A life removed by Jason Parent.
Detectives Bruce Marklin and Jocelyn Beaudette have put plenty of criminals behind bars. But a new terror is stalking their city. The killer’s violent crimes are ritualistic but seemingly indiscriminate. As the death toll rises, the detectives must track a murderer without motive. The next kill could be anyone… maybe even one of their own.Officer Aaron Pimental sees no hope for himself or humanity. His girlfriend is pulling away, and his best friend has found religion. When Aaron is thrust into the heart of the investigation, he must choose who he will become, the hero or the villain.
If Aaron doesn’t decide soon, the choice will be made for him.
A very good read with good characters. I do like this author. 4*.

A police procedural thriller with a touch of supernatural. Although this was a very well written book I have to admit I am not a fan of supernatural plots so this skewed my view a little.

If you enjoy a lot of gore and horror then this is the book for you.

Very hard and gritty police procedural. It kept me turning the pages and had lots of twists and turns. Very good indeed.

Great story by Jason Parent. Really thrilling read, great characters and an enjoyable story. Highly recommend to others!!

4 Stars!



I have recently discovered Jason Parent through some of his shorter works and have been impressed with what I had read. I was happy to dive into A Life Removed and see what Parent had to offer in a novel.



There is a new serial killer on the loose and it has the police, and more specifically detectives Bruce Marklin and Jocelyn Beaudette, confounded. The victims seem to be completely random and the only binding element is the ritualistic and extremely violent way in which the murders are conducted. Another policeman closely tied to the case, Aaron Pimental, feels as if his own life is falling apart even as the body count climbs. In this gritty world in which we live, is there anyone who is truly innocent or guilty or is it all just shades of grey in between? And to what lengths would one go to achieve godhood? The weight of the world rests upon Marklin and Beaudette to stop the killer before he strikes again and to maybe save the soul of the world along the way.



I was not really sure what to expect when I started the novel but I definitely did not expect a story that was more police procedural than horror. Maybe I should not have been that surprise since the short stories I had read were a blend of genres. The story is essentially a crime novel and a strong one at that. Parent navigates through the developing story of the crime in a way that keeps the story moving along even while introducing different elements into the mix. The story is a good one strictly on its merits as a crime novel with all the elements deftly handled to create a novel that drew me along from the opening page.



While this is not a true horror story, there are a lot of horror elements to the story and the violence is extreme so that the novel should still appeal to many horror fans. Parent does not shy away from pushing the envelope at times with his descriptions of the murders and this may be too strong at times for those who are used to police procedurals as seen on TV. What really makes the story stand out, though, are the characters. Parent gives them a depth that is not common in thrillers and this element allows the reader to not just experience the events of the novel but to understand them as well. No character in the story is perfect just as in life which gives the reader a glimpse into the psyche of the characters. Even the most immoral of characters are accessible as the are understandable and feel real.



A Life Removed is a novel that rests in an area between genres and thus may not appeal to all. There is the hard element of horror and violence that could be too much for thriller fans while this is undeniably a police procedural that may not be right for some horror fans. As a fan of both crime thrillers and horror, I found the book to be an exciting read that had plenty of development to the story and yet kept up the pace throughout the story. Parent is a writer to keep an eye on and this novel just served as further proof of his talent.





I would like to thank Red Adept Publishing and NetGalley for this review copy. A Life Removed is available now.

I have a hard time getting swept up by novels featuring prominent Law Enforcement type characters. Not for a want of trying. More times than not they come off as any other Cop from any other medium and eventually (usually rather quickly) something strikes me as a Law and Order type moment and I can’t help but to check out. And honestly, I don’t know a thing about Cops on the job. What they think, what they say, how they act. A Life Removed could be spot-on perfect with it’s characterizations of Johnny Law but not one on the enforcer side of the cast stands out as an interesting or memorable character (initially).

What doesn’t help the cause is that all the usual suspects are present and accounted for. Mainly the hard nose detective who doesn’t take shit from anyone and the youthful, intelligent partner who could be a world class detective if they could look past their hope in humanity. The officer losing his faith in life, and losing themselves in the job, yup. The officer who can’t seem to get the job done as expected, check. They don’t so much find clues as have developments fall in their lap.

It didn’t feel like I was given anyone to root for, it really became a matter of who I disliked the least. If only things would have perked up on the “bad guy” side of the narrative. If only I could have found someone there to take sides with. You know what, let me take that back a bit. There are some pretty fun scenes with the antagonists involving the how’s and the why’s of their actions. Including some rather intriguing backstory that immediately snared me with a fish hook, catching my interest. But that hook gets gently removed when this backstory fails to amount to anything other than an interesting tidbit. While other developments that feel as though they’re going to pull the curtain back on a mystery end up falling flat.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate this book. There are some cool bits here and there, mostly dealing with the attacks, but it’s not enough to carry the novel. There is very little intrigue, no mystery, which is something I want in police drama. And any sort of momentum built by the antagonist’s motivations is deflated by their mastermind. I was excited to read A Life Removed unfortunately I had a difficult time staying involved with it.

Mr. Parent, I know that you can thrill me, you have before. This just wasn’t the one to bring it home. Next time.

If you're a thriller and suspense fan, this book by Jason Parent should be at the top of your list. Scary and full of twists and turns, this was just a rollercoaster of a ride! Just when you think you've got a handle on what's happening, you get thrown a curve ball that leaves you biting your nails. Very highly recommended!

A LIFE REMOVED was an unimaginative, uninspired yawn of a read that had only the title going for it. In today's world of self- publishing, it's a wonder to me that Parent found a legitimate outlet for his book. But if anyone can put words to paper and call themselves an author, I suppose anyone can print them and call themselves a publisher.

Read before buy.

'A Life Removed' is a thriller which runs the gamut from psychological to horror. When several bodies are found missing their hearts, detectives Marklin and Beaudette have a hard time investigating the case. The book has no fix POV, as parts of the story describe the police investigation, while others follow Aaron Pimental, who happened to be the first officer at the first crime scene. As a third angle, we have the viewpoint of the culprit, so we also know the who, how and where of each next murder. As the reader knows from the start who the murderer is, this is not a typical 'whodunnit' mystery, though of course one focus is on how and when the murderer will be caught, if at all. However, a large part of the book centers on the psychological aspect of the murders and the persons involved.

My favorite chapters where those featuring Marklin and Beaudette, both not necessarily likable characters, but I liked how they complemented each other in their work. On the other hand, I felt an instant dislike towards Aaron Pimental, who was complaining too much, showed too little initiative and turned out to be a very unstable and troubled character. With his psychological profile and background, I wondered how he managed to become a police officer at all. The psychopath responsible for the gruesome deaths at least had a clear and simple motive for his deeds. It was fascinating to see how he was able to easily influence, or rather brainwash, other people to serve his purpose, abusing religious belief for his cruel benefit.

While I enjoyed the unusual concept of this thriller at the same time I think it was unnecessarily long and often slow which too much dialogue. I also could have done with one or two less detailed descriptions of the murders, not because of their shocking brutality, but because it got boring.
At about sixty percent I was tempted to put the book down, as most questions where answered and, even with the subsequent turn of events, there was no tension left to hold my interest. While I did finish the book, the final twist held no surprise and rather felt like an overlong epilogue. Overall, this was an interesting story, but not exceptionally so.

An excellent book. I enjoy the books by Jason Parent and he hasn't let me down with this one.

I have received this books as an ARC from netGalley with intentions of writing an honest and truthful review.

I have never read a book from Jason Parent, but have heard some really good things about his writing, so when I saw this one on NetGalley I wanted to give it a shot. Wow is all I can say I will be reading more books from him in the future. He is a well written author and awesome story teller. His book had my attention from the minute I started the book to the minute I finished the book. It transported me to another realm, I felt like I was in the book with the characters. It is a good mix of two genres, intense genre and horror. I tend to not like horror books but I found this one was pretty good. A Life Removed was a real page turner because it had you always guessing what was going to happen on the next page.

I've read and listened to the author's books before and have come to expect a sort of lowbrow entertainment, but I'm thrilled to see that he's actually improving as an author. With this one, somewhat unimaginatively named thriller, Parent enters a new territory. It's more ambitious, the dialogue is stronger and more importantly the characters are finally acquiring some dimensionality. This might have been just another middle of the road cops chasing a serial killer story, but Parent elevated the plot with the ambiguous protagonist who hears the siren's song luring him to the dark side and fights to resist it. That internal moral struggle made the book a much more interesting and compelling read. Plus it was fun, lots of fun and had some genuine thrills in it to appease genre fans. Nice done. Always great to see an author up their game. There's enough mediocrity out there plus one should really reach for the stars. Thanks Netgalley.

Officer Aaron Pimental attends a crime scene only to find a young lady naked and with her heart missing, detectives Marklin and Beaudette are to investigate the crime and when there are more bodies found it seems a serial killer has moved into their town. Marklin and Beaudette find it odd that Pimentall seems to turn up at their crime scenes more and more and they can't help wondering why.
This is a police procedural with added horror. It's told in the 3rd person and even though it changes to different characters it is so easy to follow and means you get to know the characters more. It's not for the feint hearted though as there is snippets of gore but totally appropriate and enhanced the plot. I did however find a couple of parts that were slightly amusing when Aaron finds himself in a canoe in the middle of a lake for instance. It's a fabulous book that that keeps you in suspense all the way through.
Thank you to NetGalley and Red Adept for a copy of the book.

This book didn't work for me. The writing seemed very clumsy and it could have benefited from some further editing.

This was an odd story. To say that I wanted to maybe go out and kill a noisy neighbor and munch on their heart might be a little overblown.......but then I had a snickers. I didn't get the energy boost from it that I might have received from a bloody, still beating heart, but hey, the neighbors are still alive! I loved everything about this story. The murderers and their motives were truly screwey. I like that. The police however were bumblers. Think keystone cops, without the billyclubs. While I finished this book yesterday, as of today I can't recall any of the characters names, except Aaron, he's impossible to forget. I don't know what that says about the book or the main characters, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. I prefer more character development. It's still a book I'd recommend. My thanks to Red Adept Publishing and Netgalley.

Well this was interesting book. I don't know why but I was actually rooting for the killer in this book. I think it's because I would like to see more of him in another book. Once I actually started reading the book and didn't put it off I really got into the book and enjoyed it. You feel bad for Aaron but he is nutters. I like detective Jocelyn Beaudette the best out of all the characters besides the killer. This book gets you thinking on how some people will just follow anything someone says is from God. People need to think for themselves but this book is a good example that people do not. I really did enjoy this book and hope there are more to come.

Detectives Bruce Marklin and Jocelyn Beaudette have been called in to catch a new killer that seems to hunt their victims at random. With no clues as to how or why the victims are being chosen or just how the killer is managing to complete the murders the detectives find themselves chasing down clues.

Officer Aaron Pimental has been in a bit of a personal spiral with his girlfriend pulling away and depressed with life. Aaron was at the scene of one of the killings and finds himself really losing faith in humanity but then finds himself right in the middle of the chase for justice from the ritualistic killings.

A Life Removed was a completely different type of story than I’ve experienced from Jason Parent before which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but I found myself not as big of a fan of this one than ones I’d read earlier leaving me to rate the story at 3.5 stars. This book is more heavily a police procedural than the horror reads I’d experienced before from Mr. Parent. Once getting more into the killings and suspects I saw the tinges of horror but had wished there were more to it than I found. I would warn though that the story can be a bit graphic for those that would shy from that but not too terrible with serial killings involved. Overall, a good read but I wasn’t quite wowed with this one.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Faith is for the lemmings.

Let me start by saying that this is the first novel I've read by Jason Parent. I can't say that I loved it, though it wasn't a terrible read, it just wasn't for me.

Let's start with the premise of the story shall we... it's told from several points of view, the main being Aaron Pimental, a small time police officer who's life seems to be rather mundane, he's been with his girlfriend, Arianna, for 6 years and things couldn't be more "routine" for them if they were married. His job as a police officer lacks that allure and excitement that one might come to expect, he spends most of his days on speed patrol and filling out mindless paperwork for the occasional fender bender. Aaron is on-duty when he is called to a nearby murder scene of a woman who has been discovered in a dumpster behind a sandwich shop. This is where we meet detective Bruce Marklin, a Harvard graduate is was one hell of a detective, but prefers to work alone. He is arrogant, stubborn, and generally pissy, which is likely why he had two failed marriages. We also meet detective Jocelyn Beaudette, an ambitious woman who was every bit the opposite of her mentor, polite, approachable, soft but not weak. Genuinely likeable. We discover that there is a ritualistic serial killer on the loose that is slicing the wrists of it's victims and removing their hearts. What's believed to be a sign of stigmata. Aaron, Marklin, and Beaudette are brought together under the most unusual circumstances throughout this case as it devolves. We find that Aaron's character is forced to make some pretty tough decisions about his friends, his career, and his own morals.

The ubiquity of religion in the novel was a bit too much for me. I realize that religion is a common thread that binds many, and it's found in quite a bit of literature, but something about the way it was intertwined in this novel simply didn't work for me. I also found Aaron's character a bit too melodramatic. I get that it was intended, but as a main character, he turned me off to the novel entirely. The other big problem I had is that key character just goes missing and although the epilogue is intended to close this gap on what happens to this character, it just doesn't quite work for me.

I will say that the book was well edited and that Jason Parent's writing was impressive, I just didn't care for the story itself. He is a talented author, and I'm willing to check out his other work.

Copy furnished by Net Galley for the price of a review.

Trusting, faithful followers. Believers and redeemers. Soul stealers. Lemmings. One is evolving, one is regaining his sight. A man with a God complex and a disarming smile. Do not let him into your heart.

A tantalizing mixture of police procedural and horror. The blend makes for a tasty read if you don't mind a healthy helping of gore. I thought it was swell.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Red Adept for a review copy of A Life Removed a police procedural with some horror elements, set in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Detectives Bruce Marklin and Jocelyn Beaudette are investigating a serial killer who tortures his victims and excises their heart. They reluctantly accept help from rather inept patrol officer Aaron Pimental but whatever they do he seems to be at the centre of the action.

On the whole I enjoyed A Life Removed as it is well written and draws the reader into the clever plot. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested and guessing although I found the reason for the killings impossible to believe and it put me off a bit. I have no imagination so I find these kind of leaps into the unproven silly.

The perpetrators are no secret to the reader as the third person point of view switches between the detectives, the group of killers and Aaron Pimental. The detectives' point of view is straightforward, find the killer and incarcerate him. The killers' point of view is much less so as they are a cult with a charismatic leader. Mr Parent does an excellent job of demonstrating the dynamic in this kind of group and with so many past examples it is easy to believe. The real thrust of the novel, however, is Aaron Pimental. He starts off as a slightly incompetent patrol officer doing traffic duty and not trusted to do much more but as the narrative focuses on him it is apparent that there is much more to him, including some mental instability. He is not particularly likeable but he's fascinating.

I would have preferred a more straightforward police procedural as there is not much focus on Marklin and Beaudette but Mr Parent has crafted a very readable novel which I do not hesitate to recommend.