Review: Letter 26 by Jacob Moon

                                                             

Print Length: 386 pages

Publisher: Jacob Moon Publishing (December 15, 2024)

From Goodreads.com: Psychological horror meets police procedural in this chilling tale about a rare quirk of the funeral industry.

When Abby Carlson’s job as a dietitian comes to mind now, it’s accompanied by a looming the Minneapolis serial killer who's been targeting women based on the first letter of their jobs, and who's ripe to pick a “D” victim. He follows his gruesome routine—preserving and posing the corpses per their professions, then posting his exploits on social media. But the threat is abstract in a city as big as Minneapolis...until Abby finds herself drugged in the back of a van, the latest potential viral hit.

In response to the kidnapping, Detective Cal Randall is called back early from mandated medical leave. Working with the FBI, he’s been on the trail of the "Profession Killer" since the start. Despite what’s become crippling anxiety he still has to work to control, there’s no choice about where he needs to be. A demented killer must be stopped, and Abby—the last of PK's remaining letters—must be saved.

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My Rating: 1 star out of 5

Never in my life have I read read a book with such an intriguing premise that has gone from a solid 3-4 star read to a 1 star in the span of minutes, but here we are. 

Because I genuinely enjoyed this story right up until the ending, I want to start with what worked; along with a few neutral points. The concept of a “Profession Killer” was absolutely fascinating. The way he managed to blend in, abduct women from different places, and avoid getting caught for months on end (not to mention the way he was able to preserve them) was chilling in the best way. Added to that, his scenes with Abby were especially unnerving, adding a heavy dose of tension and that creeping sense of hopelessness. I mean, when the man who has abducted you not only shows you his "other girls" but interacts with them as though they are still living, breathing women instead of corpses? You really get the sense that Abby is going to join them, sooner rather than later. 

While the police scenes occasionally bordered on tedious, I imagine real police work often feels the same; slow, frustrating, and full of dead ends (especially when there’s a life hanging in the balance). In that regard, I do wish we’d seen more of the full case. A bit more depth there would have made their frustration feel more genuine instead of leaving them somewhat one-dimensional. I should probably add that it didn't help that Detective Randall had some weird compulsion to tie his shoes (even when it wasn't needed). At first it is explained that it somehow happened when his ex-partner died (which caused him to end up on leave before the story starts), but later on we are told it happened because he was learning how to drive a car and he hit a deer (at low speeds) and somehow this low speed collusion killed his cousin (who was teaching him to drive), but it might have been avoided if "his laces didn't get caught in the accelerator" 

... I'm sorry what?

It also didn't help that his new "partner" had only been assigned to the team for a week or so. Yes, she pulled her own weight, but I never felt like I got to know her either.

Now, I had clocked who the twins were almost immediately, but that isn't what caused the sudden drop in my rating. What caused the drop was how the book ended. 

You see, when I began reading this book, I didn't realize that "extreme embalming" and/or "themed funerals" were a thing. And while that particular rabbit hole is one I'm not sure I'll ever recover from, I'm flabbergasted that the author didn't do the same amount of research into what came next. 

First with the "big reveal" that is not only a cheap cop out, but also completely implausible (seriously a quick google search will tell you that that sort of thing is actually impossible). But the book was still sitting at a solid 2.5 stars for me because again, everything leading up to that had been enjoyable. But then we had that epilogue, and what do you mean this is how it ends after everything? It was insulting both to the fictional victims AND to the reader. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.