Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Night Shift by Alex Finlay. My thanks to Polly at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the post by my tour buddy for today Ashleigh at Ashleigh Mordew Reads.
About the Book
What connects a massacre in a Blockbuster video store in 1999 with the murder of four teenagers fifteen years later?
It’s New Year’s Eve of 1999 when four teenagers working late are attacked at a Blockbuster video store in New Jersey. Only one inexplicably survives. Police quickly identify a suspect, the boyfriend of one of the victims, who flees and is never seen again.
Fifteen years later, four more teenagers are attacked at an ice cream store in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive.
In the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who is forced to relive the horrors of her tragedy; the brother of the fugitive accused, who is convinced the police have the wrong suspect; and FBI agent Sarah Keller, who must delve into the secrets of both nights to uncover the truth about the night shift murders.
Format: Paperback (320 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 3rd March 2022 Genre: Crime, Thriller
Find The Night Shift on Goodreads
Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops
Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme
My Review
The first night shift I need to tell you about is the one I put in reading this book until way past my bedtime which should tell you all you need to know about the compelling nature of this book.
The blurb poses the question, What connects a pair of small-town murders that happened fifteen years apart? There are the obvious ones: Ella, the lone survivor of the first massacre, now pursuing a rather unlikely, it has to be said, career as a therapist given her risk-taking behaviour, and Chris, a public defender who also happens to be the brother of the man accused of the original murders. Then there’s FBI Agent Sarah Keller, who despite being eight months pregnant with twins can still be a ‘badass’ when the need arises – and it does. I loved Sarah Keller as a character and her young assistant Atticus (yes, he is named after the character in To Kill A Mockingbird), keen and highly intelligent but still wearing his ‘L plates’, as it were, when it comes to fieldwork. I must also mention Bob, Sarah’s lovely husband, who ensures she eats a nutritious breakfast before setting off to work and provides her with a healthy drink to sustain her during the day, even if it does resemble green slime.
So three characters with connections to the two massacres but perhaps there’s someone else as well? In a novel like this when we’re given small details about a secondary character my immediate thought is, why is the author telling me this? Is it to flesh out a minor character or is it concealing a subtle clue? In fact a ‘blink and you’d miss it’ detail did allow me to guess the guilty party. However I find there’s just as much enjoyment from being driven mad by the fact you got it wrong as there is from the smug satisfaction you got it right.
Those who like plenty of action in their crime thrillers will not be disappointed; nor will those who love a fiendishly complex plot and positively enjoy being wrong-footed and surprised.
The Night Shift is a supremely well-crafted, totally absorbing and deliciously twisty crime thriller.
In three words: Pacy, ingenious, gripping
Try something similar: Final Girls by Riley Sager
Follow this blog via Bloglovin
About the Author
Alex Finlay is the pseudonym of Anthony Franze, an author who lives in Washington D.C. As Alex Finlay, he writes gripping psychological thrillers such as Every Last Fear. As Anthony Franze, he writes compelling legal thrillers including The Advocate’s Daughter, The Outsider and The Last Justice. He’s garnered national praise for his work as a lawyer in the Appellate and Supreme Court practice of a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm and he has been a commentator on high-court issues for The New Republic, Bloomberg, and National Law Journal.
Connect with Alex
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram
What Cathy Read Next... 