel, she received degrees in criminal justice, psychology, and biology. When she isn’t hosting Morbid, she hosts the Parcast original show Crime Countdown, and a horror movie podcast called Scream! Her days are usually spent either recording or eviscerating. The way she sees it, when she hangs up her microphone for the day, it’s time to let the dead speak.