Review: The Butcher and the Wren

The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an audio arc of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. I thought both narrators did a good job with their parts. I do wish the male narrator was a bit more ominous sounding, I don't feel like his voice fit the part. Then again that could have been a very deliberate choice. Having just watched a documentary on the BTK killer recently, which the author mentioned in the book, he was just a regular guy on the outside. Little did his friends and family know the monster that he was on the inside, similar to our killer in the book.

Let me first start out by saying I know nothing of the podcast that the author co-hosts, so my desire to read the book and my thoughts have nothing with that. I thought this thriller was great until it wasn't. The abrupt ending kind of ruined the whole experience for me. I am not a fan of books that end on a cliffhanger without wrapping up enough to stand on it's own. This feels like it is setting us up for another book in a series. I can't find anything announcing another book, so that kind of irritates me. The audiobook clocks in around 6 and half hours, but the that includes about 30 minutes of the acknowledgements and interview with the author. I feel like this needed another hour or two to really be a substantial thriller and knock it out of the park. It has good bones, but it was missing something. I do think that the author did a good job with the clinical aspects of the book, brining her knowledge of true crime and autopsy into play nicely.

As many other reviewers have mentioned, the characters all lack development. There is alot of description given to the reader about what things smell like and look like, which is fine but I like well developed characters too. There are times that the descriptions get a bit repetitive. If there is a 2nd book I'd like to get to know the characters more and see more development of both Wren and Jeremey. I like other readers want to know what drives them versus just seeing them at work.

Overall, this was fun and I think the author has a ton of potential. The twist was creative and the pacing was good. I do wish it was a bit more developed in places, especially the ending. I look forward to seeing what the author has in store for us in the future.

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