Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Suspense. Thriller
Content: Strong Language, Some brutal killings


 
Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…

You’re not safe anywhere now.

I read Stillhouse Lake last year and I really liked it. It was creepy and suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat. One thing I liked so much about it was the lake house setting. This time around Gwen has had to leave the lake house and is both hiding from and hunting her ex-husband who has escaped from prison.

Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.

This story is told from multiple points of view. There is Gwen of course, and Sam, Lanny, and Connor. One thing I liked less about this book is the fact that they are split up as a family. The story hops around from place to place as Gwen and Sam try to track down the whereabouts of Melvin. They meet some unsavory characters on the way and uncover much more than they thought they would. Of course I'm not going to spoil it here, but at times I felt like it was highly implausible, but the more I thought about it the more plausible it became, because unfortunately we really do live in a world with many depraved and evil people in it. Meanwhile, the kids are staying with friends who are well armed and prepared to protect them. That doesn't stop the kids from getting themselves in a lot of trouble though.

There were times I felt completely sorry for Gwen and completely upset with every one of the other people in her life that were supposed to be her friends, but under the circumstances their reactions were probably believable, at least to an extent. I'm not sure I would have reacted any differently. Also, there were so many times that I wanted to yell at the characters to not do what they were about to do. Talk about a nail biter!

I like this book a little less than the previous one but overall I thought it was a good conclusion to the series. For some reason there is a third book. I'm not really sure it was necessary but I'll be reading it anyway since I've got an advance copy from Netgalley.