As a detective in New Hampshire’s Major Crime Unit Jack Stone is no stranger to seeing crime scenes and dead bodies. The current crime scene and the way the woman was murdered is inherently familiar even though he has no memory of why that would be. As he furthers his investigation into the house a message on the wall snaps it into focus and he knows that his family is in grave danger. He has seen this message before, in his own house when he was little – Give It Back.

The Seven Judges have returned but now they have set Jack and his family in their sights. Jack struggles to make sense of The Seven Judges and what he is supposed to return to them. To keep his family safe from The Seven Judges and a powerful enemy he must resolve the mystery surrounding his family but will he be able to do that and keep his family safe at the same time?

It took me a while to finish this one, it just couldn’t catch and keep my undivided attention. Which was disappointing; I really wanted to love this book because the base story of the book is really good and interesting but all of the background just detracted from it. Many of the supporting characters back stories are overly fleshed out – I believe that the book would have been more streamlined and significantly shorter without them. The story around Ruby and Amy was more of a distraction and doesn’t really further the story any other than to explain their relationship. Stan’s background could have been entirely omitted and have zero impact on the story line.

I am assuming The Seven Judges are connected to Sumerian/Babylonian deities but how remains to be seen. At least two characters are a god/goddess, delusional to think they are or possibly a reincarnation. The book glosses over a cliff notes version of the religion and the deities so you are mostly left in the dark unless you want to research it yourself. The way the book ended I could definitely see a sequel on the horizon and I would hope that the book would go into more detail with the supposed deities and religion to really make it click.

The Seven does contain topics that could be sensitive for some readers – mainly drug use/abuse and the abuse of minors. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy thrillers, paranormal/supernatural, suspense and crime novels. Thank you to NetGalley and John Kaine for the chance to read this novel.

I really enjoyed this book. Jack was by no means a by the rules cop, but I really liked his character. It was a good, original story. I would put it more as a thriller with supernatural/paranormal elements rather than full on horror, but would still recommend it to horror fans too.
The ending was great and it kept me guessing right until the last page.
I would read more of Kaine's work based on this.

Chills will run up and down your spine as you read this awesome book. It's a puzzle you will definitely want to solve. Happy reading!

The woman is killed along with her children. Jack Stone, a detective with the Major Crime Unit is really bothered by the way the woman was killed. There's something familiar about this crime.

When he sees the message on the wall, he knows that he and his family is in danger. He has seen that message before.....

Jack's past has come hurtling to the forefront and smacked him right in the face.

Who or What are The Seven? What do they want ... and Why?

This is the first I've read of this author and I'm not quite sure how to put my thoughts in order. It is a crime fiction with elements of something paranormal. Several times I had to go back and re-read a paragraph or two.. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was reading. There's lots of action, a real page turner. The well paced suspense keeps rocketing until the very end. Warning --- it ends in what I would call a cliff hanger ... although I can find no information on whether it's 'the' ending or if the reader can expect something in the future to follow.

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

I'm not much of a horror fan, but this book was pretty awesome!! I loved how the book flowed and the suspense of this book!!

It's hard in the horror genre to find a truly unique premise, nevertheless a tale so well-written with believable characters that just naturally inspire empathy. I loved this book, dark as it was. It definitely won't be the last Kaine novel I read!

*Thanks to both the publisher and the author for allowing me to read an ARC of this book free of charge, in exchange only for an honest review."

I loved American Homemaker so I jumped at the chance to read this one! I'm not even sure how to describe it. Picture a gigantic jigsaw puzzle that even after the last piece is in place, you still look at it and say, "Wait? What???" It's a little like Dirty Harry meets Stephen King. Ok, forget the analogies. Just be prepared for literally anything to happen in this novel! Protagonist Jack Stone is called to a gruesome family murder that seems all too familiar to him as his family was killed and his younger brother abducted years ago. Of course this haunts him as he has his own demons with whom he must battle. Add to the mix his second wife and daughter, his friend and rogue detective, the FBI, the local thugs and drug dealers, and the creepy Seven (who are a mix of mythology and revenge-seeking men) who keep writing GIVE IT BACK at the crime scenes. There is a great deal of violence, blood, and gore, so many mysteries that your head will spin, and surprises on every page. And yet, I loved it! It is unlike any other murder mystery you've ever read (and I read A LOT)! And there'd better be a sequel Mr. Kaine because I still have lots of questions!!