6.20.2022 | Monday

Trace of Evil

category: Book Reviews
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Trace of Eviltitle: Trace of Evil
author: Alice Blanchard
series: Natalie Lockhart #1
published: 3 December 2019
publisher: Minotaur Books
genre(s): thrillers
pages: 370
source: library
format: hardcover
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

rating: five-stars | series rating: five-stars

the blurb

An IndieNext Pick! "Gripping...Blanchard keeps the tension high." - Associated PressFrom Alice Blanchard, the author of the New York Times Notable mystery novel Darkness Peering comes Trace of Evil, first in an evocative new series about a small New York town, its deeply held secrets, and the woman determined to uncover them, no matter what the cost.

There’s something wicked in Burning Lake…

Natalie Lockhart is a rookie detective in Burning Lake, New York, an isolated town known for its dark past. Tasked with uncovering the whereabouts of nine missing transients who have disappeared over the years, Natalie wrestles with the town’s troubled history – and the scars left by her sister’s unsolved murder years ago.
Then Daisy Buckner, a beloved schoolteacher, is found dead on her kitchen floor, and a suspect immediately comes to mind. But it’s not that simple. The suspect is in a coma, collapsed only hours after the teacher’s death, and it turns out Daisy had secrets of her own. Natalie knows there is more to the case, but as the investigation deepens, even she cannot predict the far-reaching consequences – for the victim, for the missing of Burning Lake, and for herself.


my review

This is my first book by Alice Blanchard, and it has completely hooked me. The town of Burning Lake reminds me so much of the small town I grew up in, with a side of Salem. The setting is what drew me to pick up the book, but the author has created an interesting cast of characters, a twisty, turny mystery, and so much anticipation that it kept me turning the pages. A lot happens in this book, a current case that becomes entangled with cold cases, but it never becomes confusing.

This book has everything… secrets, witchcraft, emotion. At its heart, it’s a police procedural, but there is so much more with the added elements of witchcraft and the exploration of dark magic. There was such a suspenseful air about the story, which I absolutely craved! A gripping read!

About Alice Blanchard

Alice Blanchard is the award-winning author of the Natalie Lockhart mystery series and acclaimed standalone thrillers, “Darkness Peering” and “The Breathtaker.” She has received a PEN Award, a New Letters Literary Award, a Centrum Fellowship, and the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for her writing.

Rating Report
plot
five-stars
characters
five-stars
writing
four-half-stars
pacing
five-stars
Overall: five-stars

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