Book #134 of 2022:
The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
An excellently twisty thriller in the Gillian Flynn fashion that’s kept me guessing throughout, with plenty of plausible culprits and a compelling group of protagonists striving to uncover the truth behind two identically horrific murder scenes, fifteen years apart (although the action mostly takes place in the present with a few flashbacks, rather than the parallel timelines and full-on 90s nostalgia I expected when I picked up this book). Back then, it was three teenage girls working late at their Blockbuster Video store who were stabbed to death, with a fourth barely surviving the attack. Now grown and a therapist specializing in trauma, she learns that a similar massacre has just occurred at a nearby ice cream shop, likewise leaving only one young survivor amid three slain peers. The police’s main suspect from the first case vanished from their small New Jersey town after posting bail, never to be seen again. Was he truly guilty or not, and is the same serial killer responsible for the later crimes, or is there a new copycat to blame?
Our other focal viewpoint characters are the fugitive’s kid brother, now a public defender hoping he can someday clear his name, and an FBI agent with major Marge Gunderson from Fargo vibes, who’s assisting the local cops as a favor despite being eight months pregnant with twins. As they each learn more about the figures connected to the slaughters and their respective investigations converge, the plot goes to some fittingly dark places. But author Alex Finlay’s tight control over the story never wavers, and brings all the threads together for a satisfying resolution in the end.
[Content warning for domestic abuse, gun violence, suicide, gore, pedophilia, and rape.]
★★★★☆
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