I really enjoyed this story! Very reminiscent of the movie Memento as the characters in the story are trying to retrace their steps to figure out what happened the night before. I don’t really want to go into any details because I feel like this was so much better having gone into it blind and figuring things out at the same time the characters did. I also thoroughly enjoyed the ending. Highly recommend for those that enjoy dark, disturbing thriller-suspense with a dash of horror.

Received via Netgalley

To be completely honest, I hoped to like this book, but I couldn't get into it. I ended up DNF'ing it after 5 or so chapters. I won't review on GR and amazon so I don't bring down the authors ratings. That's the reason why it's taken me a while to review this book. I personally don't feel comfortable reviewing books I DNF. It doesn't seem fair to the author.

But I was told that this was why my reviewing rating on Netgalley is so low, because I don't review the ones I DNF so I'm going through my list and giving this message to all the books I DNF'd in the hopes to bring up my score. I do feel bad about having to say I DNF'd the book. I guess it just wasn't for me after all.

The story focuses on four characters that have woken up in the woods with no memory as to how they got there.

It's a strange one this as in some ways I quite enjoyed this book but unfortunately I think overall it just wasn't for me. I found the writing style a bit chaotic and confusing and I really didn't connect to the characters at all.

I would say this book isn't awful but average which is a shame because I thought I would love it as it is a genre I usually enjoy.

I love the way Odentz writes! This book was intelligent and oozed realism, to the point where I was oblivious to outside distractions and read late into the evening. I read all his novels, and would highly recommend that you do the same! You won't be disappointed.

As weird as this book was I really enjoyed it! It kept me entertained throughout & the style of writing I could easily follow. The story was definitely unique with quite a few shocks. I highly recommend this book!

This book was amazing! It's creepy, exciting, and has so many twists and turns that it will keep even the most hard to please horror/thriller/mystery fans glued to every page!

What a rollercoaster! I could picture all of this book as I read, vivid and captivating.
I think this would make a brilliant thriller/horror movie!

Wow. This story is amazing, fascinating and a little horrifying. Maybe more than a little horrifying. Not because of anything that goes bump in the night, but because of the dark things than can hide in plain sight.

Meadowfield, Massachusetts is a perfect town, full of perfect people. A town where kids graduate from high school, go on to college and make perfect lives for themselves. It’s a wealthy town. Like most places, there is a side of town that isn’t quite as elite, but this story takes place in the better part of town.

Weston, known as West to his friends, is the narrator of the story. When he and his friends, Marcy, Anders and Myers wake up in a remote, wooded part of town, they are disoriented, fuzzy-headed and sick. They have no idea why they’re there, where they’ve been or what is happening. They spend some time there, partly trying to get over their nausea the rest trying to remember. Trying to remember anything at all. They’re blank. But they know, with sirens going off in town and their own strange and disturbing circumstance, they will have to figure out what happened.

As West and his friends start remembering a few things, Discover a couple of clues, he brings the reader along on the journey. Not only about what happened that horrible night, but the many things hidden and lurking in their families, the school and the town. About two-thirds of the way through the story, the clues began to come together. The last twenty or thirty pages, my chin was dropped firmly on my chest as one twist and turn after another started tying all the ends together…with an ending that had me muttering, Oh, my God!”, over and over again. It’s stunning and surprising…and not surprising at all. It had to end that way.

If you’re ready for a surprising and wonderfully written book about seventeen year old kids in a situation no one of any age should have to deal with, pick up a copy and…

Enjoy!

2shay

This book was dubbed as a psychological thriller which just fail to thrill me. This book is barely a 3 for me.

The premise of this book sounded good: four friends wake up in the woods and have no memory of how they got there. To make things worse - one is covered in blood, one is missing his glass eye, one can't find her pants, and one has a triangle burned into his arm. They are confused and can hear police sirens in the distance. Have they done something? Was something done to them? What happened the night before?

I am most likely in the minority with this one, but I had a really hard time getting into this book. Was it the writing style? The pacing? The middle which felt like it needed some editing? Yes, Yes, and Yes. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it were a short story. There just seemed to be a lag with this book. Usually, I can't wait to find out what really happened. I love to put on my super sleuth hat and try and figure it out for myself and then see if I was right or at least on the right track. For most of the book, I just wanted it to be over. Then the book came to the ending and it redeemed itself for me to get a 3-star rating. Therefore, I think I would have enjoyed the book more had it been a short story. Keep the beginning, keep the ending, get rid of the middle.

I received a copy of this book from BelleBooks - Bell Bridge Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has too much detail and is repetitive. Can't say that I enjoyed this one.

I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down, it was a neat psychological thriller that kept me guessing and guessing until about two thirds of the way through when the plot explained itself to tie up all loose ends.
Weston Kahn, the main storyteller was a likeable character and the others were a mishmash of personality that grew on me.
I found nothing confusing here, just a well written, suspenseful novel that would make a good movie.
I will look out for other books from this Author!

"You can't fix broken."

This was quite an unusual story - for a lot of different reasons.

Four upper-class high school seniors and best friends living in Meadowfield, Massachusetts wake up out in the woods one morning - disoriented, sick, and not remembering the last few hours.

There's a lot of different things going on in town and in the story, which is told from the viewpoint of Weston "West" Kahn, a trust fund baby, and one of the four friends.

I like how the author parceled out little pieces of their lost night, as each of the friends remember fragments. I thought the whole story was written well and delivered well. I wouldn't call it horror even though some horrific events happen. I would say this is more psychological suspense.

Unusual, enjoyable and recommended.

I received this book from Belle Bridge Books through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

I first discovered this author last year when I read a copy of Little Killers A-Z , the instant appeal for me was that the author wasn't afraid to be weird. He makes his characters do all manner of terrible things, which is very interesting to read!

This book was also unusual, but that didn't stop me devouring it in a single sitting. The main characters are a group of four 17 year olds who have woken up with no memories of the night before, over the course of the book they start to figure out what terrible things they were involved in.

The style of writing was quite unusual in this book, the narrative bounced around a lot so I was feeling a bit confused as to what the hell was going on but it still managed to hold my attention until the end.

My only issue about this book is the revelation about one of the characters near the end of the book (no spoilers here), I could see what the author was trying to do but it was a bit too divisive for my tastes. If you want to guess what the issue was, read my review of Bubblegum by Sari Taurez!

This author has a real knack for the weird and the wonderful, I'll be back for more as he writes.

This thriller would make a fantastic movie! The story plays out like an episode of 24. We follow four teens from the moment they wake up in a maze - without a single recollection of what happened the night before - until the time 24 hours later when they piece together the events that have changed their lives irrevocably. Wow! What an ending. I stayed up way too late reading the last 20% of the book.

What We Kill is told in first person, present tense from the perspective of Weston Kahn - the fat boy turned thin. I enjoyed the author's voice and loved these misfit characters who seemed to fit perfectly with each other, if not with the cool crowd. We're taken on an interesting and twisty journey that delivers more than one shocking surprise. I think I actually said, "Oh snap, that just happened." at one point. Jaw-dropping good stuff.

So why not five stars? Part of the book felt stilted. Weston would go off on these tangents ... which always got us back on point ... but they were oddly placed and ruined the pacing of the story for me. There was some repetitiveness which could've been culled out as well. But seriously - this is a great story that is well worth reading.

3.5 stars but rounded up.
Well, this was jogging along quite nicely until a certain point that I really can't get into here. Threw me quite a curve ball I can tell you! But then, having thought about it there were hints along the way that something was a little... shall we say unusual... and as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing; this being the first book I have read by the author, I am not sure if this is a feature in his work.
So, we have four friends that have grown up together. They wake in the woods near their town. All four have something not quite right but they all share one thing. They have absolutely no idea how they got into whatever they appear to have got into!
Returning to town to try and regroup and piece together what happened, they find that things are kicking off there too with the police very active at a particular house. Is this related to their current state, and if so how and, more importantly, what did they get up to the night before?
Pacing for this one was a little strange. It started off with a bang, slowed right down in the middle where it was a tad repetitive, and then the end was so blooming hectic that I had to go back and re read some bits just to keep up! That said, even considering the slow bit, it did most hold my attention, mainly cos I, like the characters, was so confused as to what was happening that I plodded on, eager to get to the bottom of things.
As with most books of this genre and target audience, it does read a bit like a coming of age as there is a lot of stuff dealt with by our foursome throughout the book. Especially after what is revealed about one of them. The characters themselves were excellently portrayed and came across as quite real. I managed quite early on to connect with all four and followed avidly as they went through a whole host of emotions as they battled the confusion of the situation.
The ending, albeit a bit on the frenetic/busy side, did leave me satisfied. Yes, I had a few unanswered questions re logistics and a few other things but, on the whole, I thought the author did a good job wrapping it all up.
As already mentioned, this is my first book by the author but, as I really did get on with his writing style and characters, coupled with the fact that the story was intriguing, I am definitely going to check out his other works.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A suspenseful psychological thriller that kept me guessing until the final pages were turned. Mr. Odentz has once again crafted a story that kept me up until the early morning hours reading. Impossible to put down, edge of your seats reading that makes you wonder what kinds of tricks your mind is capable of making.

This was definitely a game of two halves for me, I loved the first half, I thought the scene was nicely set and the characters were pretty interesting and the circumstances they found themselves in was intriguing.Then for me it all took a bit of a turn for the worse and started to ramble a bit, and I lost interest.I think there was unnecessary padding to the story and it was repetitive at times, I thought it was a real shame , its lost its bite for me.It did pick up towards the end so is worth reading but could have been outstanding I would give it 3.5 stars if I could but will only be giving it 3 stars as I can't.I think the book has lots of promise and I hope others like it.Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Man oh man. I was super excited about this one. I was introduced to Odentz’s writing back in March when I received his short story, “Snow”, through Netgalley.

More recently, I was going through some of the authors I really like. I realized I never looked into anything else Odentz had written, and I really reeeeaaally liked “Snow”. It's one of those stories that stick with you, and makes you smile from time to time. The writing style is smooth, and the story is fun and upbeat (well, as upbeat as a horror story can be. Ha). These are two traits that Odentz’s most recent novel, “What We Kill”, has as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it as much, and it all boils down to one major issue. Repetitiveness.

The beginning of this book was great. Four kids wake up in the middle of the woods: one covered in blood, another missing his glass eye, another not wearing any pants, and the last has been branded on his arm. They don’t remember anything from the night before, and soon after they wake up they hear sirens in the distance. What in the hell happened last night? And good lord, why is everyone so nauseous? Either they all got really, really wasted, which we’re told isn’t likely, because they’re not those types of kids and Marcy (the only girl in the group) would never drink because of the meds she’s taking, oooooor….they were abducted by aliens?

Seriously though, it was a great start, and you’re right there with the kids trying to figure out what the heck is going on. The author does a mostly great job of introducing us to not only the characters and plot, but the town as well. We get a feel for it rather quickly. We’re riding right along, and I’m thinking to myself with a smile on my face, “OK, this has gotta be a 4 or 5 star read.”

*sigh* and this is why we always wait to delve deeper into the book before rating it. About 150 pages in I was ready to drop the book to 2 stars.

Rather than unraveling what really happened the night before, we’re given hardly anything at all to satiate us, and information we already know is rehashed again and again. We’re told more than once Marcy takes meds that make it highly unlikely that she would drink or do drugs. We’re reminded again and again that our character used to be fat (I could have forgiven this one, because it does shape who the character used to be and still is, but it wasn’t the only thing we kept being told again and again). We are reminded numerous times that the main character woke up branded, that Myers is missing his glass eye, and that Anders is a jock and it’s weird that he hangs out with a group that’s a bit loserish (I do like the breakout from stereotypes, but I didn’t need to continuously be told that he was “different” from the norm). We’re told in as many ways as I think are possible that Myers’s mom likes to cuss and yell, that Anders’s mom is a slut, that our main character’s mom is pretty much crazy and doesn’t care in the least about her son. Oh, and Marcy is beautiful. Did I mention that Marcy is beautiful? No, like I thought she was just pretty, but she’s really reeeeeaaally beautiful. Especially when the light hits her hair just right…

I could actually go on about what we’re told time and again. None of these things have ANYTHING to do with the mystery THAT WE ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT!!! OK, the Marcy being pretty one I can forgive as well. Still, all of things got old so fast. My memory’s not perfect, but it’s good enough that I didn’t need all these things reiterated to me again and again and again…and again….

I understand that all of this information is supposed to help us as readers feel like we really know the characters, but did it really need to be stated 20 times that Marcy has a thing for Anders and that EVERYONE knows about? I personally don’t think so. We really didn’t need to be “told” a lot of these things even once. Odentz, you’re a good enough writer that you showed us all of these things, I promise. Most of your readers aren’t dumb enough to miss the hints here and there. Most…and that most is who you’re really shooting to please.

Moving on to the end when everything FINALLY comes together, it comes together fast and hard like a guillotine of epic proportions, and I’m enthralled yet again. A lot of the mystery we’ve probably already figured out, but some of it makes you go “huhwhaaaaa?”

The end was superb, my friends. It left a little smile on my face, and I instantly wanted to tell someone about it.

While there were times I had thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish the book, because it got so boring there in the middle, I am so happy I did. There’s so much to like about this book. It’s about more than just the mystery. It’s about what the town’s going through. It’s about what the kids are going through. You really get to know them. If the story hadn’t dragged so much you could really start to care about all of them.

I liked two-thirds of this book. I liked two-thirds of this book A LOT, but it wasn’t enough to pay back for the wasted time spent on the middle. I am taking into account that I read the unedited proof of the book, and hoping against all hopes that there will be more edited out than just the typos. This book could seriously be cut down at least 50 pages, and be so much better. I’d even dare to say 100 pages of fluff could be cut out. Seriously, there’s that much extra right now.

In terms of writing style it was a joy to read. Another fun read, that makes me curious about other things this author has written. I will be on the lookout for more, because gah, the ending and premise of this one were golden. Please, please write more, and edit the crap out of all this extra fluff!

Oh, solid 3 out of 5 star rating. Which means, yes, it’s probably worth a read.

I loved this book ! It had so many twist and turns I never expected Marcy to be what she turned out to be and WOW the twist with her brother was just crazy ! Wish this book never had to end since I couldn’t put it down!

I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you, Howard Odentz, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.

WHAT WE KILL is a horror thriller shrouded in mystery elements by Howard Odentz. Without memory of how they get there, Robbie Myers, Anders Stephenson, Marcy Cole, and Weston Khan, four life-long friends, wake in the woods. One has a triangle burned into his forearm. One has lost her pants. One is missing his glass eye. The last is covered in blood. Soon, they begin have flashbacks, and the town fire alarm and police department sirens ring. Time is running out: they must unveil the mystery surrounding their memory loss to figure out what they've done and how it's affecting their town.

This was my first Howard Odentz novel, and I enjoyed it. It was a fast-paced read with great character dynamic. Odentz did a great job weaving the mystery plot throughout this horror thriller, leaving the reader guessing everyone's true intentions until the very end. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good horror suspense mystery.