Alaina Urquhart

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.

The Butcher and the Wren

Cortni Bell

Great story. I can’t wait for the next one but a couple things to fix. 
1. We (Louisiana) have parishes not counties. 
2. New Orleans is below sea level, there are no basements. No one especially in South Louisiana has basements.

Andrea Profit

Amazing book. Kept me at the edge of my seat and craving to constantly read it. I finished it in about 2 days. I couldn't put it down.

Denaiir

Hope I would like it since I'm a big fan of serial killer books, but man the writing was bad... I kept reading it out loud to my husband in disbelief. I mean: "Like an apparition, he appears in front of her, and her eyes are wild with fear"... This needed better editing. 
There is zero character development, the setting is extremely generic, and the plot is rushed. It took me forever to finish, the present tense also didn't help, it felt simplistic.
Only giving it 2 stars because of the plot twist, which I really enjoyed.

It was a page turner for sure! But the writing was not the best 

Kristen G

Story fell a little bit flat to me, I don't usually read horror/thrillers but picked this one because I listen to the author's podcast. I don't think the twist was executed super well, I found it very confusing and seemed like it came out of nowhere. I did think the descriptions of the antagonist's crimes were compelling though.

Caroline Piephoff

The book starts out slow, coming off a bit disjointed with the way each chapter flips between the killer and the pathologist. Slowly, you get used to it. And slowly, it picks up speed and starts getting more and more suspenseful. You hit the end full speed and then instantly want to keep going. 

Katheryn

As debuts go this one was very enjoyable and was very fast paced to read. Sure the writing could use some improvement, but as first books go it wasn't that bad. I can't wait to see what else Alaina comes up with! 

Marisa

Jenna Pascale 

HEY WEIRDOS!!! 

As an avid Morbid listener from day one, I cannot even begin to put into words the level of excitement I’ve had waiting to get my hands on this book. 

I should also note that I was EXTREMELY nervous to read this book because, you know, what if I didn’t love it? BUT I LOVED IT! 

ALAINA! listening to you and Ash banter has been my favorite pastime behind reading books like my life depends on it for the past three plus years. When I found out about this book, I nearly cried tears of joy. I have quite literally been counting down the days for this beauty of a book to land on my doorstep. 

Since I opened the book, I’ve been swapping my free time between listening to Morbid and reading TBATW.

Here’s everything I loved: 
- writing style was perfectly descriptive without going overboard 
- NOLA setting 
- the ME/detective duo 
- THAT PLOT TWIST! 
- alternate POV’s 

This was a book that had me hooked from the very beginning and I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve read a book that sucked me in so quickly. Easily a book that can be read in one sitting if life allows for it. But if it doesn’t, just be like me and pick it up every chance you get it and then cry because you wish you didn’t read it as quickly as you did. 

I would have liked to feel as little bit more thrill when reading Jeremy’s POV’s but I will admit it fell short there. This read more like a police procedural than it did a thriller or horror. 

The ending killed me. Truthfully. But in a good way. That’s all I’ll say about that. 

In short, I need more Wren Muller content ASAP (but also take your time, you genius perfect podcast host/author/fellow spoopy soul) 

I can go on and on but I’ll just be quiet now. 

Keep it weird! 👻

Melyssa Tromberg 

mind empty but also terrified this book is amazing, alexa play somebody’s watching me by rockwell 

belle

Olivia Cluff

I really liked this book! It was a nice quick read. However, I felt like the ending was rushed and that is why I gave it 4 stars.

I was so amazed by this book. It was so well done that the first part of the book were different time periods. And I was so not prepared for the Emily bit. For a first book it was good, and that's from someone who's read multiple crime/murder/psychological thriller books. And I love the podcast and suggest everyone gives it a listen 

Hope Aaron 

Read this in just a few hours. I quite enjoyed the premise, and the twist was nice! I did sort of figure it out before/as it happened but I loved how it was fleshed out. For a debut novel I felt like it was pretty well write. I'd definitely read more if we got another one!

Ashley Hernandez

I liked the general plot of the book, but you can definitely tell that this is the author’s first book. The writing has room for improvement.

The Butcher and the Wren

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