A ghost story, a series of locked room mysteries and a family drama, all rolled into one, The Book of Knives is a slow-burner. Nora lost her husband and is still grieving when she falls for her late hubby’s best friend and marries him. She then moves to his new husband’s old childhood home, a campground, to rebuild and hopefully sell it. She then gets a family she never asked for. Her sister-in-law, particularly, is not only weird, but unlikable to the extreme. All she seems to care about is her collections of knives and, when they go missing, starts unravelling. There is a murder, in the past, and possible ghosts lingering. Nora is extremely likable and easy to root for. I wasn’t sure why her backstory mattered to the current events, but the fact that her late hubby was Japanese makes her more open to his cultural heritage about hauntings and apparitions. When things go awry, I was screaming at her to just leave but, she can’t do it without her new stepson and nieces and nephews. And that’s where the author, in my opinion, gets it so right… the kids and teenagers are adorable and smart. One of them is a little odd and violent but there is also a reason for that. The plot is so well built that everything fits together perfectly. The audiobook narration by Eve Passeltiner is very good. She doesn’t rely on different voices as much as in making it sound like Nora telling the story, and she makes her sound so friendly and approachable,, that it sounded like a good friend recalling painful memories. She also keeps the rhythm up at all times, making this an entertaining and fast read.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Dreamscape Media!

Book of Knives by Lise Haines, Narratored by Eve Passeltiner

The book follows Nora, a widow, as she starts to move on with her life, but things don't go as expected. Nora takes the leap and starts a new relationship with an old friend, Paul. After the wedding they head to Paul's family home to help take care of his parents. Things start to go amiss when Knives start to go missing, day after day.

I am on the fence with this book. I was not fond of the characters and their connection. It felt like something was missing between them. I like the story line and the narrators take on Nora's Point of View. I enjoyed the paranormal aspect of the book. I enjoy those stories that leave you feeling a little uneasy. I didn't care for the fact that the chapters were a bit lengthy, and they didn't have titles.

Thank you Netgalley and Lise Haines for the audio ARC

This was okay, at the end of the day the mystery was predictable but the narrator did a great job of giving the perfect vibe for a thrilling listen.

Oh wow, this book was freakin awesome! It had me hooked the entire time, and holy twists Batman! Loved it!

Featuring ~ single 1st person POV, slow burn, paranormal, ghosts, references to murder & suicide

Nora is a widow and takes a liking to Paul, a friend of her late husbands. Soon after they marry they head to Paul's family home to take care of his elderly parents. Everything isn't as it seems when the knives start to go missing.

Meh, this was just okay for me. I didn't really care for any of the characters and didn't feel enough of a connection to them. Many of the chapters were around 30 minutes long and some 40-50, which is quite lengthy in my opinion. I did like that the chapters were titled. I don't read an abundance of paranormal books and I did like the weird uniqueness concept of the story, but overall not really for me.

Narrated by Eve Passeltiner for 9 hours and 20 minutes, easy to follow at 2x. I was mostly happy with the narration, but I think she could have had a little more emotion. I could've went for a gasp here and there.

After the death of her husband, Nora finds a bit of comfort with the couple's good friend, Paul. As time passes, Nora and Paul's relationship continues to blossom. Nora never expected to find love again, but she has and she isn't going to let it slip from her grasp. Thus, she and Paul decide to get married.

The new couple lead a quiet, uneventful life together, until the day Paul gets a call from his estranged brother, Gabe. Paul doesn't speak much about his early life, but Nora knows it wasn't good.

Now it seems Paul's elderly parents are in poor health and failing fast. Paul needs to go back to the family home, Hidden Lake Camp, a place he fled literally decades before, in order to help his brother out caring for their parents and refurbishing the property. Nora, of course, agrees to go along with Paul and his teen-aged son, Leon, to the camp. It will be an adventure.

Unfortunately, as soon as they arrive, things get weird. Paul's brother, his wife and their kids are already well established at the property and they are strange; really strange, especially the wife.

Gabe's wife, Salish, has a collection of 13-knives passed down to her from her father. She's slightly obsessed with the things, so as they start to mysteriously disappear one-by-one, it puts her in an absolute tail-spin. Nora spends the majority of her time just trying to figure out Salish. Her wacky mood is beginning to have a negative impact on Nora's own mental health. That's when things really start feeling claustrophobic.

There's a mystery afoot, or is there?

I'm sad to report that this super-slow burn, Adult Fiction story just wasn't for me. I know there is an audience for it, but I shouldn't have been part of it. Frankly, I should have walked out of the theater about a quarter of the way through. I am a huge fan of weird and quirky stories, but they have to have some semblance of sense. I also need to actually care either about at least one of the characters, or about the general outcome.

Without putting too fine a point on it, I didn't. I know there are plenty of Readers out there that will enjoy this story. It just absolutely was not for me.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with copies to read and review.

Audiobook/Book Review

Happy Pub Day to Book of Knives!

Thank you so much to @PoisonedPenPress and @Dreamcape_Media for these gifted copies to review!

Book of Knives by Lise Haines
@RapsInBlue
Pub date: October 4, 2022
Narrator: Eve Passeltiner
Duration: 9H 20M

After documentary film-maker Nora’s beloved husband dies, she remarries their mutual friend, Paul. She is still grieving but finding happiness with Paul. When Paul’s brother, Gabe, calls to say their parents can’t manage the family run campground anymore, Paul and Nora put everything aside to go and help out. At first all is well, until it’s not …

When they arrive, things get off to a rocky start; Gabe’s wife, Salish, is odd and standoffish – and has a collection of knives that she prizes. When one goes missing the first night, it sets the tone for what’s to come. One by one, the knives disappear; this along with other strange occurrences and rumors piques Nora’s interest and her investigative nature takes over as she becomes immersed in the campground’s history and Paul’s eccentric family.

Book of Knives is a true slow-burn thriller threaded with horror. I found myself really enjoying the suspenseful and ominous tone that came with the horror element and the unpredictable personalities. The mystery along with the overall isolated atmosphere that is found at the campground is eerie and suspenseful and I enjoyed the secondary characters and their quirky personalities!

Eve Passeltiner narrates this story beautifully; capturing all the emotive vibes and creating the atmosphere of this thrilling story.

My thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape for this audio.

I have to agree with some of the reviews. This missed the mark big time. It said it was a Mystery/Thriller, but did not get that at all. Was this the story of widowed documentary film maker Nora meeting her new husband s family? A family saga? A trip back to her first husband s funeral ? Her new sister in laws obsession with missing knives? What was I supposed to be reading? Can't recommend. Did like the narrator.

I found that the majority of the novel did not align with the synopsis. It was a veeeeeery slow burn novel, with a lot of descriptors and additional details that detracted from the supposed "horror" genre. It was not really moving until the end of the novel.

I also found the narrator to be choppy and hard to listen to in long spurts. It was very monotone and hard to feel any emotion from the narrator.

ARC audiobook provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Book of Knives” is a mystery/thriller told from the perspective of Nora, a recently remarried yet still grieving widow. When her new husband, Paul, says he must go back to the camp at Hidden Lake where he grew up in order to fix it up and sell it, Nora agrees to tag along with her husband and his son. Also residing at the camp are Paul’s infirmed elderly parents, his brother, Gabe, Gabe’s wife, Salish, and their children. The camp is in poor shape, and it becomes evident that repairs are going to take a while.

In the meantime, Nora works to ingratiate herself with Paul’s dysfunctional family, which gets harder by the day. Things take a turn for the weird when after the first meal at the camp, one of Salish’s prized knives goes missing. Despite Salish’s best efforts to guard her remaining knives, they continue to disappear. At the same time, events unfold that raise the questions of ghostly hauntings, secret rooms, and a long-ago murder. Nora begins to slowly fall apart, but she is not the only one. As tensions build and minds unravel, it becomes clear that not everyone will make it out of Hidden Lake unscathed.

I really wanted to love this book. It had an interesting description with a good cover and title. The overall story arc had promise, but it unfortunately just fell flat. As other reviewers have mentioned, this book is set up with a slow burn, which I generally have no issue with. However, this slow burn does not really go anywhere satisfying. The author attempts to bring in too many elements and genres. Is it a mystery? Yes. Is it an exploration of the paranormal? Yes. Is it a thriller? Yes. Is it a general fiction book? Yes. Could these elements work successfully together? Sure. However, the author just kept piecing in different elements that diluted the core story, making the final product overwrought, boring, and just plain ridiculous. The story went off into tangents that eventually went nowhere and felt like a waste of time. The characters were generally poorly developed and mostly unlikeable. Their actions are often unbelievable. The story sets off at a slow pace and never really picks up. The ending just seems like a quick resolution written by an author on a deadline and is completely unsatisfying.

My copy of this book was an audiobook, so I must comment on the narrator. I think she did an okay job. For the most part, she kept me as engaged in this dragging story as best as she could. That being said, I did think she was often a bit too monotone and could have done better with inflection and emotions.

Overall, this book was a big disappointment for me. I struggled between a two-star and three-star review, because I did actually make it through the whole book. I settled on the two-star review when I realized that I would love to get my time back that I spent listening to this audiobook. Regrettably, I do not really recommend this book for anyone. I cannot even recommend it for readers new to the genres this book encapsulates as I feel it is a poor representation of each of them. If you are looking for an interesting mystery/thriller/paranormal/fiction story, look elsewhere.

This is a definite SLOW BURN!!! I don't want to say it was boring but....it was hard to get through. The last few chapters were good but at that point I just didn't really care. The author did a great job with the characters but slow burns are just not my thing unfortunately.

Nora’s new marriage is proving challenging in many ways. She’s traveled to Hidden Lake Camp with her husband, Paul, to help fix up the decrepit old summer camp to ready it for sale, and get Paul’s elderly parents settled into their new home. It’s going to be a long process and the creepy old camp isn’t making Nora comfortable. Things go from bad to weird when a collection of knives begins to disappear, one at a time. The usual rumors of haunted summer camps and masked killers fly and Nora has to wonder if those old stories are just gossip, or something more sinister. Delightful, spooky fun.

This novel was very slow and hard to get into. I never felt like the story developed. The chapters were long and it didn’t feel like much was happening. The ending didn’t wrap up the book in any way, it was disappointing.

I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t get into it. The whole renovating a secluded camp, spending time with strange in-laws, and the parents in the attic didn’t work for me. I had a hard time just getting through the beginning of the book that set the tone for the rest of the story.
The hook should have been the missing knives and the hint of haunting. But Salish ruined it for me. She is too eccentric and obsessed with the knives for it to be believable. And her whole attitude was so off putting it made me not want to keep reading. Nora, the main character, was odd too. She shouldn’t have stayed at the camp.
I listened to this book, hoping for more of an eerie vibe. Unfortunately I didn’t care for the narrator. She didn’t express emotion enough for the situations. I wanted so much more from her.
This was a meh read. I hate rating anything so low, but it didn’t work for me.

While I enjoyed the pace of this book I just couldn’t fully commit to liking it. I’d say my interest was peaked around 70%. Perhaps just a wee bit disappointed because I love the title and the cover!

I would say a good book for spooky season!

3.75/5 stars (rounded up)

Thank you Dreamscape Media for the advanced listening copy!

When Nora loses her first husband, she's thrilled to find a second love in his best friend, Paul. When Paul's elderly parents suddenly need care taking, the pair heads to Paul's childhood home, Hidden Lake Camp, with Paul's brother and his family. Together, they plan to care for their parents and fix the place up for selling. That is, however, until a set of knives begins to go missing, one by one. Nora is left feeling it is up to her alone to solve this mystery before something terrible happens to all of them...

This book was much more horror than it was thriller, which I wasn't expecting. Horror isn't my preferred genre, but once I committed to the book I found myself wondering what would come next. Nora was a fairly likeable main character, though her inability to move on from her first husband was frustrating throughout, only because it felt like she wasn't trying to move on. (I know grief is very complicated, so no blame there). I was genuinely surprised by the ending of the book, but this was definitely more of a slow burn overall.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I’m still up in the air on this one. I wanted to like it and I loved the description of it. But it was rather all over the place and a bit confusing at times. I felt like there were some loose ends as well. Just a whole lot going on.
Narrator did a good job.

I really wanted to love this book; however, it just fell flat for me. This plot had a lot of potential, but for me there were too many loose ends and questions that were left unanswered. Also, parts of the story just did not mesh in my opinion. If you want a story about a haunted sleep away camp, I recommend The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager instead.

Thank you @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. Thank you for the audiobook ARC.
I feel so honored to be one of the first to listen.
This is a wonderful exploration of widowhood, mourning, and new marriage. Nora was way cooler than I would be. I wouldn't have lasted a few days with that all going on. I do love my nieces and nephews though.
The narrator was perfect.

I loved the premise for this thriller! Equally a perfect summer read and a great choice for #SpookySeason too! A married couple are trying to fix up a summer camp when knives start to go mysteriously missing. Lots of twisty, creepy, ghosty vibes with this one. Great on audio too! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.