Cynthia Pelayo

This horrifying retelling of the Pied Piper fairytale set in present-day Chicago is an edge of your seat, chills up the spine, thrill ride. ‪ When Detective Lauren Medina sees the calling card at a murder scene in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, she knows the Pied Piper has returned. When another teenager is brutally murdered at the same lagoon where her sister's body was found floating years before, she is certain that the Pied Piper is not just back, he's looking for payment he's owed from her. Lauren's torn between protecting the city she has sworn to keep safe, and keeping a promise she made long ago with her sister's murderer. She may have to ruin her life by exposing her secrets and lies to stop the Pied Piper before he collects.

Children of Chicago

          I have been making my way through the authors that attended the Scarelastic Book Fair in March of 2024.  I wish I had been able to purchase a book from each of them, but my finances just didn’t have that kind of space, so I’ve been working through the majority of them through my local library.  There has been a lot of hit and miss with these authors: some of them have not been my cup of tea, while others have been pretty impressive  Every time I start a new book by one of these authors, I have no idea what I’m getting into, but I genuinely hope it will be one that I enjoy. 

            This one took me completely by surprise.  I started this one after finishing one that I found to be truly terrible, so my hopes were pretty low (I’m so sorry!).  This one had an early feel of a seedy police drama, which was the first thing that surprised me.  I didn’t expect to open a horror and begin reading what felt like a cop procedural.  The introduction of the supernatural element was intentionally slow, which increased the drama of the story.  I wasn’t exactly on the edge of my seat, but I was intrigued.  The gradual reveal of the “enemy” was probably my favorite thing about this book.  I had a good idea that the killer the police were searching for was not a human, but Pelayo dragged that out till the end of the book. 

            I thoroughly enjoyed the tie-in with an old fairy tale.  The Pied Piper is a terrible tale all by itself, Pelayo didn’t have to try hard to turn it into a modern horror.  However, Pelayo did turn it into a deliciously suspenseful supernatural thriller that I had a hard time putting down.  She also did a FANTASTIC job of making sure I wanted to read the next one. 

Kristen Claiborn

          I have been making my way through the authors that attended the Scarelastic Book Fair in March of 2024.  I wish I had been able to purchase a book from each of them, but my finances just didn’t have that kind of space, so I’ve been working through the majority of them through my local library.  There has been a lot of hit and miss with these authors: some of them have not been my cup of tea, while others have been pretty impressive  Every time I start a new book by one of these authors, I have no idea what I’m getting into, but I genuinely hope it will be one that I enjoy. 

            This one took me completely by surprise.  I started this one after finishing one that I found to be truly terrible, so my hopes were pretty low (I’m so sorry!).  This one had an early feel of a seedy police drama, which was the first thing that surprised me.  I didn’t expect to open a horror and begin reading what felt like a cop procedural.  The introduction of the supernatural element was intentionally slow, which increased the drama of the story.  I wasn’t exactly on the edge of my seat, but I was intrigued.  The gradual reveal of the “enemy” was probably my favorite thing about this book.  I had a good idea that the killer the police were searching for was not a human, but Pelayo dragged that out till the end of the book. 

            I thoroughly enjoyed the tie-in with an old fairy tale.  The Pied Piper is a terrible tale all by itself, Pelayo didn’t have to try hard to turn it into a modern horror.  However, Pelayo did turn it into a deliciously suspenseful supernatural thriller that I had a hard time putting down.  She also did a FANTASTIC job of making sure I wanted to read the next one. 

ONE OF THE "MOST ANTICIPATED CRIME BOOKS OF 2021"—CrimeReads ONE OF THE "MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASES OF 2021"—Book Riot ONE OF "2021'S MOST ANTICIPATED NEW RELEASES"—Books in The Freezer This horrifying retelling of the Pied Piper fairytale set in present-day Chicago is an edge of your seat, chills up the spine, thrill ride. ‪ When Detective Lauren Medina sees the calling card at a murder scene in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, she knows the Pied Piper has returned. When another teenager is brutally murdered at the same lagoon where her sister’s body was found floating years before, she is certain that the Pied Piper is not just back, he’s looking for payment he’s owed from her. Lauren’s torn between protecting the city she has sworn to keep safe, and keeping a promise she made long ago with her sister’s murderer. She may have to ruin her life by exposing her secrets and lies to stop the Pied Piper before he collects.

Loved the story and the Chicago history, but I wanted to know the characters more, and the horror wouldve been stronger if the tension really built over time.

Amelia Hruby

Lauren Attaway

This book had a great premise and is so well researched! While it ultimately was not the read I expected, I did appreciate all of the history lessons included.

Children of Chicago

Reviews