Review - The Feathers

Please take note, this book is a paranormal thriller. While it is a mystery, it is NOT a cozy!

Review

The Feathers by Cynthia Lott
The First in the Southern Spectral Series

In The Feathers we follow police detectives Brenda Shapira and Roy Agnew as they search for a killer in 1978 New Orleans. The book opens with the scene of a brutal murder; the kind of scene even the most hardened homicide detectives find difficult. Graphic in detail, the innocence of the victim makes the method of murder even more disturbing. Add to that the actions of the housekeeper and the victim's siblings seem irrational. The murderer didn't hide his identity and the family welcomed him in. What held them in his thrall? The crime itself almost impossible-how could he have left without a trace? How could so violent a crime be so tidy?

Brenda and Roy are soon left to follow a trail they never saw coming and can scarcely believe. Given clues, it seems as if the murderer wants to be found. Appearing to Brenda, is he taunting her or giving her a dark promise of what's to come?

My favorite aspect of the book is what Lott provides in the chapters after each murder. As readers we meet the victims after their murders, but in these chapters Lott takes the first three victims and writes the moments leading up to their deaths. We see them full of life and talent and watch as they ultimately realize their fate.

The Feathers is a paranormal thriller that really has you on the edge of your seat. Lott sets us up. We know from the beginning how many murders are to come and we read, waiting for the shoe to drop. Our beliefs are also put to the test. Is it truly possible that the murderer is not of this world? Why is he here, how is he here, and why these seemingly unconnected victims? Lott makes the impossible, not only possible, but reasonable. At the end we are left with a possible solution, but can fate be tempered?

The Feathers is a captivating thrill fest that left me stunned. From the start Lott grabs her readers by the throat, shocking us, creating a need to read on to make sense of these seemingly senseless crimes.