Book # 41: Book of Knives by Lise Haines

There are thirteen knives. One by one they begin to disappear

Nora, semi-recently married to Paul after the loss of her husband, didn't expect Hidden Lake Camp to be in a state of ruin when they go to fix up the place. To Paul, the camp is the past he'd just as soon bury. Nora agreed to drive north with him to get his elderly parents settled while he makes enough repairs to sell the property. Along with Paul and his son, are Paul's family (brother, wife, and 4 kids), who are difficult to handle. When Nora's sister-in-laws' knives start to go missing, and talk of ghosts, secret rooms, and strange events start to happen, Nora starts to question everyone.

This started started off bumpy for me, as you see the quick start of Paul and Nora's relationship into marriage and goes from there. Nora thought she knew Paul, after years of friendship, but when she goes back to his childhood home, things seem to change. I like the dynamic between Nora and her two nieces, and wish there would have been more in that.

Aside from Lily and Jones, Nora's nieces, the whole family is odd, and even the girls have their quirks. Between a knife obsessed mother, a death obsessed boy, a girl obsessed with ghost, and a dad obsessed with birds, the whole family gave off creepy vibes. The writing itself was good, but the plot didn't have me hooked.

I rated this book with 2 🌟!

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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A different sort of thriller. In this book you have a strange cast of characters. Our main character and the maybe ghost of her dead husband. His best friend (who happens to be her new husband) and his eccentric family including one relative and her collection of knives which start to go missing one by one.

This felt like several stories in one as we follow our main character still coping with the loss of her husband years later, adjusting to her marriage and their struggle to start a family. Also a story of a bizarre family coming together. Finally a murder mystery.

It was a little hard to follow at times as a result, but it definitely made for rich story telling at its heart.

Thanks to Netgalley I was able to listen to the audio version of the book. The highest I can rate it is 3 and that may be pushing it. I felt is was a very slow moving story that left the reader with unanswered questions.

Enjoyment: 4
Total rating: 4.21

Book of Knives won't be everyone's cup of tea. It is not a thrilling book; instead, it's a slow-moving story. With that said, it worked for me. Haines' prose is beautiful and draws the reader in. I felt like I was sitting by the fire as Nora shared her gut-wrenching, suspenseful, emotional story. The atmosphere is dark, tense, and claustrophobic. The characterization is superb; each character is unique and fleshed out.

If you're not sure slow burners work for you, try the audiobook. Eve Passeltiner emoted Nora amazingly. It added to the feeling of getting to know someone and bonding with them.


Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing a copy of Book of Knives

What It's About: Nora, a filmmaker and a grieving widow marries her friend Paul, a contractor, not too long after the passing of her late husband, Takeo. Soon after, Nora and Paul, with Leon, Paul's eighteen year old son head to his family campground Hidden Lake Camp to take care of Paul's elderly parents, and fix up the place before selling the property. After a family dinner, one of Salish's (Paul's sister-in-law) novelty knives goes missing and strange things begin to happen in the place.

My thoughts: This was a slow-burn, suspense-filled story with an interesting premise. I liked the setting which made this story eerie and creepy. The mystery element was pretty okay too.
I've read and listened to this book and the narrator did a great narration.

Unfortunately, overall, this book did not work for me. It meandered a lot, without much going on although it wasn't lacking in suspense. Nora's inner monologue with her deceased husband was way too overwhelming and I didn't like it at all.

As always, please do not let my personal opinion deters you from picking up this book. You may enjoy it much more than I did!


Pub. Date: Out now


***Thank you Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for this gifted listening copy. All opinions expressed are my own.***

I DNF, this audiobook at about 20%. I feel so bad that I dnf it I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t in the mood for a thriller at the time. However, what I did read of the book was not awful. I felt like it was a little bland and almost didn’t have much to it. I kind of felt like a conversation between two people was what I was reading. Kinda like a script for a movie. Which you think would be interesting, but it just didn’t work for this. I did not read it in its entirety but I still give it 2 stars. Just a note for all reviewers some books work for some people and some just don’t. I’m so sorry.

Nora didn't expect Hidden Lake Camp to be in a state of ruin. Dock full of rotten boards, smashed windows, cabins falling apart. To her new husband, Paul, the camp is the past he'd just as soon bury. Nora agreed to drive north with him to get his elderly parents settled while he makes enough repairs to sell the property. Only a few months, Paul said. The summer camp, however, and its deep lake have other plans.

After Nora's first meal with his difficult family, one knife-part of a prized collection-goes missing. By the time the fourth and fifth vanish from behind locked doors and out from under watchful eyes, Nora can barely sleep. There's talk of ghosts, secret rooms and someone at the summer camp found dead in the tall grass.

I requested this one based on the cover - It was October and I was more than ready for a spooky season thriller! Unfortunately I wouldn’t really call this one a thriller, more of a mystery, and a slow burn. I found the beginning to be confusing. There are a LOT of characters, none of which are particularly likable. I kept wondering why the MC put up with staying at the camp for MONTHS - girl, leave those crazy in laws!

The story line never really picked up for me and I found myself getting distracted. This may be because I went in expected a fast paced thriller. That’s what I get for judging a book by its cover.

DNF @ 35%

I had high hopes for this one. It started off with an interesting family reunion premise at one of my favorite settings, a summer camp. However, the further I go into reading the story the more it dragged. I understand the need to backstory, but by 35% I felt like I should have started to see some action or felt intrigued about where the plot was headed, but I didn't.

I'm not one to DNF without trying out my read in an alternate format, so I decided to give the audiobook a shot, but despite a great narrator, I was still unable to connect with the story.

I do think that this book could still work for some readers, but they need to know going into the book that this is very much not a thriller.

A huge thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for my gifted copy!

From my blog: Always With a Book

I don’t tend to read a lot of horror books but for some reason, this one piqued my interest and I decided to give it a chance. Plus, it totally screamed a book that should be read during spooky season and boy was it that! I was on edge all the way through!

This is a slow-burn thriller/mystery that is hard to explain. I really liked the locked-room element of it, of course and I liked that the horror parts were not so in-your-face. They were lightly threaded throughout the story, giving it an ominous feel to it. This is definitely a case of nothing is as it seems – not only with the house but also with the characters. I loved that even though they are well-developed, for the most part they were quite unlikeable. It sure makes for a great character study of a dysfunctional family!

What really kept me engaged was the missing knives and what would happen each time one went missing. This is where things got interesting – I loved seeing how it impacted everyone and what the result would be with each new report. But I also feel this is where I was left with some unanswered questions when the book finally ended. Perhaps it’s just a case of missing something along the way – which could always be a possibility as I did listen to it and sometimes that happens. But I feel there are parts of the paranormal/ghost storyline that were never resolved. Was that intentional?

All in all, I’m glad I gave this book a chance and perhaps someday I’ll pick it up again to see if I did indeed miss something.


Audio thoughts: This was a fun, spooky book to listen to and I think the narrator, Eve Passeltiner, did a great job bringing the story to life. Her pacing and intonation were spot on and she infused just the right amount of tension and suspense into her voice as needed.

There are far too many story lines in Book of Knives to fairly describe this book. I think 1-2 less story lines would have made it more compelling - though perhaps some of the problem was the audiobook translation rather than the story. This was not particularly engaging for me.

I love audiobooks, and listening to Book of Knives was so exciting to me. However, I was very disappointed in the book. I found the book to be quite boring, and the audiobook narrator to be flat. The characters were not really flushed out and I was very bored.

I'm not sure if this story was trying to be a domestic thriller or a speculative/paranormal but I don't think it worked on either front.

I didn't find it it thrilling or suspenseful. Nor did I understand much of the logic of any of the characters. I considered DNFing about half way through but was hopping it would improve, but sadly it did not.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced audiobook for review.

An excellent creepy-fun read reminiscent of the best of Riley Sager.

Book of Knives is the kind of spooky popcorn horror I always look for in the fall. The setting, slow burn, and sense of menace is exceptionally well done, and I was juuuust the right amount of scared while reading it.

The story is definitely a slow burn that is more gothic horror than thriller in terms of genre, so this will work well for those who like the creeping dread style of pacing like me, and maybe not as well for those who like heart-pounding action.

The mystery itself leaves a few loose threads in the end, but the solve is good enough and takes a backseat to the strong sense of place and foreboding atmosphere of the book.

Audiobook readers: Again, this is a slow burn, so while it’s not a long book, it does require a bit more focus than more action driven stories do in the audio format. That said, it’s well-narrated and having the audio adds the atmospheric experience of the book.

This story was a bit odd in places, but overall I enjoyed it. The characters were overall unlikeable, especially Salish. Despite this, most of them were well written. There wasn't a lot of information about the younger kids. The adults and teens were more the focus of the story. A lot of the plot lines were a little far-fetched but I found it to be a enjoyable book. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator.

Thank you for this book in exchange for my honest review.

I had high hopes for this book due to the cover and the title. However, Book of Knives did not grip me. I found myself tuned out from the beginning.

too slow and nothing really happens :( which is a shame because the cover is amazing, and I had really high hopes!

Book of Knives by Lisa Haines is a ghostly story about grief, how our past haunts us, and a little about how our families shape us. I listened to this book on audio, and while I enjoyed it- this may have been one I would have enjoyed a little more if I read it. The creepy parts are a little scarier when you read them to yourself.

I was a little confused about the whole storyline involving the knives and why they were important to the story- other than they kept disappearing. I loved the atmospheric setting of the broken down camp- very Friday the 13th vibes. As well as the strange family members with their various quirks. I found Salish to be a confusing character, and I'm not sure there was enough back story about her, to help me understand why she was the way that she was. I liked Nora's character, who was thrown into this very odd family situation so suddenly, while still grieving the death of her first Husband. I found most of the other characters- other than those of the children, to be rather unlikeable and un-relatable, but that may have been a choice the author made purposefully.

I liked the uncertainty of whether or not something supernatural was going on, but it was a very slow burn for me. The love story between Nora and Takeo was a sweet one- and I wish I could read their story. A love that may or may not reach past the constraints of death is always a favorite.

Overall, I liked the setting and the family dynamics that were explored throughout this story. As well as the supernatural touches. I just wish the plot moved a little more quickly, and the whole knives thing was explained a little better. I was also a little confused by the ending, but I don't want to offer any spoilers. I would pick up another book from this author- as her writing was good and I think she can definitely write memorable characters.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book has a distinct style that strikes me as both solemn and almost foreboding, which I believe matches both the main character and the book's intended mood. However, I didn't really enjoy the rest of the story, and I felt like I was stumbling through most of it while attempting to understand what was happening. The ending of the book left me feeling a little bit puzzled, with just a bit too many loose ends for my taste. This may have been the author's intention, but it just didn't really work for me.  

The narration fell flat. It sounded as if the narrator was completely bored with the reading. Feeling a bit robotic as if the emotional component was removed. Again, this may have been completely intentional. The pacing was good but, overall I was not "wowed".

I want to first thank the publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to this audiobook arc.

In this book we follow Nora who has found love again after her husband dies. She is now married to her late husbands best friend Paul when they are called away to help restore the camp that Paul's family owns. Paul's parents are both sick, so he joins his brother there to help rebuild it in order to sell the property.

While they are restoring the camp knives start going missing and reappearing one by one.

Overall I think I have to give this book a 3.5 /5 stars.

I was really enjoying the book and it had a pretty good pace, but I feel like the ending was a bit rushed.

Throughout the book they were building on a paranormal element, and I think it was entirely underutilized in the ending. The story line was strong, and I really felt for the "ghost" character so I was hoping for more resolve as to what truly happened.

I liked that pretty much all the characters were strange in their own way. This made it really hard for me to determine who was behind the missing knives, and mischief in the camp.

I still enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to anyone that enjoys domestic thrillers, with paranormal elements.

This was a strange one and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I was enjoying it while I read it, but there was always this lingering thought that if I put it down there wouldn't be anything pulling me back in.

All of the characters are inherently strange in a sinister way, especially Salish. Even Nora herself comes across as weird. Her obsession with pregnancy and her constant references to her first deceased husband was a bit too much. Especially because Nora is married again and says she's in love with Paul. I get that you never truly fall out of love with a deceased partner and that grief over losing them will probably always be a part of you but it ended up feeling like Nora was using Paul to get pregnant while wishing he was her deceased husband. There was also the moments where Nora plotted to kidnap all of the children out from under their parents and while it only felt justified at the very end, I didn't love it. It all ended up feeling a bit grubby to me.

I will say that this was decently well written, descriptive and immersive. All of the characters were well-developed. Though, I wasn't necessarily happy with how this book wraps up. It just ended up feeling like I needed more, whether that was more answers or more clarification as to why people did what they did. The ending kind of came out of no where, with Nora just stumbling upon everything after it had already happened for the most part.

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC.