Tuesday 10 May 2016

Annabel Lee by Mike Nappa

Fourteen miles east of Peachtree, Alabama, a secret is hidden.
The secret's name is Annabel Lee.
 

She doesn't know why her enigmatic uncle has stowed her deep underground in a military style bunker. He's left her with a few German words, a barely controlled guard dog, and a single command: "Don't open that door for anybody, you got it? Not even me."

Miles away in Atlanta, a private investigator Trudi Coffey is visited by a mysterious older man calling himself Dr. Smith. He's been trailing a man for a decade - a man she met through her ex-partner Samuel Hill - and the trail has led him to her office. The last thing Trudi wants to do is to contact Samuel. But it will take both of them to unravel this mystery - before it's too late.

Review: I hesitated opening this book, because, quite bluntly... the cover freaked me out. I was sure that whatever I found within the pages would give me nightmares. I was right about one thing: Annabel Lee was scary - but it was a good kind of scary and completely awesome.

I really enjoyed this book, and was glad to see that it appears to be part of a new series? I sure hope so.

There was a lot I liked about this book.

One, it was well written.

Two, Mike Nappa did an amazing job writing completely different styles, vocabulary, and slang for his different characters. I've not seen this sort of character-specific writing style done this well since reading Brian Jacques as a teen. I was really impressed by how well he shaped the idea and perspective of each character by their own speaking style (amongst other things). This was very neat to read and worth studying for those who want to try their hand at this type of writing themselves. Like I said, I'm very impressed.

Third, Mike Nappa is not afraid to mention the name of Jesus or to point boldly to Him. I loved that! So many Christian books I've read lately do not deserve the title of Christian fiction. I'm certain the only reason they are in the "Christian" category is that their content is PG, and not because they proclaim the name of Jesus.

Fourth, it was a great story filled with complex characters. I loved how I couldn't figure out for the longest time if Truck was a "good guy" or "bad guy"; he was a very well written character. Even, The Dog is a worthy addition to this book. It's impossible not to admire a book when even the canine characters are incredibly well thought out and fully developed. There was not a week character in this entire cast, and I'm looking forward to see where Trudi and Samuel's relationship goes.

A great read and I would definitely recommend this book as an excellent (and not too scary) thriller/ crime. As an aside, I'd suggest mid to late teens as a starting age for this book.


 "Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc." In exchange for my honest opinion.

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