Review + Giveaway: A Soul to Steal by Rob Blackwell

Hey, everybody! I've got a special treat for you all after this review. Rob Blackwell, the author of A Soul to Steal, has given me permission to giveaway ONE free ebook copy of his book to a lucky blog reader! It's the perfect read for Halloween, so read on to the end of the review to find out how to enter this giveaway… 

A Soul to Steal

by Rob Blackwell

Genre: Thriller/Urban Fantasy

Reading Grade: Adult

Publishing Type: self-published

Publication Date: August 29, 2011

Source: review copy (ebook)

Age Rating: 17+

| Amazon | 

Something is stalking the citizens of Loudoun County, Va. Is it the return of the notorious serial killer known as Lord Halloween? Or is it something worse—a figure that can cloak itself as your worst nightmare? Kate and Quinn, two community journalists, rush to uncover the truth before a promised bloodbath on Halloween night.

The debut novel from award-winning journalist Rob Blackwell, A Soul to Steal balances suspense, horror, action and humor, building to a gripping and unforgettable conclusion. For readers who enjoy Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Jim Butcher, A Soul to Steal is the perfect autumn novel.

My Review

I'm not one to read much in the way of thriller-suspense novels, so I'm no expert in the genre. But, I do know a good story when I read it, and this is definitely great. Whether or not the 'whodunnit' aspect is all that clever—I don't know, because I have nothing to compare it to. But, I think it's awesome because I was wrong about who the killer is, and when you guess, then realize you're wrong by the end, you must have read an effective mystery.

We follow around quite a few different characters, but most of the time, we're inside the heads of Quinn and Kate, the main characters. They are reporters for a small town newspaper called The Loudoun Chronicle, in Virginia. Kate moves there for very personal reasons because she's connected to the serial killer that terrorized the town twelve years earlier.

But, that killer has started to kill in Loudoun again, and as the story progresses, everybody's trying to find him, and this guy's downright terrifying! He keeps on succeeding and a lot people, despite being super careful, still get picked off by him. He is as sick as you'll ever find because he uses the newspaper to publicize his crimes, and to get the people of the town to tremble in fear every October so he can get off on it.

For some reason, he takes a twelve year hiatus and then starts killing again in October of 2006. It's definitely a thrilling ride as you try to figure out who he is and why he's killing people. But, there's this very original and creative aspect to the story that I loved in how it all connected to Washington Irving's “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” I won't spoil how it's connected, but it intersects with this story in a really neat way, and sort of parallels Irving's classic spooky read.

I think any adult reader would love this, especially during this time of year. Because the events take place only during October, it's the perfect Halloween read. It's not scary in the horror kind of way since there's not much gore. Lots of murder and mayhem, but we don't see every detail of every kill. That made it easy for me to read and enjoy. From what I understand, this is the first book in a trilogy, so there's more to come in future Halloweens.

I received this book for review from the author for my honest opinion.

My score: 4.5 stars out of 5. 

 

*This goes toward my 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

• open internationally
• leave a comment under this blog post with your name, email, and Google Friend Connect (GFC) name, if you're a follower
• following my blog is NOT required, but encouraged
• followers of my blog will receive an extra entry (+1)
• 1 winner will be chosen by Random.org
• 1 ebook in ONE of the following formats will be chosen by the winner:
  Kindle, Epub, PDF, RTF, LRF, PDB, or Plain Text
• Last day to enter: Sunday, November 6^th, 2011.