A fantastic psychological thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. I will definetely be checking out the author's other titles. very well written.

THE WITCH HUNTER • Max Seeck • ⭐️⭐️💫{rounded up}

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an eARC of the first book in the Jessica Niemi series! I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

UGHHHHH, this book had SO much potential. The book starts off so strong! The reader is immediately drawn in. The altering perspectives, the suspense, and a wonderfully written Scandinavian atmosphere...Unfortunately though, things quickly became murky and never really cleared up. Ultimately, it seems that the plot suffered from too many ideas, too many characters, and no clear direction.

While the writing itself was strong the whole way through, I felt lost for most of the book. This hindered my ability to enjoy the story. It seemed that the author was never quite sure himself which way he wanted this story to play out. Is this a novel about a series of mysteriously choreographed killings featuring occult themes, or a story featuring crime with a focus on the lead detective with a dark past? Seeck did not seem to be too sure, and clumsily wove the two stories together, never quite managing to tie them together in the end. 

TL;DR: This was almost an original, fantastic addition to the crime/suspense genre! Seeck definitely has talent. Sadly, he just tried to do too much and lost his plot (and his readers) along the way. A second book has already been added to this series, it just has yet to be translated into English. I do not plan on picking it up, but I wish the author the best!

This book was exactly what I had been looking for. Witchy occult murder mystery. The premise sounded amazing. Occult murders mirroring a famous author's mystery novels. I had some trouble with the character development in this book. This story started off strong but the ending fell flat and felt rushed.

While we do have many thriller/suspense aficionados who frequent our store, this title seemed a bit too far out of the normal for our bookstore patrons. The writing is wonderful and held my attention. The plot and some of the graphic horror included seemed almost gratuitous and I could not get into it. Thank you kindly for the opportunity to read and review The Witch Hunter.

I made it to about the first chapter in this book but did not find myself drawn into the story line.

What started off as a fast-paced police procedural thriller became so convoluted and confusing that it was hard to follow. The main character's flashbacks were perplexing and never really tied back into the overall story. It is well written with interesting characters but I lost interest halfway through and only finished to find out what happened, only to find the ending  just as convoluted and confusing as the rest of the book.. Sorry, I don't recommend this one.

I had fun reading this police procedural. The nature of the crime is unique and I had to know what would happen next.

I try to be as honest as possible with all my reviews.  While this wasn't my absolute favorite read, I do feel as ifnthe author is going to be someone to watch.  Maybe I wasn't able to fully keep up, but I got a little lost throughout the book.   While I'm not a fan of the plot and found it a bit confusing, the writing was well executed.  The first chapter reeled me in, but the body of the book lost me quick.  I felt it was a bit rush and a lot of characters.  I will definitely try this author in the future!

I struggled to finish this but kept going to figure out who the murderer was and why. A disappointing ending that left a lot of unknowns. Also didn’t really get the younger Jessica story in Venice as it seemed not really related to the murderers.

This is not my normal type of thriller, but I was able to finish it.  It was very atmospheric, which I haven’t read a lot of, but must admit it was well done and really got me into the atmosphere it wanted me in.  I think it was a great start to a series, and those who love atmospheric reads, will absolutely love this book!  Has some good thrills, chilling chills, twisty turns, and shocking shocks!  Characters were developed in an amazing way, which made me connect to them and the atmosphere they were thrown into!  I highly recommend to those who love those atmospheric thrill rides, as this is definitely one that will give you the things you’re craving!  

Will buzz around platforms!

While a famous author is at a book reading, his wife has been found murdered at their home in and detective Jessica Niemi is trying to find the culprit but she seems to be one step behind all the time. There are other grisly events and all clues point to the author’s books.

The beginning of this Finnish thriller was quite exciting but half way through I thought it became a bit convoluted. Not only that but throughout the story, we get flashbacks to Jessica’s past and that seemed to really pull me away from the story because I felt like I was reading two different novels, one an ill-fated romance and the other a murder mystery. Not sure if I would read another in what I believe is to be a series.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF. This one had so much potential, but it just fell into the formulaic script of most thrillers that I've read this year. I haven't had much success with nordic noir, and this was no exception.

This is a good, solid, off-the-beaten path mystery set in Helsinki. The central mystery keeps the suspense taut and keep you wondering what exactly is going on. The main character is nuanced and layered and we keep learning more and more about her mysteries through flashbacks scattered throughout. I haven't read a lot of Scandinavian mysteries, but I appreciated a new setting (not New York City or the quaint English countryside) and the slightly supernatural edge to the goings-on. I felt the end was a bit anticlimactic and left some threads dangling, though. But I would be interested in seeing what mystery this female detective encounters next.

The Witch Hunter was one of my favourite books this year. I highly recommend this novel if you are looking for something to captivate you with phenomenal writing.

The story takes place in the icey, frigid areas of Helsinki which give the reader an atmospheric and creepy feeling of continuous foreboding as a young detective Jessica Niemi takes on a horrific murder of the wife of a best selling author who wrote an  international selling "Witch Hunter" trilogy.   The wife was home.alone with no sign of a break-in and hours later another body is found in the lake behind their property drowned and frozen in the water.   The husband and author was three hours away at a book signing so the detectives know he is not a suspect at the moment until.they find clues to the murders resembling the vicious crimes that take place in his book series.   As the detectives follow the clues they realize that if the murders follow along the book trilogy then there will be more murders before the.night is over and many more to follow and they will have more suspects than they could ever have imagined plus Jessica feels that the murders are tied to her somehow when it is revealed that she could be a mirror image for the.first two bodies that were found on her watch.   

I really enjoyed this suspense filled creepy, crime thriller.  The story hinges on the verge of the supernatural and teases the reader with subtle hints of the possibility of the case being caught up in an area that is not just standard police work.   There is another story taking place within the book again teasing that this history of Jessica will help solve the mysteries of the macabre murders and crimes that are taking place.   I appreciated the double story and background of Jessica since it will play into a shocking climax at the conclusion of the book.   This novel was extremely creepy and intriguing and I would love to read more books along this line not knowing if the supernatural is really taking place or it is just your imagination.

I want to thank the publisher "Berkley Publishing" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this deliciously, creepy novel and any thoughts and opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given this captivating book a rating of 4 Sinister And Macabre 🌠🌠🌠🌠 Stars!!

I was very excited for this title and it started off really strong! It had all the makings of a good thriller, but ultimately I was disappointed.

The plot was...confusing. Too may plot points and the author trying to do too much. I stopped far too many times, flipped back a couple pages and said wait...what? The ending felt disjointed. Like they changed their mind halfway through and just tried to make it work.

I DID enjoy all the supernatural elements, and the settings were gorgeous. The author really knows how to set a scene and draw you in initially - the follow though just needs some work.

This Finnish mystery-thriller was dark and kind of weird. The mystery started off pretty compelling, though it was interspersed with chapters of a younger Jessica involved in a love affair in Venice, which threw me at first, since the chapters are unmarked as happening at a different time, and really killed the flow of what was happening in current day. 
Ultimately, I don't think the reasonings behind the murders made much sense, though there were some creepy, twisty moments. And the long drawn out exposition of Jessica's time in Venice didn't made much sense to me either, except as a very dark point. And the very end was a "Huh. What just happened?" moment for me, so not sure I'd recommend this. Read at your own risk. 
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced reading copy.

Since this is the first book of this series from Finland, I'm going to concentrate on the characters and the style of the writing.  The main protagonist, Jessica Niemi, is a quirky (as in weird) driven detective who has a backstory interwoven with the rest of the mystery.  I felt that even though the backstory was OK, it was too long (about 25% of the book) and too convoluted and took away from the rhythm of the rest of the book.  Mostly I kept losing track of the clues related to the mystery.

None of the secondary characters, including the antagonists are fleshed out and some of them seem to be thrown in to explain why something happened, but didn't really explain it.  Each of the members of the police had one special action that repeated throughout the book, like chewing gum or humming to themselves so they were instantly identifiable.  But all this did was to confuse me as who was who and what they were supposed to be doing.  

It just didn't make a good impression on me, and I felt that the mystery itself was forced and not well enough explained as to who the antagonists were.

This was an interesting read. I didn’t particularly like the character development but overall it did hold my attention. I look forward to more from this author.

This was a 4.5 stars out of five for 90% of the book.  The story follows Jessica Niemi, a Finnish police officer, and her team members as they try to make sense out of a series of mystifying  murders centered around a famous author and his wife.  There are also hints of two other mysteries in Jessica's past, one having to do with the death of her family, and one of a tumultuous short term affair with a violinist.  If you are okay with having to swallow down an extra-large serving of disbelief at the denoument, you may enjoy this book.  For me, I felt cheated as the author threw everything but the kitchen sink in at the end, and not one bit of it was believable.