March 18, 2024
Criminologist Solvinic debuts with a propulsive thriller about a young detective’s harrowing family history. Anna Kory, a lieutenant with a rural Midwestern sheriff’s department, is a good cop—empathetic and efficient. One night, she’s called to a domestic disturbance, where she’s shot and wounded by a wild-eyed man. Anna fires back, killing him. The incident awakens long-repressed memories from her childhood: Anna’s father, Stephen, was the “Forest Strangler,” a serial killer who kidnapped young women and ritualistically killed them as offerings to the “Forest God.” After he was arrested, a nine-year-old Anna was adopted by a family in a different state and her memories were erased via hypnosis. Not long after the adult Anna is released from the hospital following the shooting, a young woman is found dead with her body arranged in a manner that echoes the Forest Strangler’s slayings. As Anna investigates, she starts receiving disturbing anonymous emails that raise a terrifying question: Is the young woman’s murder the work of a copycat, or has her father returned? Solvinic is remarkably assured for a first-timer, lacing the action with elegant descriptions of the rural landscape and enough valid suspects to keep the pot boiling. Readers will look forward to this promising suspense author’s next outing. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Assoc.
September 13, 2024
Criminologist Solvinic's suspenseful debut novel follows Deputy Sheriff Anna Koray, whose most recent investigation is troublingly similar to a grisly case involving her own father. Anna is the daughter of a serial killer--the Forest Strangler--but she has changed her name and suppressed memories of his deeds with the help of a child psychologist. After being shot in the line of duty, she is horrified when her memories resurface, and she begins to dream of her father, covered in blood and surrounded by the bodies of dead young women. Anna is even more troubled when similar killings start to surface. Could it be that there is a copycat killer out there? Someone clearly knows who Anna is, as she starts receiving upsetting messages. Will she be able to crack the case before she's exposed? Narrator Samantha Desz takes listeners through this intense police procedural, enhanced with supernatural horror and an unreliable narrator. Desz keeps the story moving, and her nuanced portrait of Anna's growing dread is satisfying. VERDICT A riveting story, combining elements of a psychological thriller and supernatural horror with discussions of mental health.--Victoria Kiszka
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