I Killed You Once (Madison, Indiana Thrillers Book 1)
Author: Dawn Merriman
5 out of 5 stars
Detective Maribeth Johansen has a wonderful, happy life with her husband and two children. Then her family is killed in front of her by a sadistic serial killer named Jesse Franklin. Afterwards, Maribeth and her dog move to a cabin in the woods and shut out the world. For two years her only visitors are her sister and the ghosts (literal ghosts) of her husband and children. However, what peace she has found is shattered when a young woman is murdered the same way her family was, and her body is left on Maribeth’s property. As the murder is investigated, secrets about Franklin are revealed that change everything, and Maribeth is in grave danger.
At the same time, Maribeth meets a delivery man named Grant who has also dealt with grief after losing his wife. As they grow closer, Maribeth opens up to the idea of finally leaving her property and moving on from her loss. But will she survive to do so when the killer she believed to be dead is after her again?
I was intrigued by the plot of this book immediately. The writing was fantastic and really compelling. And there was a lot of really good descriptive writing of the woods Maribeth lives in. I will say that the twist about Franklin didn’t surprise me. I came up with a theory early on that ended up being right.
I liked all of the main characters, and this is a very character-driven story. Like everything else, the characters were also written really well, and I could feel what the characters were feeling along with them. The book jumps between the perspectives of different characters so that the reader is getting the full picture of what’s happening. This also shows the different characters thoughts on the murders, what happened with Maribeth, and their own reactions.
Maribeth is very strong-willed and a very compelling character. Despite the loss of her family in such a horrific way, she’s still able to keep going. The book’s theme focuses on dealing with grief and learning to move past it. Maribeth catches Grant’s attention because of his own loss, and the two are able to connect through the grief they share. Maribeth’s former partner, Samuels, is also shown to be deeply hurt by what happened to Maribeth’s family, knowing it could have easily happened to his family instead. His guilt and sadness are shown to continue to affect him.
The only negative I could find was that there are some mistakes with misspelled words, and Sheriff Kingsley’s name was missing the g a few times. But overall, there weren’t so many mistakes that I felt it deserved less than 5 out of 5 stars because the rest of the book was so good.
If you like character-driven thrillers, then you should definitely check out this book. But if you’re uncomfortable with animal deaths and detailed hunting scenes, then this book might not be for you.
Current price through Amazon Kindle: $4.88
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084FJTLVN
(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)