Release Date: February 1/2013
Adquired: Print ARC provided by publisher
Goodreads: ADD
Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository
Human Remains is a chilling, masterful thriller by New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Haynes that explores our darkest fears, showing how vulnerable we are—and how easily ordinary lives can fall apart when no one is watching.
Annabel, a police analyst, is shocked when she discovers her neighbor’s decomposing body in the house next door. And she’s appalled to think that no one noticed her absence.
Back at work, she sets out on her own to investigate, and finds that such cases are frighteningly common in her hometown.
A hymn to all the lonely and compelling characters that haunt our lives, Human Remains is a deeply disturbing and powerful novel of suspense from Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner.
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Why I don't read more crime fiction is BEYOND me, this genre use to be my home, one of the very things that propelled my love for reading. I didn't read YA when I was within the YA "age range," I read crime fiction, and mystery, and everything related to the storyline of whodunnit. That flame was rekindled with my beloved Gillian Flynn, and it seems like recently, I've been reading authors that have proven to be almost as compelling and talented. Elizabeth Haynes' Human Remains has joined that very camp, and I powered through this book without a second thought about time, nor the fact that I had to be up at 7am for work.Human Remains is a multiple perspective narrative (ha! 5 times fast), jogging between main characters and "victims"-the need for quotations on that word becoming more and more clear as the story progresses. It opens with Annabel, where we are given the perverse pleasure of witnessing, alongside her, the first of many morbid discoveries: her very dead, and very decomposed next door neighbour. What follows is an obsession, for Annabel, for the male lead Colin, who creeped me out to no end, and for the supposed victims involved in these heinous discoveries.
I was prepared to be mind boggled, and while the twists were deliciously horrible, I have to admit that I wish they had waited longer to arrive. Understanding dawned on me pretty early on in the book, whether that was intentional on the author's part, I'm not quite sure, though it didn't take anything away from the remaining pages. I thought the choice to let us into the victim's minds was genius, and added a whole new angle to the madness. If you read Elizabeth Hayne's bio on Goodreads, you'll learn that she is currently a Police Intelligence Analyst, which translates loudly into this novel. At times, the police lingo and descriptions went WAY over my head, but all the same, it was absolutely fascinating to get a glimpse into this sector of crime.
If ever there was a need to read some solid mystery/crime fiction, Elizabeth Haynes is your go-to author. I can't wait to get my hands on her other books! Human Remains was well researched, and intensely descriptive. A word of advice: Do NOT read this on a full stomach, some of the imagery in here is highly disturbing, though I can guarantee one hell of a ride!
Recommended for Fans of: Gillian Flynn, Crime Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers.
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Elizabeth Haynes has quite the success story! Read her entire bio on website HERE.
Contact Links:
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Thank-you to Trish from TLC Book Tours for hosting this tour, and to Harper Paperbacks for sending me a print ARC to review!
CLICK HERE to follow the rest of the tour
"I didn't read YA when I was within the YA "age range," I read crime fiction, and mystery, and everything related to the storyline of whodunnit." ME TOO! Crime fiction/mysteries have always been my go-to when I'm in a reading slump for that very reason. This book sounds fantastic. Thanks for being on the tour!
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