Hello Again
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Brenda Novak
Evelyn Talbot Chronicles, Book # 2
Headline
October 3rd 2017
Paperback
352
English
February 16, 2021 February 19, 2021
Beat the Backlist, Cloak and Dagger, Finishing The Series, Mount TBR, The Backlist Reader
SHE CAN MAKE SENSE OF A COMPLEX CRIMINAL MIND.
Evelyn Talbot, a psychiatrist at a maximum-security prison in Alaska, studies some of the world's worst serial killers. But she’s about to meet her most elusive patient at Hanover House yet: Dr. Lyman Bishop, AKA the Zombie Maker given his fondness for performing ice-pick lobotomies on his victims. A brilliant cancer researcher, Bishop is either the most cunning psychopath Evelyn has ever encountered—or he is wrongly convicted.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CRIMINAL CAN SEE INTO HER OWN?
When a new ice-pick fatality occurs, it seems Bishop really was wrongly convicted. Except...Evelyn has a personal connection to the victim and that suggests the killer may be someone from her own past: Jasper Moore, her high school boyfriend who tortured her and left her for dead when she was only sixteen. Jasper also murdered three of her friends—and was never caught. Is he trying to send a message with this copycat crime? The only thing Evelyn knows for sure is that if Jasper is on her trail, she might not be able to escape again.
About the book
Sequel to Her Darkest Nightmare and the third book I read by the author. It’s been a year since the last book and Evelyn has fully integrated into the new state even though she still has doubts about whether she will stay or leave in the future. Hanover House is working full time and after the scandal of the previous year, many things have changed. Evelyn’s colleague has resigned (to not be fired) and there are new prisoners like Lyman Bishop called the Zombie Maker, a geneticist accused of lobotomising his victims with an ice pick. Bishop has the ability to question everything Evelyn believes, especially when another body of a young woman is found in Boston, murdered with Bishop’s modus operandi.
Coincidences or was the wrong man arrested? Or is it Jasper, Evelyn’s torturer who resumed killing in her first murder area?
What I think
I mostly liked the book. Bishop is a great criminal, but I think he has not been exploited to the fullest. I will explain now. Evelyn is so focused on Jasper that she sees him everywhere and this is perhaps right, but I think the author is so focused on the ex that she doesn’t exploit the stories of the criminals in the institute. I mean, the book is called Hanover House or in any case it’s the setting given to the series but we don’t see many sessions with psychopaths, we don’t see many analyses in fact we see more of Evelyn at home with Amarok than at the clinic.
I also believe that in the end there is a cliché too big to underestimate. Obviously I cannot say what happens but let’s say that the end is obvious, predictable and unreal. Besides the fact that there is another killer in Boston and Tim Fitzpatrick (Evelyn’s former colleague who resigned in the previous book) is freaking out and, as he was already a stalker in the first book, he just seems crazy here. Maybe there are too many cases, I mean Bishop and his “maybe he’s innocent”, Fitzpatrick trying to convince Evelyn that the Boston killer is Jasper and so she needs him and they must work together and then there’s Jasper. I sincerely hope that Jasper’s story ends with the next book and that we can finally move on to talking about the institute’s cases.
Despite this I gave 4 stars because I couldn’t give less. Because Bishop is very interesting, as mentioned he wasn’t used that much and in any case until almost the end (when I understood practically everything without being surprised) the pace was pressing and I really wanted to read to understand the end. I repeat I think there are just too many cases that could have been explained and used more.
Style
The style has not changed from the previous book, the chapters are not long apart from those of Amarok and Evelyn together (she could have spared me some details), the point of view is mostly Evelyn and Amarok but we also have Jasper’s, obviously, and eventually also of Bishop. However the book is in the third person.
Characters
Evelyn is starting to bore me a bit. I understand that she wants Jasper to be taken, but often because of this she makes trivial mistakes, like going to Bishop’s cell at night and talking, very Hannibal Lecter…
Oh, Did I say that there is also Amarok’s ex who returns to wreak havoc in the city, but not that much either? I don’t know if she will be exploited in the next book, but here she is a bit of an ornament because she doesn’t make so much mess…
Despite the ex reappearance, I still like Amarok and I think he’s the only one intelligent enough in town.
Conclusion
Anyway, since there is the third book on Kindle Unlimited, I will read it right away, before my subscription expires. I hope it’s the last one with Jasper on the loose. Although, if he gets caught then what will Evelyn do?
I’ve been thinking about reading this series. I think I have read other books by this author. Thanks for your review!
Thanks for stopping by! I really loved the first book and the novella, especially the first! I thought I found a new favorite author but now I think it’s not the case. But the series is cool (as much as a mystery can be cool…)