In the midst of the stressful attempt to indict Ted Bundy, detective Francis Palmer is sent to investigate a disturbing series of murders in New England. Many murders of very young women, one after the other, even more than one a day, not sexually motivated but showing a modus operandi and many characteristics in common. Palmer is a strange character, a sort of loose cannon capable of internalising evil, which he calls the Beast, to the point of understanding it deeply, bringing it to light and identifying the culprit. This dark nature clashes with the childlike, luminous nature of Maurice Lumen. How is it that it is precisely upon his move to New England that the terrible series began?
A fine thriller, with the added bonus of scrutinising the treatment of the mentally retarded by American society, and rural society in particular, in the 1980s. The open ending is a little irritating.

Who is killing the young women? The book has 2 stories. There is the story of Mo. Over the course of the book we learn his story from youth to age 25. The other story is Palmer, the FBI super star. But Palmer has his own demons. Each story is told through the eyes of the main character. But each story has there own cast of characters to give each story a full storyline. I felt the story moved slow but well worth the time. The ending was a surprise twist. I didn't see it coming.

I liked this book, billed as a 'psychological thriller', sometimes reads like a 'police procedural'..... It's not a short easy read, it's kind of more on the lengthy side & starts out a bit slow.....but does whet your interest as you get further (maybe even almost halfway?!) into the book. Alternating by chapter, it follows the 2 main characters, telling a little bit about each of their history along the way. The story takes place in the '70's & I read that the author has a real interest in things WWII, an interest in serial killers, & the Boston Red Sox.......& that is surely evident by the end of the book! This is the author's 1st book......& I will look forward to seeing what he does with his next book, as it looks like this may be the 1st in a series? The author has a unique, descriptive writing style.....which might not be to everyone's liking.......but I am kind of partial to the 'police procedural' genre, & a bit of 'grit' in a tale.... & I liked it.
I received an e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, in return for reading it & posting my own fair & honest review. These opinions are my own.

This book is set in the summer of 1975. FBI Chief Investigator Francis Palmer is put on a new case. Multiple young women have been found murdered and Palmer is trying to catch the killer.

Maurice "Mo" Lumen is new to the area. He was asked to leave the family he was staying with after his parents died due to their daughter accusing him of terrible things. He had to leave his younger half brother behind. He is offered a job at the college working as a groundskeeper. He makes friends with his boss and the Principal of the school, as well as his roommates at the college. He also becomes quite close to one of his roommates girlfriends, although he still misses his brother. He also has a lot of anger toward the girl who got him kicked out of the house he had been living in.

Mo is a little slow and childlike due to an illness he had as a child, so he is trying his best to navigate this new life. His friends spend a lot of time with him and take him with them on lots of excursions,

Soon Mo and Palmer's path collide as the investigation points to someone at the college committing the murders.

This was a very interesting story, although I feel like the ending left me with more questions than answers.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thought s and opinions are my own.

Yada, Yada, Yada.......A rambling detective novel, that tries "reveals" throughout the whole book that just don't work. The author clearly wanted to write a slow-boiling, in-depth, character-driven mystery. However, it simply falls short. There are too many unresolved, unnecessary side plots and events that simply detract from the story.

Two main characters: Francis Palmer, the damaged lead detective, is a brooding, self-medicating boor. There wasn't a single original characteristic about him. Then we have Mo, a man in his early 20's who is stuck with the naivite of an 11 year old thanks to a seizure that left his brain growth stunted.

The two are on a collision course when Palmer investigates the murders of several young women in the general vicinity of where Mo lives and works.

I appreciate the work that went into making the time period authentic and the premise of the book was very good, but it simply fell flat. Less would have been more in this case.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy of this book.

In the Summer of 1975, 24 year old Mo Lumen left his home in Virginia for a job at Bryant College in Rhode Island. Mo's parents are both dead, he has a developmental disability that has left him with the intellect of an eleven year old and his brother is being adopted by a foster family that has exiled him. A family friend set up Mo with the landscaping position to make sure he would be well taken care of. Mo sets off on his journey with an open mind, but without completely understanding the events that led to his departure. Once he gets to Bryant College, Mo finds solace in his job outdoors, he finds friends among his colleagues and housemates. However, soon after Mo's arrival, a series of missing girls and young women found murdered set the campus on alert. Mo is aware of the killings, but much more focused on the Red Sox games. FBI Chief Investigator Francis Palmer has just come off tracking Ted Bundy when he is altered to the string of murders in Rhode Island. Palmer's investigation places him directly in the path of Mo, but something seems off.

A Disturbing Nature is a slow burning historical mystery. The writing is detailed, but not boring, I didn't lose interest at any point within the story. Carefully crafted hints are dropped throughout the narrative. With shorter chapters that alternate between Mo and Palmer, the pace of the story is kept up and details are divulged in slivers, a bit at a time. Through the viewpoints of Mo and Palmer there is an intense character development and understanding. I was pulled into Mo's narrative by his gentle nature and keen observations of the world around him. As Mo's story unfolded, the sense of place and time intensified as Mo became aware of his father's racism, the school that said he wouldn't progress any further and the children and adults that belittled him. Despite Mo's limitations, his ability to overcome and appreciate what he has is apparent. Palmer's point of view took me a little more time to get into as he moved from the Ted Bundy case to the Pastoral Predator in Rhode Island. I do wish Mo and Palmer's stories would have connected a little earlier as this is when the suspense really picked up. The ending has several twists, turns and surprises and left me wanting more.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

"By the time FBI chef Investigator Francis Palmer and Mo Lumens paths collide a dozen young women are already dead-"

How could I not pick up a book that had that in a synopsis? Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

A Disturbing Nature as a whole is a coming of age story that entangles privilege and prejudice into its story. The book made me uncomfortable in many parts with racism and at first I wasn't sure if it would be a book I could enjoy. Once I got deeper into the story, I found that these uncomfortable moments really painted a picture of who our main characters were and who they would become.

Mo - The dialogue surrounding Mo was exhausting, painful, and clunky. I found that Mo himself was a really interesting character who parroted whatever he has previously been told. He reminded me of Lennie from Mice of Men. Characters around him would ask these weird blunt questions that do not seem like anyone would ever actually say them. We got Mo's background nearly every other sentence in all of his POV's because somebody would point blank ask him why he was weird. It was odd and not enjoyable.

Palmer- Stale detective that has an over insightful do no wrong dialogue.

This thriller, set in New England in 1975, is an interesting character study between an obsessive FBI investigator and a mentally-challenged menial worker as a groundskeeper for a college campus. While you might think the groundskeeper is the prime suspect in a series of gruesome murders, there are lots of other suspicious hangers-on and supporting characters that you come to know over the course of the novel. The situations are very realistic, and the plot lines are easy to follow in this set piece. I found it a great debut novel and well worth your time.

A DISTURBING NATURE is the story of two men… one of them built large but mentally slow, the other an obsessive puzzle solver. Both of these men have demons they must face. From the outset, it is clear that their orbits will one day mesh Venn diagram style. Yet the brilliant juxtaposition of direction and misdirection leads to confusing assumptions to the very end.

FBI Chief Investigator Francis Palmer is the puzzle solver who has been involved in any number of high-profile cases of mass murder. Maurice “Mo” Lumen is a giant of a young man with the mind of an eleven-year old. Both are fighting their individual demons that are the result of each one's personal trauma which explains the 'disturbing nature' of these men.

When I read a book, I read everything. I can pick up interesting tidbits in author's notes and the like that may influence my reading of the book. Brian Lebeau explains in his Author's Note that he has done the research to maintain historical accuracy. For the most part, he succeeded. Since I read on Kindle, I can select names of people, places, and things to fact check many of them. The representation of 1975 and earlier flashbacks are probably 99% accurate. However, I am old enough to remember reading newspaper accounts, and listening to news accounts of what is now history. I did catch a couple of insignificant inaccuracies that anyone born after the timeline of A DISTURBING NATURE will surely miss.

This is a book for crime junkies who read both fiction and non-fiction accounts. The major difference between A DISTURBING NATURE and a true crime narrative is the deft examination of the thought processes in the major characters. Once you get about half way through, it becomes a page turner you won't put down until the very last page.

Though I was looking forward to reviewing this book, I found myself discouraged as I read. The discouragement began with the lengthy “Acknowledgments” (3 pages). This was followed by a one page “Author’s Note”. The author’s note seems mostly unnecessary in that it focuses on the setting and timing of the novel - elements clearly covered within the body of the book.

The book itself was more a set of character studies than mystery - this reader found himself quickly losing interest. The well-written story may be of interest to some, but I can only give the book two-stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

Shouts out to NetGalley for the ARC.

Woof. This was a tough one for me. I had to put it down 20% through. If you're going to write a lengthy, rambling detective novel, you at least need a hook in the first 100 pages. The language is overcooked--sometimes you have to leave that shit al dente. The author clearly wanted to write a slow-boiling, in-depth, character-driven mystery. However, the imprecise language and flat characters leave that goal out of reach.

Francis Palmer, the lead detective, is a carbon-copy of the "damaged detective" trope, brooding and self-medicating. There wasn't a single original characteristic about him. In the other plot line we have Mo, a poor imitation of Lennie Small from Of Mice and Men.

I appreciate the setting and the work to make the time period authentic, but the misses overshadowed the strengths. The long, unnecessary conversations of staid dialogue reminded me of bad TV shows from the 90s.

I am sorry but I could not finish A Disturbing Nature, Did not enjoy it from the beginning, It was hard to follow.

A Disturbing Nature by Brian Lebeau is the first book in The Echo of Whispers series. This is a psychological thriller is not written like any other one I have read. It is very unique in many ways. The plot and characters are strong and well developed. It was a slow start but picked up quickly and held my interest. Written in the 1970’s, it is very detailed in descriptions and makes you feel like you are involved. It is a highly intense crime detective psychological thriller that has an ending you won’t see coming. If crime detective thrillers are for you, pick this one up. I am looking forward to the next one in the series.

Thank you NetGalley, Chris Gorman at Books Forward, Books Fluent and Brian Lebeau for an advanced copy of this uniquely written book in exchange for my honest opinion.
#netgalley #adisturbingnature ##booksfluent. #brianlebeau. #arc

I found this book to be slow, not in a slow burn kind of way, but in a way that made you wonder if anything was ever going to really happen. I finished it a few days ago and had to wait to review. I had to go back and remind myself how it even ended. Nothing here stayed with me after I put it down at the end. The characters were a little 2 dimensional for my tastes. Yes, there is a hard ringing mess of a cop. Yes, there is a mentally challenged young man that makes the reader sympathetic to his horrible treatment. It’s all been done before. The writing is adequate but nothing comes together in the end.

A book you sink into. I read this in one day. The writing is supurb and he draws his characters extremely well. All I can say is after you read this you will close the book and say Wow. Wow. Wow.

This was a brilliant novel of suspense and chills. I love serial killer stories and this is one of the best I've read. It actually had a good story like...not the same ole tropes. I look forward to more by this new author.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book ARC.

The book follows the story of both characters in parallel. A detective and a 24 years old male who is moving to work as a gardener. As the detective gets obsessed with catching serial killers, Mo tries to live a life as normal as he can. He must deal with his new roommates and a society where he is not as accepted as he should. All this happens in the 70s and a killer in on the loose. As the investigation progresses Mo gets pulled in the mix. Will his life experience show useful or maybe he’s been the murderer al along. A great book that gets you really hocked. A tale that makes you thing about roles in society and the outcasts who often get ignored. A thriller with an amazing story and great characters. A page turner to intrigue until the very end.

This book. I don't know what to say. I cannot believe, no, I refuse to believe, that this is the author's first book. If it truly is, then honey, we are in for a ride.

This had a very unique way of showing the work of an FBI investigator. It mentioned several cases he's working on or has worked on and they are all cases any crime fan will know: Ted Bundy (that one was told exceptionally well) and Whitey Bulger to mention a couple. Also key stories of 70s Boston like the school busing crisis.

This was a real treat for me as I knew many of the places and news stories of that time as I lived in Quincy in the 70s.

I think its easy to compare him to Dennis Lehane yet wrong as the authors unique writing skills are his own. The two main characters were really well drawn and I really got into the head of Mo. I did not see that end coming.

I could not put this book down. This book is an easy ten stars. Give me more, please.

P.S. Was Whitey really involved in Albert DeSalvo's death? Wow.

*A long review. But I feel like long books deserve long reviews.

Given “A Disturbing Nature” was the author’s first novel, I was impressed. I have read debut novels before and in comparison to many, it’s clear a lot of time and thought went into crafting this story. What first grabbed me was the cover art and title. The description reeled me all the way in.

I’ll start with the length. It’s a bit longer than debut novels tend to be; however, it falls in line with many other well-known books I’ve seen or read. The length didn’t scare me off. If the writing is good, I’ll read anything. I’d prefer to read a longer, well-crafted book, than a shorter book with subpar writing. So yes, long for a first novel, but not much longer than debut novels like “The Kite Runner”, and still shorter than best-sellers like “The Lincoln Highway.” If you’re just trying to get through it to add to a number on a reading list, it’s not the book for you.

Secondly, it is slow. If you want a jam-packed, fast-paced, action flick of a read, this isn’t the book for you. It does pick up significantly in part 3. But there’s a lot of setup and character development that occurs first. I don’t mind this. I have read and loved novels other people considered slow and boring. I get that not every book is for everyone. But if you want something you can take your time getting into, this is a great book for that.

Addressing comments I saw in other reviews…I kept them in mind as I read through the story. (I try not to read reviews before reading a book, so I’m not biased. But they can be helpful to see if I agree with them in the end.) I found both Mo and Palmer sympathetic characters in completely different spectrums. Mo had a traumatic life, losing almost everyone and everything around him. And because he’s mentally underdeveloped, he doesn’t know how to cope with these losses. Palmer is sharp and intense (and at times unlikable) but has suffered losses of his own. He’s experienced traumatic events being in the line of work he’s in, likely suffering from forms of PTSD after every case. He takes valium to detox from cases after trying to get into the mind of the killers he’s hunting down. And he drinks heavily on Saturday nights. I have a friend who is in the Sherriff’s Dept. and have heard some of the stories he’s told. I’ve seen how it’s affected him. He’s very good at his job – being a smart guy with drive, focus, and purpose. But he unwinds in a way that reminds me of Palmer. So maybe because of the parallels between my friend and Palmer (despite the difference in the line of work and time period) I found myself sympathizing with and understanding Palmer better.

As for the believability of Mo living with college roommates, I didn’t find that offensive. I feel like some books stretch much more. If it was the 1970s, I don’t find it hard to believe a college placing a worker last minute, who needed a place to live (maybe even just for a semester until they get some paychecks saved up?), in a townhouse and offering the students in it cheaper rent. So, could it be a stretch? Maybe. But there was so much other stuff going on, I couldn’t get hung up on it. If that is a thing you’re going to pick apart, don’t even bother reading it. Books like “Jurassic Park” are incredible and yet, FAR more things in them are a way bigger stretch.

As for the abuse that took place, yes it was sad. But I figured these are drunk, college guys with issues of their own. Was it over the top? Maybe. But do we not remember books like Carrie, where the girls are screaming at her to “plug it up”? How about her getting pig blood dumped on her at prom? Even in the movie “Never Been Kissed”, they tried to dump dog food down some girls’ suit. What about the hateful things written in the bathrooms about Hannah Baker in “13 Reasons Why”? Nobody had an issue believing that. (Then again, these are girls being bullied. Maybe ‘Mean Girls’ had it right and only us females behave in this way?) I think about all the scenes in “The Outsiders” where young guys get jumped. There’s the scene in “It” where the bullies chase a kid on his bike. And the violent, confrontational scene early on at the fair. And the stomach-churning bathroom scene at the end of season 2 of “13 Reasons Why” with the mop handle. Don’t even get me started on scenes in “Euphoria” – specifically the one where Nate breaks into a kid’s house/apartment and attacks him. Or the bizarre hazing scene with McKay and Cassie. Yes, most of these are “young adult” movies, books, and shows. But I just can’t understand why the bullying in this book is considered unbelievable or over the top when I think about all the content elsewhere.

There were a lot of characters and dates worth paying attention to. (That took some adjusting and a few times I had to double back and read the dates.) Usually when a show or book throws a lot of different people at me, I don’t keep track that well. I just keep on going until some of it sinks in. However, I think I would need to read this a second time to catch everything. There’s a lot of questions throughout and in the end. I had to doublecheck to see that it was part of a series. Because if it wasn’t, the ending would’ve left me very unsatisfied (ahem, Tana French.) But now I’m very curious what will happen in the second book. I have no idea where it’ll go, but the first left a lot to be addressed.

Side note/Disclaimer* I didn’t read it because of the mystery elements. I don’t care much for suspense. The lines, “Who is destined to pay for the sins of their fathers, and who will pay for their own?” and “…exploring the heredity of prejudice, the hypocrisy of privilege, and the blurred line between man and monster” are the lines that grabbed me, and that is the reason I decided to read it. So if you’re like me, and not a huge fan of mystery, you may still find this story enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley/Books Forward for the ARC in exchange for a (long) honest review

Mine is not a popular view, but I didn't care for A Disturbing Nature. Which, actually, surprised me because I love crime books, especially serial killer books. (I know I am weird😜). This is the only book I have read by Lebeau.

Set in the 1970's, there is a killer in Rhode Island. Special Agent Palmer, who has been helping with the Ted Bundy case on the West Coast, is sent by to help. As more bodies keep showing up, it looks like the case isn't going anywhere. Soon though, that changes.

I loved Palmer. He was sarcastic. I thought he would probably be like someone who dealt with murderers all the time. I liked that I didn't figure out who it was, which caused my rating to go from 1⭐ to 2⭐.

I hated that the book just didn't keep my attention. I would read a little while, then sit it down, and come back a day later to read it.
There was a lot of stuff that to me should have been left out. As if the author had a word count🤷

Of course, this is just my opinion. A ton of others have loved the book. I would get it from your library, unless you are a fan of his.

Thanks to Netgalley for the Kindle Version of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.