Book Review - The Butcher

The Butcher

By: Jennifer Hillier
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: July 2014
ISBN: 978-1476734217
Reviewed by: Krisit Benedict
Review Date: August 15, 2014

Edward Shank was a well known household name around Seattle, Washington as he was the one everyone knew had brought down the serial killer known as the Beacon Hill Butcher. The case never went to trial for the man named Rufus Wedge was killed when Edward Shank went to arrest him. It was a quick ending to the nightmare that plagued this city for years, or so everyone thought. Now Edward is eighty-years-old and has finally decided it is time for him to act his age. He moves into a retirement home, leaving his old Victorian house to his grandson Matt. Even though getting old did not set well with Edward, he knew it was time for things to start slowing down but he could not deny that he still missed the thrill he felt when he was chief of police so many years ago.

Matt Shank’s life was going exactly as he wanted, he had a successful restaurant, he was becoming a renowned chef, he had just inherited his grandfather’s gorgeous house, and he also had a beautiful girlfriend. Yes, everything was going great for Matt until during his renovations to the backyard a crate was found buried deep in the ground by one of the contractors. Thinking that this was just something accidently forgotten and left behind by his grandfather, Matt didn’t think it would be a big deal if he opened it himself, besides they were family. What he finds changes everything and would ruin all of the things Matt has worked so long to achieve.

Samantha and Matt Shank had been dating for three years and from the beginning Sam knew that her feelings for Matt were stronger than any she had felt before. She could see herself marrying him, having a family, growing old together but Matt had consistently put his career first. Of course Sam had always admired Matt's ambition and drive but she was beginning to wonder if she would ever move up on his priority list. Thankfully, she was working on a project to write a book about the murders of the Beacon Hill Butcher that helped to distract her from her failing love life. This was a subject she took personal as Sam believed that her own mother was murdered by The Butcher; the only catch was her mom’s murder was after Rufus Wedge was killed. Everyone she explains her theory to thinks she’s crazy but Sam is determined not to stop until she finds closure.

When I started this book I expected a mysterious thriller but what I found was an intense, raw, and absolutely terrifying story. The lies, deception, murders, and killers are so uniquely interwoven together I found myself reading pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen next. If Jennifer Hillier was going for a book that caused me to shiver with each chapter she succeeded amazingly well. I found myself truly shuttering in certain parts of this book as her writing brings to life the beyond psychotic workings of a serial killer’s brain and desires.

Quill says: This is definitely a book that would satisfy any reader who relishes a raw mystery thriller.