Holly Rae Garcia

Come Join the Murder

Jo Buchanan

** spoiler alert **
           Synopsis:
"Rebecca Crow’s four-year-old son is dead, and her husband is missing.

Divers find her husband’s car at the bottom of a canal with their son’s small, lifeless body, inside. The police have no suspects and nothing to go on but a passing mention of a man driving a van. Guilt and grief cloud Rebecca’s thoughts as she stumbles towards her only mission: Revenge.

James Porter knows exactly what happened to them, but he’ll do anything to keep it a secret.

James didn’t plan to kill Rebecca’s son, but he’s not too broken up about it, either. There are more important things for him to worry about. He needs money, and his increasing appetite for murder is catching the attention of a nosy detective."


MY REVIEW:

WOW. When I read the synopsis of this book at first, I was not sure how I would handle it being a mom of toddlers. Child death is so incredibly hard to read for me. I was right. It was still really hard to get through. I had to take it slow reading through the tough parts.
This book really hooks you from the first sentence until the last. The way Holly details everything is just incredible. It follows Rebecca after losing her son and her husband gone missing. Playing on parent’s worst fears is always intriguing to read, because depending on the author, you can really feel yourself in the story. That is exactly how it felt reading this book. I felt the grief, the all consuming pain and anger that Rebecca was going through. I really look forward to read more from this author soon. The craziest part for me was reading from James’ point of view, knowing what he did and it not bothering him. Knowing it would feed the evil growing inside him. I love stories that tell points of view from both sides.

Thank you to Blackthorn Book Tours and Holly Rae Garcia for this opportunity to read and review!

Anika | @chaptersofmay

A copy of this book was gifted by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Come Join the Murder takes place during the summer in a small town in Texas. Rebecca’s husband, Jon, and son, Oliver, are mysteriously killed during a mugging and Rebecca is hell-bent on seeking revenge. After their death, she spends her days plotting payback and frantically searching for the man who killed her family. The mission consumes every aspect of her life as she grows more and more desperate.

The chapters switch between the POV of Rebecca, and James, a local criminal who gets by on stealing money from others and killing them afterwards. I actually didn’t hate James as much as I think I was supposed to. Yes, he’s a thief, and yes, he gets a thrill from taking the lives of others, but the author managed to humanise him, so much that I felt bad for him at some points in the book. 

Rebecca’s switch from neurotic to unhinged progresses steadily through the book, and made the plot more exciting. Her determination took over any grief she still harboured, as she convinced herself she was close to finding the killer. The constant up and down she experienced translated really well in the story, and made the plot more stimulating to follow. She essentially became a vigilante, avenging her son and husband’s death.

The author brilliantly balanced tension and emotion in the book. Some moments were so intense I was almost scared to keep reading, and that’s what makes a gripping thriller. If it was a film, I’d be watching through my fingers. I read this book and literally said “Well, I didn’t see that coming,” out loud. A good book is a book that makes you talk to yourself, and reading this had me in full conversation.

However, it did seem easy for some of the crimes in the book to take place. When they were being committed, the risk of being caught wasn’t there, which meant they didn’t feel as tense. There never seemed to be news of DNA or ballistics from the weapons. Maybe the police in that particular town just aren’t very good at their job.

One thing I can confidently say about Come Join the Murder is that it’s brilliantly written. Even if the plot was lacking (which it isn’t), I really liked the author’s writing style and thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. She was descriptive without losing the essence of the meaning, and made each scene easy to picture.

Garcia is a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, Richard Matheson and Stephen King, and that is evident in her writing. I could easily see this book as a short binge-worthy series. From beginning to end, I was hooked, and I genuinely loved reading Come Join the Murder.

Come Join the Murder

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