Review: In Case I Go Missing by R.N. Swann

In Case I Go Missing

by R.N. Swann

Release Date: May 26, 2026

2026 Viking Books for Young Readers

Ebook ARC; 400 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593695333

ASIN:  ‎ B0FNVY6N8V

Audiobook: B0GR8CP6MK

Genre: Fiction / YA / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Seventeen-year-old Fenny Allen has been Sarah Vincenty's sidekick for as long as she can remember, ever since the two of them solved the mystery of the stolen library books back in elementary school. Over the years, Sarah has ruffled a few feathers in their small town, building a reputation as both an amateur detective and a vigilante who has dispensed her own form of justice.

Now Sarah is missing. The police have written her off as yet another teen runaway, but Fenny is convinced that something more sinister has happened. When she discovers a binder Sarah left behind entitled In Case I Go Missing, Fenny learns that at the time of her disappearance, Sarah was investigating her biggest case yet.

Fenny knows that it's up to her to finish what Sarah had begun. As she and her friend Sam piece together the clues that Sarah left for them, they find themselves up against a decades-old mystery—one that links to the town's dark history. But is this binder a guide to finding Sarah—or are Fenny and Sam already too late?

 

My Thoughts

In Case I Go Missing was an intriguing YA mystery that focused on the disappearance of a friend as the other two friends in their friend group learn she was secretly investigating a case on her own. This book had quite a few twists and turns, but what intrigued me the most was the effect Sarah's disappearance had on the friendship of the two left behind and how it affected them going forward. Yes, there were a lot of secrets exposed in the town and the investigation was interesting, but I really enjoyed the human element behind Sarah's disappearance and how everyone reacted to it.

 

The story is told from Fenny's POV, but this is one time I wish we also had Sam's POV as I found his character to be quite as interesting as Fenny's and would have loved knowing his thoughts and insights. Fenny was quite capable and very determined to find out what happened to her friend, but I also loved how she wasn't reckless or stupid in her investigation, knowing when to keep her counsel, when to get the police involved and not keep clues to herself, and being smart. I really enjoyed the relationship between Fenny and Sam and am so, so, so glad the author didn't make their relationship a romantic one, but stuck to a platonic one as it would have felt so out of context for the story.  Both of them had major struggles going on and I am glad the author didn't ignore those struggles and took the time to focus on them and intertwine them with Sarah's investigation.

 

I became quite invested in this investigation and I have to credit the author's writing style for that. It was definitely a suspenseful murder mystery, but it was so much more than that as the clues Sarah left behind for Sam and Fenny allowed the author to reflect on the power of friendship and how well friends can really know each other.  This shone through the events and gave Fenny and Sam purpose as they found clues that only they would recognize and understood that Sarah was not necessarily ignoring them, but protecting them.  I did suspect quite early on what had happened, but that was okay. The author kept the tension high from pretty much the first page of the book and didn't let you relax until the last page and managed to pull all the different threads floating around into one interesting ending. It might seem a bit chaotic at times, but upon reflection, there was purpose behind everything in this book. There were multiple themes running through this book; loyalty, friendship, the unraveling of family legacy and secrets, neglect, murder, trust, the conflict between justice and revenge, loneliness, death, and the list goes on.  

 

Verdict

In Case I Go Missing was an unpredictable book and I was not sure in which direction it was going for most of it, but at the same time this was an accessible book and definitely written with the YA audience in mind.  Both the plot and character development were good, and the tension never really let up right from the first page. Yes, naturally there were some cliche moments and there were some tropes used, but they didn't interfere with the scope of the story nor did they interfere with the twists and turns of the story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a tension-filled mystery and I am looking forward to reading more works by this author.

 

Review: One Second Away by Rick Mofina

One Second Away

by Rick Mofina

Release Date: April 28, 2026

2026 Doubleday Canada

Softcover ARC; 400 Pages

ISBN: 978-0385701983

ASIN: B0FJ7YXY96

Audiobook: B0FJBDDJGZ

Genre: Fiction / Thriller

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.75 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

One sunny day in California, Jessie is hugging her nine-year-old son, Dylan, goodbye at the airport. He's travelling by himself, all the way across the country, to visit his father, Jessie's soon-to-be ex-husband, and his grandparents. Several hours later, Jessie gets a frantic call from Dylan's grandmother in New York. Dylan is missing.

In a second, Jessie's world turns upside down. The AirTag she'd stuck in his backpack says he's still at LAX. The airline insists that he was picked up at JFK by an elderly couple claiming to be his grandparents—but Jessie's in-laws insist they haven't seen him. Dylan has disappeared into thin air.

At the same moment, miles away, in Toronto, a train operator loses control of a subway train, and the fiery crash injures dozens of passengers. Jessie doesn’t know it yet, but this crash is inextricably linked to Dylan's disappearance. She has to find out how—and where her son is.

 

My Thoughts

One Second Away is one of those books that I read with a lot of trepidation as it took several of my fears and put them into one book: one, the fear of losing a child; two, the fear of being in train/plane collision; and three, having no control over any of it. This author grabbed your attention with a train crash right at the beginning of the book and pretty much never let up on the tension from that point on. 

 

While I enjoyed this quite a bit, I did struggle with Jessie as a main character.  I could certainly forgive her abrasiveness when wanting to know more information from the police about her missing child, but it irks me to no end when a person thinks they have a right to know everything and even barges in on a scene that is being criminally investigated and could compromise evidence. This was Jessie. Don't be Jessie. While brilliant when it comes to computers (something I'll come back to in a moment), she was not very good with personal relationships. While I understood her being abrasive with the police as they thought she was a suspect, she was like that with her friends as well. And for such a brilliant computer coder/designer, she spent most of her time running around the country like a chicken with her head cut off rather than doing any of her brilliant computer stuff. I know she had a team to help her, but why wouldn't she help them too? Why wouldn't she at least try to take some of the information herself and try to figure it out? She kept hinting at how it could be personal, so why share everything she had with others when they may not be trustworthy? I just didn't get it. 

 

Where this book really shines however, is the plot. This is not a character-driven story by any means, so the fast, tension-filled plot redeems the lack of character development. This is one of those books I kept picturing as a movie as it moved pretty quickly and the tension never let up. And I kept thinking of the movie Speed, how fun it was, but how silly some of the scenes were because you had to suspend belief for a lot of the movie. This is exactly the way it was in this book. Great action scenes, but you just had to go with it. I didn't find it difficult to figure out the culprit(s) in this book, but as I mentioned the character development was one-dimensional, at best.

 

Verdict

One Second Away was a fun, propulsive thriller that was heavy on tension and plot, but light on character and character development. You had to suspend belief quite a few times and just go with it, but that was okay, although I am sure those with more technological know-how might have different thoughts about this. I liked how the author managed to pull all the threads together even if I thought the reason was flimsy in the end. If you like fast-paced thrillers, this one might be for you. 

 

Review: Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World by Patrick Wyman

Lost Worlds: How Humans Tries, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World

by Patrick Wyman

Release Date: May 5, 2026

2026 Harper

Ebook ARC; 464 Pages

ISBN: 978-0063256484

ASIN: B0FP9C8WB4

Audiobook: B0FPRNDH6J

Genre: Non-fiction / History / Anthropology

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

There’s a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity’s deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age—the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word.

In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn’t always replace foraging, villages didn’t automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn’t necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasn’t inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today.

 

My Thoughts

Lost Worlds is one of those books that I found quite interesting, both from the anthropological perspective as well as the archaeological perspective. When I took archaeology classes in university, I was one of those people that never accepted the linear development of a civilization as absolute as humans are far too complex for that to exist everywhere and in every society.  I sort of liken it to child development where there are many different paths to how a child learns to walk and not every child takes the same path. The grown of civilization is much more complex and spread around the world, so it just didn't make sense to me that societies would develop along the same pathways. This book takes a look a complex political and social organizations and how human progress wasn't linear and didn't necessarily follow identical paths from foraging to villages to cities. 

 

It follows a 10000-year span from the end of the Ice Age to the decline of the Bronze Age and because of the scope of the work as well as the amount of civilizations involved, the author focuses on different societies for each chapter. This suited me quite well, but one must remain cognizant of the choices as well as they would support the reasoning for the book. Similar societies could have been chosen which would have supported a counter-argument, but the scope for that would have required a much longer book than this one. 

 

While I know quite a bit about Neolithic and Bronze Age Societies, there were some that were chosen with which I was not as familiar so I enjoyed learning about how they developed and how their societies functioned. Because the book focused on the agriculture side of the development, the author did spend a lot of time discussing the importance of foraging and producing enough food for the people of these developments, some of which turned to agriculture while others simply moved locations when the food sources dried up. I found it fascinating and did learn quite a bit about how societies survived. This was not a book about battles, kings and queens, emperors, etc..., but about how a civilization survived and the complex hierarchies and societies developed to ensure survival.  It was also a book that speculated as to the reasons why some societies turned more towards farming while others, just as complex, never developed beyond foraging. The author mentioned quite often it was a mistake to think these societies that didn't develop along the same lines weren't as complex as those that did and provided ample proof for his statements.

 

The anthropological and archaeological studies used to determine how these complex societies functioned ran through all the explanations given in this book and I enjoyed learning about a lot of the processes being used today, so different from my studies over thirty years ago.  Scientists have this ability to analyze information that was not previously available through new techniques and they are developed even newer ones all the time.  I found it fascinating when I read about how much information they could get off a single frozen body that was over 5000 years old just by analyzing DNA in the bones or from the stomach contents. And that was just the simpler stuff.  Bodies can give us cause of death, injuries sustained during a lifetime, illnesses sustained during a lifetime, where they grew up, where they traveled, and the list just goes on and on. And I have always know how much information one can get from a trash pit, but with the new techniques it must be mind-boggling today.  

 

Verdict

Lost Worlds was definitely an enjoyable read and I personally thought gave the reader a clearer picture into some complex societies of the past. It was not a book about individual people, battles, dominance, etc..., but more about how different societies developed differently from others, but still made it work. It was also to show that complex societies and hierarchies didn't grow linearly, but grew according to local needs and necessities.  Naturally, some societies were closer to others and would have had an impact on each other, but others were quite far away and developed at the same time, but still had different approaches and results. This is what I found particularly interesting with regards to this book. While there were some parts that were a bit repetitive, and I did feel as if the author was struggling with his reader audience, a struggle between the more rigorous scientific approach or a more layman's approach, and this could be seen in the book, there was still quite a lot to absorb and think about. I have not listened to this author's podcasts at this point, but I am probably going to start as I found his book quite interesting.  

 

Review: Rune Seeker by J.M. Clarke and C.J. Thompson

Rune Seeker (Rune Seeker, #1)

by J.M. Clarke, Carter J. Thompson

Release Date: March 24, 2026 

2026 Atheon: Vault (Previously published independently by author)

Hardcover ARC & Ebook Editions; 704 Pages

ISBN: 978-1638493242

ASIN: B0CBSQZMW4

Audiobook: B0CDMVD1YM

Genre: Fiction / LitRPG / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4.25 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Hiral is the Everfail, the weakest person on the flying island of Fallen Reach. He trains harder than any warrior. Studies longer than any scholar.

But all his people are born with magic powered by the sun, flowing through tattoos on their bodies. Despite having enormous energy within, Hiral is the only one who can’t channel it; his hard work is worth nothing.

Until it isn’t.

In a moment of danger, Hiral unlocks an achievement with a special Access a Dungeon to receive a Class-Specific Reward.

It’s his first—and maybe last—chance for real power. Just one all dungeons lay in the wilderness below the flying islands that humanity lives on, and there lay secrets and dangers that no one has survived.

 

My Thoughts

Rune Seeker is the first book in the Rune Seeker series and it's one of those series I've been meaning to read, but just haven't had the time to start, so when the publisher reached out and offered me copies of the first three books when they are available, I jumped at the chance.  This book probably dropped on my lap at the right time as I found it addictive and I had trouble putting it down, but still found the character development to be somewhat one-dimensional.  The pacing however, kept me entertained and I really enjoyed the dungeon elements quite a bit.

 

Hiral is the main character and the story is told from his viewpoint. Hiral struggled growing up as he seemed to have a lot of potential, but simply could not unlock it despite the efforts of his parents and the intense training regimen he put himself through.  Because of his struggles, he developed relationship issues with his mother, something I feel will be addressed in future books, but I hope the author doesn't make Hiral accept anything from her simply because he has unlocked his powers. I am always amazed when parents don't support their children because they don't turn out the way they want them to be.  As a result of his issues growing up, he has trouble trusting himself in situations as well as trusting others. While he could come across as sulky at times because of this, I think it does ring true to his character and the issues he had growing up. 

 

The secondary characters were actually quite interesting, but weren't fully developed in this book.  I am looking forward to learning more about them as the story progresses. 

 

The plot and the pacing are two of the reasons why character development was sort of shunted to the background as both of these were relentless in this book.  As soon as something happened, then was resolved, something else came up almost immediately.  I didn't mind this too much as the 'battles' were actually quite creative and used the leveling up system as well as the magical system in an interesting way.  There were a couple of things that weren't fully explained however, and I do have questions, questions that I hope will be answered in future books.  I love dungeon-based reads, but I love it when there are big mysteries and ancient secrets much more, and this one hints at the discovery of some of those ancient mysteries in the future.  And the sword inked in Hiral's back. Can't wait to discover how that one plays out. 

 

Verdict

Rune Seeker was a fun read and I enjoyed it tremendously. There was an issue with character development and I did feel like the authors glossed over some things that happened or did not take the time to explain them when they occurred perhaps knowing the issue will come up in future books or thinking the reader would not notice.  In any case, the pace was relentless and very action-heavy, but I didn't mind.  Because I am anal and have to read to the end of any chapter, that posed a problem in this book as the end of each chapter was written in a way that made you want to read the next chapter, something I did often until the wee hours of the morning.  I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.

 

Review: The Fourth Girl by Wendy Corsi Staub

The Fourth Girl (Haven Cliff, #1)

by Wendy Corsi Staub

Release Date: March 25, 2025

2025 Thomas & Mercer

Ebook Edition; 396 Pages

ISBN: 978-1662523809

ASIN: B0D9W5256F

Audiobook: B0DK3XZRNK

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

On prom night, Caroline Winterfield walked away from the ruins of an abandoned mansion called Haven Cliff and into the woods…never to be seen again. Only her three best friends know what really happened. But a secret is a secret, and a promise is a promise—even when it shatters lifelong friendships.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of that night, Midge, Kelly, and Talia reunite at Haven Cliff, now a gleaming architectural jewel. But they aren’t alone. Someone is watching. Someone who knows what really happened to Caroline—and to the man who now lies dead a stone’s throw from where she was last seen.

 

 

 

My Thoughts

The Fourth Girl is the first book in the Haven Cliff series, and this one focuses on the friendship between four girls as they navigate high school and then reunite twenty-five years later hoping to reunite with one of the four who disappeared all those years ago.  Told through multiple POVs, we get a somewhat mish-mash story of one girl's life and her desperate need to get away, but something goes terribly wrong. 

 

First of all, what I really did enjoy was the friendship between the four girls.  There was a lot of drama and intrigue and I like how the story was told through each girl's perspective, both from the present and the past.  As forty years olds, we can definitely look back upon things that happened from a different perspective from when we were fifteen and see things we may have missed due to naivety and innocence even when the signs were there.  The friendships were definitely relatable and I really enjoyed the 90s nostalgia; it made me think about my own high school years and my own friend groups, things I hadn't really thought about in years.  There were a lot of secrets and a lot of things happened that were told through quite a nuanced story line that the reader would pick up on but that a teenager may not really grasp. It actually added to the tension in the story as you wondered what was really happening behind closed doors and how bad did things really get that were only hinted at but never really fully explained. I will mention here though that I never really understood the purpose of Gordy in the story line as it didn't make sense at all especially the way Caroline's character was being described.  

 

The plot itself actually moved along rather quickly, but it was quite predictable and I was able to figure out what was happening quite early on in the book. And honestly, the author's writing style was still stellar as I found myself flipping through the pages with a high level of tension wondering exactly what I would discover, but at the same time feeling like I had already read this type of story a dozen times.  And I didn't really care that this was slow, but in reality, the actual investigation when the murder did occur, was shunted to the background and the drama between the women/girls was always in the forefront, something that did affect the overall feel to the book in the end as I was left feeling underwhelmed. I realize this is the first book of a planned series, so maybe I will get some answers in future book?

 

Verdict

The Fourth Girl did have its moments and there were a lot of themes running through the story, but the character development was very one-dimensional which made it difficult to invest any energy in any of them. I didn't mind the slower plot, but did feel like the investigation took a backseat to the drama that engulfed the girls and was more of an afterthought.  There was enough in this book however, that I will be continuing the series to see what happens next.  

 

 

 

Review: The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton

by Jennifer N. Brown

Release Date: April 14, 2026

2026 St. Martin's Press

Ebook ARC; 320 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250383594

ASIN: B0F5PCC13S

Audiobook: B0G5HK7F63

Genre: Fiction / Historical / Tudor England

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Historian Alison Sage has made a groundbreaking archival discovery―she found a manuscript containing the prophecies of a 16th century nun, Elizabeth Barton. Barton’s prophecy condemning Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn led to her execution and the destruction of all copies of her prophecies―or so the world believed.

With Alison’s discovery, she is catapulted to academic superstardom and scores an invitation to the exclusive Codex Consortium, a week of research among a select handful of fellow historians at a crumbling manor in England, located next to the ruins of the priory where Elizabeth herself once lived.

Alison’s cutthroat world of academia is almost as dangerous as Elizabeth Barton’s sixteenth-century England, where heretics are beheaded, visions can kill, and knowing who to trust is a deadly art. The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton is a thrilling novel, crackling with the voices of the past and propelled by a mystery that will leave readers in suspense until the very last page.

 

My Thoughts

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton features the story of Elizabeth Barton who was a 16th century prophet who was eventually hanged at the age of 28 due to her conflict with King Henry VIII.  This book blends historical fiction, a mystery, a thriller, and a typed of locked-room thriller told through two distinct time lines, but I definitely felt like Elizabeth's voice was not really heard in her time line and couldn't really connect with her character.  

 

The first time line deals with Elizabeth Barton, from her life of servitude when she had her first vision to her eventual torture and death.  Told through a couple of POVs, I thought Elizabeth's was actually the weakest as she came across as confused half the time and although I think the author was trying to showcase how the men around her manipulated her into saying and doing things they wanted her to say and do, I don't think it came across very well, especially in the second half of the book.  Considering these men had to deal with King Henry VIII on a regular basis, I think they would have been far more subtle in their dealings with Elizabeth as they would know the end game if they were not careful.  Taking into account Elizabeth's lack of education, something that was mentioned a multitude of times, it is entirely possible she didn't listen to advice, especially as her fame grew, and she thought she would be protected by that, something that didn't really come through the pages very well.  There was a hint of her recklessness at times, and I did think that was more realistic, but I don't think it was because she wasn't counseled otherwise. Considering the circle who surrounded her, she would have been aware of the beheadings as well as the powerful people who had fallen under Henry VIII's axe by this point. She would have been cautioned to be careful and this wasn't highlighted enough.  I do believe she was manipulated and used politically as the events surrounding Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn were quite politically charged and the men surrounding the throne would have used whatever they could to either support or destroy the throne. Because she didn't grow up around the court, she didn't have the wisdom or the wiles to manoeuvre and play such dangerous games.

 

The second time line dealt with the present when the MC finds a journal supposedly written by Elizabeth Barton (no such thing has currently been found BTW), and embellished her advisor Edward Bocking (another real-life person from Elizabeth's circle). I enjoyed this time line for perhaps the first half of the book until it descended into a silly romance-type thing in the second half.  I am not a fan of romance, but can handle it if it's subtle and done well, but this was so annoying and I couldn't help rolling my eyes.  And while I also love mysteries and read a lot of them, this also descended into silliness.  I didn't enjoy the connection to Elizabeth Barton and the abbey and wished the author had just focused on that mystery as that was quite enjoyable.  While I don't mind the blending of multiple genres in a novel, they didn't quite work in this book and it ended up being distracting, to the point where something I was enjoying reading became something I just wanted to finish.  And that ending? Oh, yeah, there wasn't really one as it just ended.

 

Verdict

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton had some enjoyable moments to it and I did enjoy the mystery for the first half of the book.  It did lose me completely in the second half of the book as it descended into a murder mystery that really felt like it was pushing the boundaries of credibility. I did enjoy Elizabeth's story much more and wish the author had fleshed out Elizabeth's character quite beyond the one-dimensional person we saw in these pages and really showed the manipulation and political struggles that would have gone on during this time period as tensions were extremely high and things were quite dangerous.  The book was well-researched however, and I think readers will enjoy the descriptions of both time periods.  

 

Review: Advent by Seth Ring

Advent (The Exlian Syndrome, #1)

by Seth Ring

Release Date: March 4, 2025

2025 Blackstone Publishing, Inc

Ebook ARC; 384 Pages

ISBN: 979-8874692575

ASIN: B0D2LVCKZ2

Audiobook: B0D33TT8QP

Genre: Fiction / LITRPG / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from author through publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

All his life, Mark Fields has dreamed of joining the Defense Force to fight the vicious, alien Exlian, just like the rest of his renowned family. But so far, he’s … a dishwasher, trapped in a dead-end job with no powers, no money, and even fewer friends.

But an encounter with a dying woman changes everything—granting him the abilities he needs to join the training camps—and his life finally feels like it’s turning around, faster than a movie martial-arts montage (just ignore the weird cat).

But the Exlian are voracious and myriad, and there’s more to Mark’s new powers than just leveling up. With the pressure mounting, it doesn’t take him long to realize the Exlian aren’t the only sinister threat lurking within the city …

 

My Thoughts

Advent is the first book in The Exlian Syndrome Series, and it was quite an enjoyable book.  I really enjoyed the world building, and while I didn't learn as much as I would have liked about the 'enemy', I thought the leveling system was interesting and I especially enjoyed how Mark tried to manipulate the system to benefit himself. I read a lot of LitRPG and was looking for something a bit different from my usual and this fit the bill quite nicely.

 

The world-building is probably the strength of this book as we delve into a world that has been shattered by a war with an alien species, a world that is on the brink of being destroyed, and we only catch glimpses of the political aspects to this world and the factions that are involved.  While I love the political aspects to these stories, I also know there are six books in this series and need to be patient for everything to be revealed.  There were hints here and there of the political factions as Mark invariably gets involved in things and needs to be rescued, but only hints. We get the sense there is something much deeper going on, but the author only doles out bits and pieces at a time through the action and through character interactions. It sounds like it would be frustrating, but it really isn't as the plot moves along rather quickly and the author is good at giving you tidbits just at those points where it could get frustrating. 

 

The plot moves quite quickly and motivations are quite clear.  The book is shorter than normal, so we don't get the depth that I think is necessary in such a novel, but that could just be me wanting more as I enjoy the political aspects to novels.  Through Mark's training, you learn the seriousness of what is happening, but at the same time, wonder if much more is going on than meets the eye, especially after what happens to Mark's brother Joe.

 

And character development is sort of the weakest part of this book.  While Mark was nicely developed, there was an aspect of him being overdeveloped, something that doesn't always appeal to me.  I like my main characters to struggle a bit more, not always be rescued in this way.  And I did think the secondary characters were more one-dimensional although I did see a bit more depth to Noah than I first thought there would be and he is fast becoming one of my favourite characters. The author also seems to be positioning Noah to be caught in the middle of some serious stuff in the future which will be quite interesting, hopefully. And then there is that darn cat. Should I mention I love cats? This is not Donut however, but this cat has adopted Mark and is always around.  I'm not mentioning anything more, but I love that cat.

 

Verdict

Advent was a fun read, but I definitely enjoyed the world-building more than the character development in this one.  There are plenty of twists and turns, with some side quests, an interesting set of characters, and some themes that I hope the author develops more fully. I really enjoyed how Mark and his brother Joe interacted and am looking forward to seeing how their separate paths develop and perhaps conflict in future books.  While the themes and the tropes have been covered before, this still works and is worth reading. 

 

Review: The Replacement by Matt Brolly

The Replacement (DS Liam Kilshaw, #2)

by Matt Brolly

Release Date: February 10, 2026

2026 Thomas & Mercer

Ebook ARC; 297 Pages

ISBN: 978-1662520433

ASIN: B0DXG631T4

Audiobook: B0FFNJ6F2X

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

When a mutilated body washes up on Sennen Beach, DS Liam Kilshaw is plunged into a case as dark and unforgiving as the Cornish winter. With the victim’s face so severely disfigured that identification is impossible, whispers of a local superstition begin to surface—the killing bears a chilling resemblance to the legend of Bucca Dhu, a vengeful sea demon said to demand human sacrifice.

But myths don’t murder people. When a second body is discovered just above the high-tide line, Kilshaw knows he’s racing against time. A missing crew member, a lost shipping container and a trail of cryptic clues all point to something far more sinister.

 

My Thoughts

The Replacement is the second book in the DS Liam Kilshaw series and I really enjoyed this one as it blended local myth with an interesting mystery.  When DS Kilshaw is called down to a scene of crime, he discovers a gruesome sight when the body seems to mimic a local legend and the face of the victim is grossly misfigured leaving it difficult to identify the victim. 

 

Liam is one of those characters that you just can't help feeling sympathetic towards as he suffers from PTSD from his work as a marine volunteer and former Special Boat Service Member. One one of his previous missions, he almost drowned and is suffering from the affects of that mission as he has developed a fear of water, something that he had previously loved.  As a form of therapy, he volunteers for the local boat rescue team hoping to cope with his fears.  I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel as I like it when an author shows the stress the job has on its people and how they cope with it on a daily basis. In some series, it just goes away and that devalues the experience while this author blends the difficulties of the job with the demands of the job.  Despite all of this, Liam is relentless in his pursuit of the truth which sometimes puts his relationships with others at risk as he tends to keep others at a distance, one of the reasons why he is divorced.  

 

The prologue in this book actually gave me the creeps, not because it was bloody or anything like that, but because it was chilling.  When you catch a glimpse of how a local legend can be twisted for personal use to torment children as they are growing up, it simply sends chills down your back and you wonder what will happen in the future.  Well, we got it in this book and the details are creepy.  I really have to commend the author for blending the local folklore into this book and there were quite a few twists and turns, some predictable, some surprising.  There are quite a few themes in this book that could be explored as well: isolation, loneliness, mental health, PTSD, abuse, legends and folklore, misplaced loyalty, friendship, and relationships. I really enjoyed the hunt for clues as I like the procedural aspect of these novels and this one did a bang up job. 

 

Verdict

The Replacement had a lot of great things going for it and I enjoyed both the mystery and the character development of the main character.  I would have liked to have seen a bit more from the secondary characters, but as this seems to be setting up to be longer running series, there should be room for those secondary characters to grow.  The mystery was interesting and while some parts were a bit predictable, there was enough that was surprising that it kept me flying through the pages and interested in what was happening.  I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of this book and loved how the folklore blended into the mystery.  Looking forward to the next one in this series.