This starts off well but then fell off for me. It's got an interesting premise and I liked Lisa (even though she does some not very smart things) but it slowed down and some of it didn't make sense. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

Thief River Falls

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Quick synopsis: Lisa, a writer, stays secluded in her home after tragically losing her family. Then, a runaway boy shows up on her doorstep claiming to have witnessed a terrible crime, that powerful people want to keep covered up. At what cost will Lisa go to protect the boy and bring light what he witnessed...

My thoughts: What a unique premise - the synopsis really hooked me. The author is a great descriptive writer, in terms of character details and setting. In the beginning, the action starts pretty early on, getting me more and more intrigued. Because of this, I was invested in the story very quickly; however, soon, I did start to get a bit frustrated with the protagonist and some of her actions. I also didn't love the twist/ending - hard to talk about with giving any spoilers away. This took away from the overall experience for me, but was still a decent book that I'd recommend.

Review to come on #bookstagram

"Thief River Falls" is a story about an author, Lisa, who by chance has Aldo written a book called "Thief River Falls." So it's a story within a story where reality and fiction meld. Set in the rural lands of Minnesota, this story features a lost child nicknamed Purdue, who has people looking for him, people who will never stop, people who will never forget that Purdue saw something he shouldn't have. It's a story of a woman on her own with this lost kid and everyone turning against her. It's fast-paced, although the believability doesn't always hang together.

I just could not connect with this book. I enjoyed the mystery - where is the nameless boy from? As well as Lisa's own past - caught my attention. But this book just dragged for me.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* well that was....a wild, wild ride lmao like wow saw it coming but still dang :o

This book has very nice cover, little bit darker so it grab my attention. The book wasn't my best but not the worst.. the beginning of the book was very good, it didn't let you put book down but the rest of the book was little bit slow, cliche and little bit predictable. To be fair it did have some twist and the ending wasn't bad.
So my conclusion is the book was okay but didn't grab me as I wish.
Still thank you very much NetGalley and of course the publisher.

If you love mysteries, ghosts, (sudden) deaths or are a big fan of thriller and horror genre you should definitely read this book! It has everything a reader would want: action, adventure, scary scenes and it's also a light read! I devoured it.

I have been a huge Brian Freeman fan back to his days writing in a Duluth and the early astride novels. A author who puts suspense building in suspense. Thief a River Falls will not disappoint. Highly recommend.

3 for neutral, I could not past the first few chapters. I tried on a few occasions, will update later if able to finish. Started great, but lost interest early on and couldn’t get back into it,

What a wonderfully talented author. As soon as I started this I was hooked.. nothing else happens until I got through the twists and turns on this book.

I have really been in to books based in Minnesota. Mysteries set in Minnesota are especially the best. I really enjoyed how fast paced this book was. It caught my attention and held it the entire time. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in just a few days! Overall, I would highly recommend picking up this book!

The story was captivating at the beginning but unfortunately, I feel the entire plot is based on 'silly' assumptions. Also, the twist was not a surprise. I really wanted to like this one, but it felt short.

I DNFed this book around the 33% mark. Though the plot was mildly interesting, I never could become invested enough in the characters to continue further. There was something juvenile about the writing itself that felt stiff, which in turn made the dialogue unbelievable and resulted in flat characters. I'm sorry to say that it simply didn't work for me in any way.

So this is about an antogonist named, Lisa, a best seller author and basically famous in her hometown, Thief River Falls. She ends up finding a boy who is basically telling her that he witness a murder. This book was a total attention grabber from the very beginning. I like the antagonist's personality and how she is able to find ways to help the little boy despite having vague details of his backstory. It definitely was a total plot twist near the end between her and the little boy, it blew my mind. This is something I would totally watch if this was made into a movie. Best novel I've read and it deserves 5 out 5 stars and more. I am defnintely recommending this to all of you. A great mystery, suspense book. In my opinion, this was a fast pace novel. When you pick up a great book you basically devour it as fast as you can. This is my first Brian Freeman novel I read and I know for sure it won't be my last.

Ugh, cringe, it really shouldn’t take a whole month to read a 300-pager. I thought this was going in a totally different direction when I read “I wanted to know if you have ever been afraid that someone will bring your books to life” by some overly-aggressive-for-no-reason tertiary character. But as it turns out when people are crazy in Minnesota, their doctors and family members enable the crazy to no end. This was a total waste of time, poorly written (characters) book that used the worst scapegoat of a plot twist the author could think of. Pass, no other comments. Almost DNF.

Lisa Power, a writer with a successful novel set in her home town has suffered a spate of family tragedy. In an effort to change her setting, she leaves her family home and buys a remote farm house outside of town where she creates a "writer's cottage."

After refusing to answer the door to two policemen, Lisa later finds a child hiding in her outbuilding. He's scared, dirty, cold, and has no memory of what happened to land him on her property.

It's a suspense thriller and this begins a build-up of tension. The boy would remember little flashes and pieces of his puzzle but there are little things that don't quite make sense and something isn't adding up. The more the boy remembers the greater appears his risk and her unreasonable resolve to protect him--at all cost.

At this point, the reader is sucked into the storyline, marveling at the stoic child, recoiling at some of Lisa's unreasonable decisions on how to proceed. Lisa gets out to investigate after she shows the boy a special place to hide while she is gone. She is well-known in this little town and everywhere she goes is recognized but she gleans more pieces of the puzzle.

As the big reveal comes barreling into a mind-blowing climax, reality swerves head-long into unreality. Difficult to ascertain what is real and what isn't. WAIT! The reader is plunged...well, I can't tell you...but I'm beginning to get woozy...it's the twist! And the twist is a doozy. Now you may have seen this coming. I certainly knew something was wrong but was still in shock at the emotional conclusion. Gulp...just need some time to digest. And then, realized, there were a few holes, tiny things that bugged me and were left unexplained. It was certainly entertaining and is meant to be a standalone.

I received this digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read and review. My first book by this author, would definitely read another. Recommended.

This mystery/thriller started out well with interesting characters and a fun plot, but the writing worsened and the plot eventually fell apart which made finishing this book quite difficult.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43708240

t was like she was caught up in a small town version of "Hotel California". Thief River Falls welcomed her back but refused to let her leave.

Lisa Power author of best selling novel Thief River Falls in in production starring Reese Witherspoon. She has finally pulled it together. A thriller based in her hometown that the main prose is a mother and son and the fight to stay alive. Powers loves to get with her readers and when a question is prompted to her it is the beginning of a nightmare that she finds herself in back in her home town in North West of Minnesota. The question of if she was fearful if someone would bring to life the violence and fear in her books. The question troubled her and later that night in her own home, she is approached by a lost boy who cannot remember who he is but he is deathly afraid of two men after him to kill him. Lisa is drawn to this little boy and their unusual relationships leads to them trying to find answers and to try to escape those that are after them.

The characters were very confusing. It was a disconnect as it became unbelievable. When our family vacation spot of Bemidji was mentioned, I felt some connection to the story. You have to hold on to the very end for the dots to connect. Then you have to decide how it was played. The plot was clever however, it was the main character that remained aloof to me. With all that Lisa went thru, the pain of loss, grief, fear, it was not captured in descriptive detail but in passing. So if your cup of tea is character development vs plot, I always go with character development. In the end, I was to dizzy going in circles.

A Special Thank you to Thomas Mercer and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

Brian Freeman is one of my favorite authors and I have been reading him for years.

Lisa Power is a very successful author who has lived in Thief River Falls her entire life. At the moment she is dealing with the loss of most of her entire family, mother, father, and three brothers. The only family member she has left is her twin brother who has left the area to deal with his own loss.

Lisa lives in a remote country home and one night she sees a little boy standing in her yard in the rain. She finds him hiding in her barn and persuades him to let her help him. What follows is a thrill ride a minute with a twist that will leave you gasping!

I highly recommend ANY book that Brian Freeman writes.

3.75 stars - Intriguing, magical, suspenseful

Ultimately, I enjoyed the read ..but I predicted most of it. So my best advice for the author is to filter out more of those hints at the beginning and throughout, and the reader should be kept guessing. Otherwise here's my breakdown:

What I liked: The writing is brilliant and suspenseful. Excellent use of subtle environmental descriptions to set a spooky, isolated, decrepit mood!! Things that are dark, sharp, or have references to death or the deteriorating Earth.. very clever.. I'm not sure if that was intentional but I picked up every hint! This helped visualise everything clearly.

For example: "She held the shed door tightly as it shuddered in her grasp. With her other hand, she lit up the interior with her flashlight. She saw her riding lawn mower, its blades stained green; the snowplow attachment for her truck; a pegboard with saws and drills hung on hooks. Bags of fertilizer were stacked on wooden shelves, giving off a sweet smell and leaching orange dust onto the metal floor."

I also liked the protagonist, I thought she was well-written. Smart and kick-ass. Hers and others capacity for empathy was depicted very-well also, as I know this can sometimes be hard to do. I liked the characters thriller lens, how she saw stories all around her. The beginning half of the book was fairly page turning. I also loved how the entire town knew her and she couldn't hide while attempting to escape. There was one thing I didn't predict.. regarding towards the very end when it's discussed what happened with Purdue.. and that one got me! Damnnnn.


What needs improvement: Use less hints. I guessed what was happening 10% in because the content seemed unlikely, and also due to some of the actual verbalisations of hints. My advice would be to take these out. Readers will read between the lines. For example, there's a scene later where Lisa is listening to how Purdue becomes detached and the hint left there was far too obvious. Also the manner in which Laurel questions Lisa.. big giveaway to Laurel. About 60% the way in, there's a big hint about what's happening.. I think here is where my enjoyment and suspense dropped to a mellow read. And for this reason, the ending also became mellow. I mean it was touching, and everything came full circle. But with the predictable hints throughout the book, I wasn't very moved by the time the end happened. And even her wish for Purdue in the final scene seemed irresponsible. So I'm not sure where I stand with the ending. It's hard to tell. Hmm.

Thank you to NetGalley, Brian Freeman and Thomas & Mercer for this free ARC in exchange for a review. Opinions expressed here are entirely my own.