My first but not my last from Peter Nichols! I was pleasantly surprised by this new-to-me author: Granite Harbor was a perfectly balanced crime novel!

The characters were very compelling, in my opinion. And with a small town setting, I think this could be very hard to do without making them all come across as constricted. I really loved Alex, I feel like his backstory of an author turned police detective was oddly believable. Nichols did a good job of explaining his story in a way that made him very relatable; basically a life that led somewhere he never thought it would. How many of us can relate that that!?

I love when an author remembers to incorporate the setting throughout the a novel, and I think this was my favorite part of Granite Harbor. From the small town vibes, to the beachy New England setting, add in a crime and some historical aspects with the town's reenactment settlement, and this was a very immersive book indeed.

The crime, and all of the killer's mysterious backstory, the characters and setting all melded together to make a well developed and suspenseful story that was hard to put down! I really hope Alex gets his own series, because I would definitely read it!

Having love Nichols last book, I was excited to read “Granite Harbor. Unfortunately, I found the suspect matter somewhat disturbing and had a hard time reading it. Overall, he is a good writer, this book just wasn’t my jam.

Thank you so much to @macmillan.audio @celadonbooks and @netgalley for the ALC/ARC!

🔹 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🔹
This murder mystery is not for the faint of heart! There is a gruesome, dark element to the mystery in this book. A small coastal town in Maine is on edge when a local teenager is found brutally murdered. The new local detective and novelist, Alex, has his first murder case to solve. Alex is divorced and has a teenage daughter the same age as the murder victim.

Also in town is Isabel, who works at the local Settlement where the murder happened. She is a single mother to a teenage boy who was best friends with the murdered teen. Both single parents have something of help to offer in solving this case.

I read and listened to this on audio. The many POVs in this book was a little confusing at times, so I was glad to have the book to flip through when I needed to. The subject of this was a little gruesome for me to read at times, and the story behind the reason the killer and why he was performing these murders in this specific way was a little out there for me to read about. I don’t know if I just didn’t connect well with it or just didn’t like the dark nature of it all.

🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🔹 Sinister Murder Mystery
🔹 Ritualistic Murders
🔹 Coastal Maine Setting
🔹 Police Procedural

Had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. If you’re looking for a mystery thriller, this book is for you. I genuinely really enjoyed this read. Thank you Celadon books for sending me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book was presented to me as a thrilling crime story. I admit, there are thrilling parts to the narrative, but it is more a police procedural crime novel. Our main actor is a failed novelist now working as the police detective in the small town of Granite Harbor. He still tries to do some work as a writer. He shares custody of his daughter with her rich mother, who lives in another small town close by.
Things are moving at a steady rate in town until a teenaged boy is killed and presented to the public in a frame. This upsets everybody because what kind of a madman would frame his victim? How can such a person live among them without showing this madness? It turns out this isn't a native crazy but one taught to the serial killer by a certifiably crazy man. Let's talk about generational madness. All the detecting in the world won't find it because the madman has incorporated it into his otherwise rational worldview.
I found the book fascinating. I actually read it faster than I expected. I highly recommend it to those of you who like crime novels.
I want to thank the publishers who gave me this book through their website. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.This book was presented to me as a thrilling crime story. I admit, there are thrilling parts to the narrative, but it is more a police procedural crime novel. Our main actor is a failed novelist now working as the police detective in the small town of Granite Harbor. He still tries to do some work as a writer. He shares custody of his daughter with her rich mother, who lives in another small town close by.
Things are moving at a steady rate in town until a teenaged boy is killed and presented to the public in a frame. This upsets everybody because what kind of a madman would frame his victim? How can such a person live among them without showing this madness? It turns out this isn't a native crazy but one taught to the serial killer by a certifiably crazy man. Let's talk about generational madness. All the detecting in the world won't find it because the madman has incorporated it into his otherwise rational worldview.
I found the book fascinating. I actually read it faster than I expected. I highly recommend it to those of you who like crime novels.
I want to thank the publishers who gave me this book through their website. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.

Granite Harbor was a wonderful thriller. The story really kept me guessing throughout. The town of Granite Harbor and the folks that lived there were relatable and very well written. I really enjoyed reading this novel.

This book is a quick (albeit predictable) read. I sadly found the writing style rather juvenile and there were a few Grammer issues that should have been corrected before print. I do enjoy the different viewpoints, but unfortunately for this one just fell flat and seemed redundant. It has the essence of being good, but with far to overused and predictable tropes along with a boring plot and medium characters leaves the reader wanting more. I unfortunately cannot rate this higher for those reasons.

Granite Harbor is a crime novel about a serial killer. Teenagers are being murdered and the detective of the little Maine coastal town feels the pressure to find the killer. Small town - so think lots of secrets.

Overall it was an enjoyable read. I did find it a bit slow, and it's a short book so it shouldn't feel slow. It was also hard to read about the animal death and the synopsis gives too much away, in my opinion. Some aspects just didn't quite come together for me.

It was kinda slow and I wasn't as engaged until I was more than half way through.

The character development was decent but I just didn't connect with it as much as I would have liked

When a teenage boy is found dead, hanging from a wooden structure in Granite Harbor, Maine,, Detective Alex Brangwen must keep other teenagers. Including his daughter, safe while digging into the town’s history to catch a gruesome killer. Go in blind on this one - the synopsis reveals too much of what happens in the book - if you like creepy, atmospheric murder mysteries.* Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

*Content warnings for animal cruelty and ritualistic death.

If your looking for a dark, gritty crime novel then Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols is the perfect read. This one was so scenic that I could almost feel the cold Maine air while reading this one!

This one starts out with the murder of a teenage boy in a small coastal Maine town. The teen was discovered strung up in an elaborate display at the local tourist attraction called The Settlement. Alex Brangwen is the town's detective and former writer. He moved to Maine from England. His ex-wife was a wealthy woman who is on the more spoiled side but is also a helicopter mom. They share a teenage daughter. Their daughter was friends with the victim so this one hits close to home for the detective. After a second teen gets murdered and left in a similar way, the community realizes they have a serial killer on the loose.

The town's chief calls in the FBI to help solve this case and they realize this might tie in to a case that happened not far years ago. With a possible serial killer on the loose, everyone is frantic and Alex has to work tirelessly to get this case solved. His own daughter could be in danger.

This one had my heart racing and I loved the drama! The small town setting made me suspect EVERYONE. This is one of those books that has you paging through to find out what is going to happen next and who the killer is. The characters in this one were unique and the way the author wrote this had me side-eyeing everyone. I love a book with some good build-up. I haven't read anything by Peter Nichols before but I will add him to my growing list of authors to follow. I can see this making an excellent movie. In my head I was picturing who would play each character.
Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for proving us with an ARC of this exciting book.

This was such a thrilling novel that had me guessing after every page.
A serial killer is active in Granite Harbor and police detective Alex Brangwen is racing around the clock to find the killer before someone close to him falls victim.

This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I truly had no idea who the killer was until the very end. It had me guessing on what would happen next and I couldn’t get enough.

I loved this book so much and I really hope it will become a series because I would love to see what Alex does next.

wow, can’t believe how much i enjoyed this book! it was pretty slow in some parts but the parts that picked up really picked up! i loved the changing perspective and see the story through other peoples eyes. learning about the antagonist was super interesting, how he slowly started to unravel in a short time and then even more so over the years. i definitely figured out who it was after a certain characters POV. it just automatically clicked lol, and i did a little fist bump when it was confirmed 😂 while it was slow, i still found it highly engaging and was involved w most of the characters, except Morgana, she’s a bitch lol
thank you netgalley and Celadon for this e arc in exchange for my honest review. 4/5

GRANITE HARBOR by Peter Nichols and narrated by Peter Ganim is out Today! (Even though you may have gotten one from their LFL drop last week!)

I was impressed with this incredibly sinister and dark, small town crime drama.

I am not entirely sure how much to say about this plot, so I will only give this: small town Maine, generational secrets, bizarre ritualistic murder. This would make a perfect Criminal Minds episode, if you like comps.

This will not be a story for every palette. I, however, was fascinated and cringing, but could not put it down. The mystery was compelling, the characters engaging, and the pace was solid. I was able to enjoy both the audio and physical, which as you may know, is a favorite of mine.

Thank you to @celadonbooks @macmillan.audio & @netgalley for this dreadfully good suspense!

Have you read this one yet? Are you wondering, like me, what is so sinister about Maine?! (Just kidding, I want to visit someday and I am not afraid!)

Alex Brangwen is not your typical police detective. Once upon a time, the Englishman was a celebrated author with a novel shortlisted for the Booker Prize, a cultural cachet that was a large part of his appeal to his then-wife Morgana. At his American bride’s urging, the couple moved from London to Maine while she was pregnant with their only child Sophie. By the time Alex realized that his writer’s block was far more long term than he’d anticipated, and that he needed a much steadier paycheck, a disillusioned Morgana was already leaving him.

Desperate to find a job with a decent salary and benefits, Alex applied for a position with the Granite Harbor police force. He was honestly surprised to discover how much law enforcement training resonated with his writerly inclinations:

QUOTE
As if for emphasis, Officer Evans blinked twice and stared at the recruits in the front row of the lecture hall. “Write it all down. Go over it later. You might start putting things together. <i>Details tell a story</i>.”

Alex couldn’t have put it better in a fiction writing class. Many of the courses of the Basic Law Enforcement Training Curriculum might have been creative writing seminars: Ethics, Moral Issues, and Discretion; Dealing with the Vulnerable; Family Dynamics; Admissions and Confessions.

He was riveted.
END QUOTE

Since graduating over a decade ago, he’s done well in his fairly quiet town, getting promoted to detective and helping to maintain law and order. So when a local teenager is found murdered in grisly fashion, Alex is both thrown for a loop and uniquely poised to use his less than conventional – though always strictly legal – methods to find the killer.

The dead boy was friends with Sophie and, perhaps more significantly, with the son of another of Alex’s former love interests, the widowed ex-schoolteacher Isabel Dorr. When another teenager is found dead, the stakes ramp up for both Alex and Isabel, as the murderer seems to be targeting their kids’ circle of friends. Will Alex, Isabel and even Morgana be able to set their differences aside in order to find and stop this twisted serial killer before their own children become the next victims?

Peter Nichols has written an engrossing thriller that straddles that line between literary and genre, as a deeply disturbed criminal stalks the young people of a sleepy town. I especially admired Mr Nichols’ propulsive writing in the first half of the book, with its wealth of original and gruesome ideas. I just could not stop turning the pages, especially while reading wonderfully creepy passages like this one, where Alex and Granite Harbor Patrolman Mark Beltz are examining the first body:

QUOTE
There was no sign of blood on the leaves around the frame base, no footprints, no sign of disturbance. This was not the kill site. The body had been brought here dead. Maybe the forensic team would find–

“Oh my!” Mark said suddenly.

Alex looked over his shoulder at Mark and then, following the direction of his gaze, back at the body. His eyes involuntarily caught at the wound.

The clean line of the incision undulated. Something was moving beneath it. Inside [the corpse’s] belly.

As both men stared, a tiny hand, almost humanlike, dark red with gore, protruded from the wound.
END QUOTE

The suspense only ramps up as the book goes on, with supernatural elements introduced later on in the story. While I didn’t find the back half of the book as compelling as the first, I did very much enjoy the characterization of the adults in the novel, especially Alex. What creative doesn’t know the agony of needing to apply for a “safe” job, after all? The parallels Alex is able to draw between his chosen career and his life's passion are fortuitous, however, and help him excel (in at least one of those fields anyway.)

I was also impressed with the fair, if not always sympathetic, portraits drawn of both Isabel and Morgana. Each woman is doing her best to be a good parent, even if they have wildly different philosophies and practices that often put them at odds with Alex. Their teenage children are realistically portrayed, in the manner of many adolescents, as annoying, impulsive and not too bright. This genre-crossing novel balances all this realism with the highly unusual circumstances it portrays, making for uncommon, and often deliciously scary, reading.

I had seen so many positive reviews of this that I was so excited to dive in. I was hooked immediately. This had all the best elements of a slow burn and by the time, it ramped up, it hit the perfect intensity. The small town depicted was described so well, I felt like I’ve been there! This was a really good, gritty read.

I did enjoy this mystery/thriller. Kept my attention and made me want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. It had good buildup and development throughout the book. I thought the mode of kill was unique and interesting and not something I’d seen in other books. Enjoyed the historical element that had a more of a reenactment kind of town settlement. Which added to the knowledge and history of the town. It is to be noted that the topic of the serial case may be triggering for some. My final thoughts are that I felt for the more human aspect that you don’t always find in this genre. But I felt for the characters and what they were going through. Overall would recommend.

This book follows Alex Branwen, a single father and Granite Harbor’s only detective. Granite Harbor is a typical small town until a local teenager is brutally murdered.

If you enjoy a book with an eerie setting and darker elements, then you’ll love this book!

I would give this 6 stars if I could! I thought Granite Harbor was excellent-the characters, the setting, the plot, the voice of Alex-I would read more in this world. I really felt as if I was in Maine (and I’ve been there multiple times in different coastal locations) and I was wrapped up in the characters whose actions and dialogue felt real. Thanks to #netgalley and Celadon Books for this ebook of #graniteharbor to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Granite Harbor
By: Peter Nichols
I read this through NetGalley and followed along with the audio from Macmillan Audio. I gave this book a 3.5⭐️. I enjoyed it, but I felt like it started off okay, then got better, and then fell flat. I also felt like there were too many characters in this story.

This story takes place in a small town in Maine, a single mom who works at a reenactment museum where a dead body of a teenage boy is found. The boy ends up being her son’s friend. Soon after another boy is found dead and the detective on the case tries to find the serial killer of the two murders.