Author: Alex Finlay
Published by: Minotaur Books on Mar. 1, 2022
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
Source: Minotaur Books
Book Rating: 8.5/10
It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in Linden, New Jersey, four teenage girls working the night shift are attacked. Only one survives. Police quickly identify a suspect who flees and is never seen again.
Fifteen years later, in the same town, four teenage employees working late at an ice cream store are attacked, and again only one makes it out alive.
Both surviving victims recall the killer speaking only a few final words… “Goodnight, pretty girl.”
In the aftermath, three lives intersect: the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive her tragedy; the brother of the original suspect, who’s convinced the police have it wrong; and the FBI agent, who’s determined to solve both cases. On a collision course toward the truth, all three lives will forever be changed, and not everyone will make it out alive.
Review:
Devious, sinister, and propulsive!
In this latest novel by Finlay, The Night Shift, he transports you to Linden, New Jersey, a small town where tragedy seems to strike, secrets and gossip are rampant, and a mass murder of multiple teens at a local ice cream shop that is eerily similar to an unsolved crime that happened at the Blockbuster fifteen-years before on New Year’s Eve triggers strong emotions, tragic memories, and finally uncovers more suspects and skeletons buried within the community than anyone could have imagined.
The writing is intricate and tight. The characters are tormented, complex, and secretive. And the plot told from multiple perspectives keeps you on the edge of your seat as it submerges you into a menacing tale full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, deduction, deviance, mayhem, violence, and murder.
Overall, The Night Shift is another adrenaline-pumping, twisty, highly satisfying page-turner that had just the right amount of suspense, tension, and nostalgia to keep me engaged, invested, and guessing until the very last page.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.