City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong

My review:

When your life is at risk and you need to start over, Rockton is the place to go. But a killer is taking the residents of Rockton out. Casey needs to solve this crime spree. Her life could depend on it.

Another great idea, brought to life by a talented author. It gave me that perfect mix of escape and edge—suspense that kept me hooked without ever feeling over-the-top.

I enjoyed the scenes of peace and tranquility. But nicely evened out by all the murders. Those quiet forest moments really got to me—the calm before (and between) the storms felt like a real breather in all the chaos.

Pace: Steady and engaging, builds nicely without dragging.
Gore/steam/intensity level: Mid to high level of gore (those murder scenes don’t pull punches).
Writing style/vibe: Straight-up thriller with a remote, gritty wilderness town full of secrets.
Who it’s for: Anyone who likes small-town mysteries with a twist of isolation and danger (think locked-room suspense but in the Yukon wilds).
Quick warnings/CWs: Graphic violence/murders, past trauma/abuse mentions.

I seem to be loving everything I read at the moment. Another stellar first book in a series. Read it, you won’t regret it.

See the review on Goodreads or StoryGraph.

What about you?

Have you read the Rockton series? What’s your favourite isolated-town mystery? Let me know in the comments!

The book blurb:

Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey’s best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana’s husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it’s time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you’re accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. As a murderer, Casey isn’t a good candidate, but she has something they want: She’s a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realises that the identity of a murderer isn’t the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.

And for funsies here are some of the AI generated images that didn’t make the cut.

These two couldn’t understand that I wanted my face on the person reading the book.

I felt like this one aged me too much, but maybe it was the better option. Wrong book cover though.

And the best for last, it’s… magical, and I only look slightly perturbed by the lack of the lower half of my body.