Atmospheric police procedural is a stunning debut.
An aspiring writer takes a job at the Black Harbor police station to work as a transcriber. Hazel Greenlee is a troubled and introverted woman who is desperate to escape her life. When she becomes part of a murder inquiry and involved with Nik Kole, a detective assigned to the case, she feels that her real story is about to begin. As she writes details of the investigation into the novel she feels might just be her ticket out of Black Harbor, Hazel finds that she will do almost anything to make it real. Unfortunately, everyone lies.
The first thing that I must say about this book is that the writer is incredible. Her command of words makes the prose read like poetry. There are so many good lines within, I marked up the pages like a college student preparing for an exam. Although I didn't care much for the Hazel character, I did find her narrative quite compelling. The whole atmosphere of the town of Black Harbor was a great setting for this type of novel. I did learn a new word that I am dying to use -- hiraeth -- which is a Welsh term for describing a certain type of nostalgia: "longing for somewhere or someone who no longer exists as they were."
I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I am going to read any future books by this author.
This is the first in a series of novels set in Black Harbor, Wisconsin.
Genre - mystery, police procedural, crime thriller, suspense
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