The Icehouse by JJ Richards, is a serial killer murder mystery. This book is the beginning of a series. I got an ARC of the ebook version of the book through BookSirens. The ebook version will be available on September 30th, but you can get the paperback version now.
Jonathan Walker is a senior detective in Northern England. He comes back a bit early from medical leave when he’s drawn back into work by a murder that is eerily similar to his sister’s murder when they were kids. When another body shows up, it’s clear that there’s a serial killer. Walker is especially driven to find the killer because he hopes that it will lead to finding his sister’s killer.
My Thoughts
Overall, this is an interesting book. It does start a bit slowly, though, and there were other parts of the story that dragged on a bit. This book is listed at 336 pages, so it’s on the longer side. It probably could have been about 15-20 pages shorter without the plot being negatively impacted.
The book also includes several really long paragraphs. I read the book on my Kindle, and maybe they wouldn’t have felt so long in a traditional paperback format. As it was, the long paragraphs sometimes made it hard to read because a paragraph would start on one screen, drag through the whole next screen, and then end on a third screen. No, I wasn’t reading it in a particularly large font size. Some of these long paragraphs could have easily been condensed or separated into two or more paragraphs. Since I got an ARC of the book, these issues may have been resolved before the official publication of the book.
Pulled Me In
The plot was great. I found myself guessing throughout the story who would turn out to be the killer. About a chapter and a half before the killer was revealed, it hit me who it was. I just wasn’t sure of the motive.
This book does include swearing. I’ve read books with a lot more swearing, though. There are a few little sexual innuendos, but nothing that’s likely to make a reader uncomfortable or that would cause most people to quit reading the book. There are a few characters who are brutally murdered, but the details of those murders are behind-the-scenes. I’d consider the violence on the upper end of mild when it comes to a murder mystery novel. If you enjoy murder mysteries, you’re unlikely to be bothered by any of the murders.
Did It End on a Cliffhanger?
One concern I have when it comes to books that are in series is how the book is going to end. I am 100% fine with a book that leaves me wanting to read the next book in the series so I can know what happens next. I am not okay with a book where the story ends in the middle of the plot in such a way that I can only assume that the author wrote the whole book and then randomly ripped it into two (or more parts) so the book could be published as more than one book.
If, like me, you hate the cliffhangers where you just don’t feel like the plot has any resolution, you’ll be happy to know that this was not the case with this book. Am I drawn into the plot enough that I want to read the next book? Yes. Was this case resolved? Yes. Are all the loose ends tied up? No. Would I recommend this book? Yes.
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