This is the first book in the Detective Megan Carpenter series. Based in the Washington area, USA, Megan is a detective in a quiet little town who is on the case of a missing woman. When a body is found some days later, it’s obvious that Megan is now on the trail of a killer. But with her own personal demons to deal with, can she find out what happened to her…

I don’t read many police procedural thrillers that are based in the United States, but I’m definitely glad I gave this one a go! I have to admit the cover initially drew me into this book, but I also got caught up in the location and it’s fabulously sounding Snow Creek! Megan, like many lead characters in books such as this, has a troubled background and as the storyline moves on, we are given bits of information of what happened to her in the past. She is a strong female character and very likeable, but it is obvious that there is so much more to find out about her, which will hopefully come in future books of the series.

This was my first book by this author, and there is no denying that he can write one hell of a thriller! It did find it focussed on Megan’s storyline too much at times, but as this was the first book in the series, it was useful to lay down Megan’s story for future books. It was fast paced and very dark, almost to the point of being scary. Filled with bucketloads of tension and suspense, this book will keep you guessing right through to the very end. With a massive big cliff-hanger, the author has left you wanting more and you will definitely be putting the next book in the series on your To Be Read list!! I would definitely recommend this book!

Snow Creek is the first installment in author Gregg Olsen's Detective Megan Carpenter series. The story is largely set in and around Port Townsend and Snow Creek, Washington. Megan Carpenter is a Detective for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. As the story opens, Ruth Turner claims that her sister Ida has been missing for over a month. Apparently, Ida and her husband Merrick were planning on going to Mexico to some orphanage but haven't been heard from since.

Megan soon starts her investigation by doing a welfare check on Ida and Merrick's teenage children Joshua and Sarah. Something is really not right with not only Ida and her family, but Ruth's as well. The investigation into the Merritt's disappearance heightens when a burnt out truck with the body of a dead woman is found in a nearby ravine thanks to intrepid cryptozoologists searching for Sasquatch. With the mystery of Ida’s whereabouts solved, Megan has to figure out what happened to Wheaton.

With Sarah telling Megan that her father was abusive, Megan has even more to go on.The race is on to find Merrick and bring Ida’s killer to justice begins in earnest. But as further evidence is uncovered Megan starts to wonder if they’ve been focusing on the wrong person and someone else could be their killer. Between trying to put the pieces together or what is actually happening, Megan takes a journey back to her own troubled past. Not going to sugar coat it, but the more she listens to the tapes from her former psychiatrist, the more questions you will have.

Snow Creek is actually a pretty twisted story that makes you compare this book to Deliverance. Haven't seen Deliverance yet? Rent it! While Megan is trying to maintain a sort of dual existence between the past and the present, you get the feeling that she really had a whole lot of help hiding what happened to her in the past in order to become a Cop. Megan and her brother no longer speak thanks to her own actions. She doesn't speak to her mother who she hasn't seen in years, and I don't think she has any intentions of doing so any time soon.

I definitely plan on continuing with this series as the book ends on a curious cliffhanger ending.

The main story, investigation, suspense everything was good. The life story of the detective was added only to be left off hanging maybe to continue in the series. That could have been avoided. Character building in a series is different, telling their story in parts is different. Hence 4 stars.

Set in Snow Creek, Washington near Port Townsend this new detective series brought out so many different emotions as I read the story. The story telling is overwhelmingly good and the setting was thought-provoking as I worked my way through self-imposed isolation many in this community apparently desire.

Thoughts:
The story begins with a scene that made me so miffed and disgusted as I watched two self-absorbed women decide that being left alone and not being bothered was more important than perhaps alerting the police to a situation that they needed to be involved in. This opening scene evoked so many emotions that only a good writer who knows how to create excellent characters can (even when I don’t like the character’s choices).

Snow Creek gives all appearances to be an area in Washington state where people go when they no longer want to be disturbed by other people. Self-imposed isolation. To hide from civilization and never return. But when Detective Megan Carpenter is alerted to a possible missing person case of Ida Wheaton by her sister, the solitary way of life several enjoy becomes disturbed. To make the investigation even more difficult both sisters and their families have strict religious beliefs with a lot of rules, hindering both present and future conversations and questions from being answered.

I truly had a hard time putting this one down and when I stayed up late one night to finish I didn’t feel guilty about it at all. The characters and their stories were so unique and memorable. While the religious and lifestyle choices made for a interesting investigation, I am fairly certain the two women I mentioned at the beginning will be the ones I remember long after. Detective Carpenter also has a background that she is trying very hard to overcome and move on from. We learn a little through old audio tapes her therapist recorded from their sessions years ago, but never enough to give her entire story away. However, throughout the story you can see her try and take a few strides to move past her past.

Overall, this is one I can recommend to those who love detective series or police procedurals. Just note that this one is a little different due to the location and isolation. There are generally no security cameras to watch or financial records to pull up since these people tend to live off the grid that many other detective stories might use. Just a really good detective who can slowly unwind a story and find the truth.

Rating: 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced reader copy and the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

It has been a long time since I read Gregg Olsen but decided when this was the start of a new series that I would give him a try again. This is a really well written suspense.

When Megan finds tapes of her therapy sessions she comes face to face with her past. And who she was before. But does she want to go back there?

I really liked Megan. She was a really strong woman who is just trying to figure out her past and there are a lot of twists and turns to get you there but the thing is not everything has been answered. Which is good and bad. I wanted to know everything by the end of the book but it also made me want to read the next in the series.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read. The families that are surrounding the murders live very secluded, cult-like lives. The men are the patriarchs and appear to exhibit total control over their families. I did feel like there was a disconnect between the groups of characters but the story picked up and became a quick read. I enjoyed learning a bit about the detective as it is the first in the series. I was mad at the major cliff hanger at the end. That was brutal!

I have read Greg Olsen before and so I was excited to try this one but I didn't like it as much as I had hoped too.

It starts out with two ladies who live in the woods off the grid. Regina sees something and she doesn't want them to be dragged into it so she thinks it would be best if she got rid of the body. No body no crime to bug them about.

Then it goes on to a woman reporting her sister missing. They all live sort of strange as the woman was real strict about not bothering her unless she finds something out. She doesn't want her husband to get mad. Turns out her sister lives in kind of strange situation as well. Detective Megan Carpenter does a wellness check since there are to teens living there and finds out that their parents are suppose to be on some sort of like mission trip to an orphanage. 

The detective thinks something strange is going on and it gets weirder when they find a burned out truck with a woman wrapped up in the back (hmmm maybe Regina should have checked the back too), soon they find out it's the lady they were looking for and so a search for the husband begins because since he is missing, then he must be the killer. While searching for him the detective discovers some other things, some interesting things.

You also get to find out how messed up the detective is because this situation is bringing her back to her childhood and she starts listening to her therapy session tapes. You don't get a full scope of what she has done but it mentions that the sheriff knows most of it and helped her become a cop so it must have been something not so good. The author wants you to continue with the series to find out more. 

So I never really got very invested in any of the characters. Normally I usually like the detectives, but I just wasn't that big of a fan of Megan. I wasn't a fan of the ones off the grid or the teens. So I guess I never got invested in what was going to happen. Then when some things happened some of it didn't make sense and was kind of confusing. I felt like there was some unanswered questions about everything that was going on. I also thought the two older ladies in the woods storyline was more filler than anything and didn't make a lot of sense, though what happened that involved them was something I didn't see coming.

I had figured things out when I had about 35% left but it still had some surprises I didn't see coming. I just didn't think it wrapped up very well. 

Overall, I think this was just not a book for me as it seems like on Goodreads it has a lot of great reviews, so if the plot sounds cool and I peaked your interest give it a try as you might like it more than me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gregg Olsen and Bookouture for this ARC.

Gregg Olsen is incapable of writing a bad book, whether it be true crime or fiction. I really enjoyed this book, and was so disappointed when I finished it. I can't wait to read the next installment!

Brilliant book and the ending leaves you wanting more! There's so many twists and turns it leaves you breathless!

Everything is happening in the hills above a little town called Snow Creek. The type of place people go to to disappear and where most people have secrets.

Regina stays with her wife Amy in a leaky cabin in the hills. One morning on her daily walk she hears something out of place......cars! Then a few minutes later something is pushed down into the ravine and she discovers a burned out body. It's her worst nightmare because it will bring people and she can't have that.

Ruth Turner comes to see Detective Megan Carpenter because she is worried about her sister who lives outside of Snow Creek. She has not been able to contact her for over a month. Megan decides to look into this by driving to the farm and here she finds 2 scared teenagers all alone. Where are the parents?

Megan has had a horrible life and her past is still haunting her. It is a darkness that sometimes feel like its overwhelming her and she wishes she can set things straight with her brother. She learned at an early age that there is security in randomness. What will she stumble on in this quiet little town and strange community.

I loved the twists and turns and can't wait for the second book in this series! It reads like a movie and the cliffhanger ending is awesome!

Thank you to #bookouture and #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

Detective Megan Carpenter takes a special interest in her new case. A woman, acting very strangely and very reserved, reports her sister, Ruth Turner, missing. Megan goes to the woman's home and is met by the Ruth's teen children. They are are terrified, and Megan discovers that both parents are actually missing, and have been gone for several weeks.

The family lives off the grid and the parents' disappearances raises several concerns for Megan. For starters, Megan sees similarities to her own broken past. While searching for the parents, at the end of each day, Megan painfully listens to tapes from therapy sessions that helped her to recover from very tragic experiences.

Megan soon learns that there is much more than meets the eye with the disappearance of the parents. Meanwhile, there is another couple that also live off grid, and one of them has taken some very serious steps to protect her own. Megan must tie all of these things together.

Snow Creek is the first book in the Detective Megan Carpenter series. The way this book is written, readers get to see how Megan survived a horrid past and how she showed her resilience and became the strong woman she is now. This compelling story was impossible to put down. The twists and turns were many and the conclusion was truly hair-raising. I cannot wait to see what else this series has in store.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Snow Creek is the first instalment in the Detective Megan Carpenter Tapes series by bestselling American crime writer Gregg Olsen and a promising start to a brand new police procedural-thriller hybrid. Detective Carpenter is a rising star at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office when she is told of the disappearance and possible abduction of Ida Watson by her worried sister Ruth. Instead of merely filing a missing persons report she goes above and beyond the call of duty by undertaking a welfare check by visiting the Watsons's secluded family home. On arrival, she is startled to discover Ida's two teenage children, Sarah and Joshua, fending for themselves. Apparently, the couple had gone on a trip to Mexico, however, it is clear after some digging that they never arrived at their destination. As secrets come to the fore revealing abuse Ida suffered at the hands of her husband and her immolated body is found he becomes public enemy number one. But did he really commit such a heinous crime towards the woman he was meant to love and the mother of his children?

This is a fast-paced, exciting and utterly addictive mix of police procedural but with all the thrills and spills you would expect from a thriller; the two interconnected sub-genres are used to maximum effect and all of the aspects Olsen uses are the most compelling features of each whilst leaving out the deadwood. It's an incredibly easy story to engage with, and I found myself right from the opening chapter completely engrossed and soon there was no chance I was going to place it down before finding out what happened to Ida; to say that it was addictive would be an understatement and it was clear just how adept Olsen is at getting under your skin and crafting fascinating, high-octane, twist-filled crime tales which have you feverishly turning the pages. With regards to the cast of characters, they were each well developed and interesting to encounter if slightly forgettable. I found I was genuinely shocked by some of the surprises and reveals throughout, which was pleasant, and immensely satisfying. Megan is certainly an intriguing protagonist, so I look forward to her blossoming in the upcoming instalments and learning more about her and her the hinted at troubled past. Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC.

I haven’t read a book by Greg Olson before Snow Creek, so I didn’t really know what to expect. What I found was a story that hooked my right from the start and didn’t let go of me before the last chapter was read. And it leaves me wanting more, more about what happened to Megan in the past, more about crimes happening in small towns or rural places. I don’t know yet if I like Megan. There is something that makes me weary off her and I have to know what she did. But I want her to be good and to find peace. There is nothing more to say then: Read this book, you won’t be disappointed.

Detective Megan Carpenter has recently joined a small police department. it's a quiet town with little crime.

When a woman walks into the Sheriff's department to report her sister has been missing for a month, Megan instantly starts to investigate. Finding two teenage children alone, they tell her their parents had left to travel a couple of weeks. Megan finds the children a bit bedraggled, but worried. As worried as they are, Megan suspects something else is going on ...

Days later, close to the home she had just visited, an abandoned pickup truck was found, burned out, with a woman's dead body in the back. Is this the body of the children's mother? If so, where is the father? Is he victim ... or a murderer?

Megan is determined to get every victim of a crime the justice they deserve.

This is a slow-burning mystery/crime with unique characters ... most of whom are living off the grid and want nothing to do with any of the locals ...especially the police. They all seem to have secrets and there are twists And turns at every corner. This is a real page turner!

Megan is especially unique. Her history is told in a series of audiotapes recorded by a therapist she was seeing years ago. As Megan begins to play the tapes, she’s taken straight back to her terrifying childhood, back to the time she was a kid called Rylee, fighting to survive.

BOOK BLURB -- Can Megan finally confront the past she’s spent years trying to block out and will listening to her own painful story help her solve the complex case she is now entangled in?

ALERT : While there is a conclusion, there is also a big cliff hanger leading to the next book in this series. I do not normally like cliffhangers ... but I'm looking forward to reading this one.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this police procedural. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and Gregg Olsen.
Let me start by saying I thoroughly enjoy all the books I have read from this author and he did not disappoint with this new series.
I really enjoyed the first instalment from the get go, I am also a sucker for police procedural series.
From the first page I was pulled into the story of detective Megan Carpenter.
Lots of suspense, some descriptions were even cringy.
When I read the last page I wished the second book was already out so I could continue reading.
Highly recommend 4 stars 🌟

This isn't the first Gregg Olsen book I've read, nor do I think it will be the last. It's one of those stories that set you out thinking you're reading one story while wondering how the pieces will fit only to read on in shock as it all comes together perfectly.
This one had more than one villain making it hard to determine who did what and why. I can't give anything away here but can offer this piece of advice - don't count anybody out!
Even when you're sure you how will unfold, I can promise you that this tale will only grab a hold tighter while keep turning the pages for more!

Snow Creek by Gregg Olsen is the first in the Detective Megan Carpenter Tapes series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis: (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)

The people who choose to live above Snow Creek Washington want to live off the grid, for any number of reasons, but bottom line, they seek seclusion.  But things are not always as they seem, and some of the residents keep secrets.

Detective Megan Carpenter travels up into the hills to look for a woman named Ida Watson who is reported missing by her sister.  Her children say that their mom and dad went to do some charity work in Mexico a few weeks ago.  Upon further investigation, it is determined that they never arrived.  When the body of a woman is discovered in a pick-up truck not far from the Watson home, it becomes apparent that there is a murderer on the loose.  Megan will have to sift through many lies before the truth will come out.

In her personal life, Megan is re-living her childhood.  She is listening to the tapes made when she finally saw a therapist for night terrors.  At that time she was known as Rylee.  Only the therapist knows the full story of Megan's past.


My Opinions:

This is going to be another hit series from a very talented author.  I think, as a true crime writer, Gregg Olsen is able to use those experiences to create wonderful crime fiction.

The plot of this book was captivating, and the characters fascinating.

Olsen created a main character that you want to "know".  She's intelligent, she's good at her job, and she's damaged.  She has a past.  Yes, you want to get to know her.  Olsen gives you enough information to keep you stuck to the pages you turn, and leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions so that you are going to be anticipating the next book...and hope it isn't far off.

Absolutely loved this book!

Woah!! This book was all kinds of creepy with different sub plots linked in a macabre way. I loved it!!

Detective Megan Carpenter had only one case to begin with to find a sister and her husband. Searching for them led her to a charred body and then neighbors Regina and Amy with their own story which is so horrendous that you would have to read it to believe it. Megan too had a past which chilled me completely. OMG!!

My first book by author Gregg Olsen, I was simply blown away by this master game planner who could put the scenes in such a way that I couldn't look away from my kindle even when I wanted to. The story took me by my throat making me gasp every few chapters.

I had no idea how Megan remained sane after seeing and going through so much horror with the victims. I was glad her personal story was left for book 2 as I wouldn't have been able to stomach it. Evil had never been better written that what this author did with the hints of disturbed minds. I was completely shaken up, thrilled to the core.

Snow Creek was both a compelling place in its worldbuilding and a captivating read in its story. This had something extra, a zing in the story as compared to other police procedurals. Wow!!

This is the first book I have read from this author.

It had a lot of twists and different characters to get to know, some who were quite odd I must add!


A huge part of the plot was finding out about Megan's past. As it was left open i guess he'll pick up in the next book. I'm a bit disappointed as I like my books with nice, neat endings.

I did enjoy the police procedural part of the plot.

I will look out for the next book to hopefully find out the rest of Megan's story.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture, and Gregg Olsen for the opportunity to read and review this first book in a new series. I'm a huge Olsen fan of both his true-crime books as well as his series and stand alones, so I was very excited to read this book.

Megan Carpenter is a detective in small town Port Townsend, Washington, with a past of which no one really knows the full story. The sheriff in town, Tom Gray, saw great potential in Megan and helped her get on the police force - he knows some of the story but not all. Megan's past keeps her at a distance from everyone but spurs her desire to find justice for crime victims. Her latest case is opened when a woman comes into the department concerned about her missing sister. The sister lives in a very remote section of the county where people live completely off the grid. When Megan investigates, she finds the sister and her husband gone and their two children alone and scared.

I really don't want to give any more away. This is a great mystery with lots of twisted story lines. It's obvious that there will be another book coming because so much is left still up in the air. I love to read series featuring great characters so I'm very excited to read the next book!

This is a good start to a new series. In this book there’s not only the police investigation, but there's also a huge backstory about the main character, Detective Megan Carpenter, told through some tapes she had from psychotherapy sessions.
Megan obviously did something bad in her past but we don't find out quite what it was so I’ll have to hope there’s another book to come!
The plot was quite complex but had me hooked, trying to keep track of all of the different characters. Snow Creek certainly has a collection of strange folks which made the story more enthralling.
With that ending, I’m hoping book two won’t be too long away...
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.