Alice Blanchard has brought readers another perfect-for-fall atmospheric thriller, continuing the series that began with Trace of Evil. I was immediately excited to be back in the world of Burning Lake, New York with Detective Natalie Lockhart. I can’t say exactly why I was so drawn to this character, but having also been a young woman in the criminal justice field, I could see myself in Natalie and she comes across as someone I would easily be friends with. All of Blanchard’s characters in this story seem very real, and very true to themselves.
The Wicked Hour contains a new mystery, which fittingly begins on Halloween night, but leads Detective Lockhart and the Burning Lake PD to discover a dark history of seemingly unconnected disappearances. However, a large part of the book, and something I found unique and exciting, was the amount of time Blanchard gives her characters to grieve and process the events that took place in Trace of Evil. No spoilers here, but that entire book, and the ending in particular, contain events that have long lasting effects on multiple different characters, in many different ways. If that were to happen in real life, people would need time to deal with those issues, but at the same time keep working on new and different cases, in their new and different realities. I love that Blanchard showed that in this book. Throughout The Wicked Hour, the reader will see examples of PTSD, of how grief stays with us and pops up at unexpected times, and how different people may choose different ways to deal with the exact same event.
As we see Detective Lockhart start to connect these previously unconnected disappearances, we see her begin to question the world around her in a new way. Perhaps it is because of the grief she is still dealing with, or maybe she is just growing as a detective and learning that no one is really above suspicion. Lockhart takes what happens in her town very personally, be it good or bad. It is honestly a thrill to watch her work.
A quick note about spoilers: You can read The Wicked Hour without having read Trace of Evil, though you will be missing some very significant background information about why the characters feel and act in specific ways. I would say that you could go back and read it later, but most of the events of Trace of Evil will be “spoiled” within the story of The Wicked Hour, so it would be tough to go back and read them in reverse order. This is one of those instances where it really will be a much better experience, as a reader, if you read these two (and hopefully many more to come) in the order that they were written.
The Wicked Hour is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up The Wicked Hour? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
The day after Burning Lake’s notorious, debauched Halloween celebration, Detective Natalie Lockhart uncovers a heartbreaking scene—a young woman, dead and lying in a dumpster. There’s no clue to who she is, save for a mystifying tattoo on her arm, and a callus underneath her chin. She’s not from around here. No one knows who she is.
As Natalie retraces the young woman’s steps leading up to her death, she uncovers a deeper, darker horror—a string of murders and disappearances, seemingly unconnected, that may have ties to each other—and explain the abrupt disappearance of her best friend years ago.
As she digs deeper within the mind of the hunter, Natalie finds a darkness she could never have imagined. And as she draws closer to the truth, the killer is weaving a trap for her that may prove inescapable.
