Review: The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

A rash of grisly serial murders plagued Seattle until the infamous "Beacon Hill Butcher" was finally hunted down and killed by police chief Edward Shank in 1985. Now, some thirty years later, Shank, retired and widowed, is giving up his large rambling Victorian house to his grandson Matt, whom he helped raise.

Settling back into his childhood home and doing some renovations in the backyard to make the house feel like his own, Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him… Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile Matt’s girlfriend, Sam, has always suspected that her mother was murdered by the Beacon Hill Butcher—two years after the supposed Butcher was gunned down. As she pursues leads that will prove her right, Sam heads right into the path of Matt’s terrible secret.

A thriller with taut, fast-paced suspense, and twists around every corner, The Butcher will keep you guessing until the bitter, bloody end.

Kindle Edition, 352 pages

Expected publication: July 15th 2014 by Gallery Books
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Kristine's Thoughts:

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank You!

This book revolves around three different people. First there is Edward who took down the Beacon Hill Butcher in 1985 and later became the chief of police. Then there is his grandson Matt who moves into his house when he retires and finds a shocking secret buried in the back yard. Finally there is Sam who is Matt's girlfriend who believes that her mother was killed by the Beacon Hill Butcher two years after he was supposedly shot and killed.

The Butcher was an entertaining read but it left me a little wanting. Unlike most thrillers the killer is revealed at the beginning so there is no guessing or trying to figure things out. The "who" is answered from the start. I then thought perhaps that would mean that we would get deep into the "Butchers" head. Although this did happen to some degree it wasn't as deep or exciting as I would have liked.

It is hard for me to explain the things that bothered me within the story without giving the story away. Mostly I wished that there was more of a story around Edward's daughter and Matt's mother. It is briefly explained near the end but it was rushed and almost too late. Also I wasn't a big fan of the ending. The "Butcher" was wanting a specific ending and that is exactly what he got. There was no excitement or sense of justice in it. Finally, I found that the entire ending was rushed. I remember seeing that I was at 90% of the book and thinking that there must be a sequel because it couldn't possible wrap up with only 10% left. I was wrong and it did wrap up that quickly.

I don't want it to seem like I disliked the book because I didn't. It provided a few hours of entertainment for me. It was just lacking some things to make it truly memorable.

About the Author

Jennifer Hillier is a full-time novelist who writes about dark, twisted people who do dark, twisted things. If you ask her why she writes such dark stuff, she'll stare at you blankly because she still hasn't figured out a clever way to answer that question.

Born and raised in Toronto and a proud Canadian, she spent five years living in Seattle, which is where she wrote her first novel. She currently splits her time between Toronto and Seattle, and is slightly ashamed to admit that she's way more of a Seahawks fan than a Leafs fan . . . which, she suspects, makes her a bad Canadian.

She loves her husband, her cat Kobe, and Stephen King. Not equally, but close. She's the author of the psychological thrillers CREEP (2011), FREAK (2012), and THE BUTCHER (2014), all published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Her agent is Victoria Skurnick of the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency in New York.

Connect with Jennifer

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