Despite my usual enthusiasm for police procedurals, this one didn't grab me. As the fourth book in the Black Harbor series, I was at a disadvantage at not being to form an emotional connection to Sergeant Nikolai Kole, Hazel, or the other recurring characters whose shared history clearly built on events from previous books.
The premise of Hazel returning to investigate her ex-husband's murder had potential, but the execution felt disjointed. The narrative bounced between characters and subplots involving drugs and corruption, making it difficult to stay focused on the central mystery.
While Morrissey creates an atmospheric setting, Black Harbor seemed like your average fictional crime-ridden town without that crucial character and setting connection. The investigation lacked the tension and momentum that makes a good procedural compelling to me. As I say, I need a timeline to SNAP and this moved pretty slowly to me.
I'm comfortable being the dissenting opinion among the many positive reviews. My experience only illustrates the importance of reading a series from the beginning and forming a relationship with the characters.

I had enjoyed a previous Black Harbor book and looked forward to reconnecting with the characters. Wrong.

Hazel's ex husband, who told her that she would never leave Black Harbor alive, though she did just that years ago, has been murdered and she returns to the town to see what happened to him. I still haven't figured out why she chose to do that as she had felt enough fear of him to still see him everywhere as she tried to live a normal life away from him.

Of course Nik, the man she'd had a relationship with (while married, of course) is the investigator she has thought of for years. You can guess where this is going. Through in a bunch of drug people and fellow officers along with some low life people and you find there is no one you care about in this book.

Pet peeve: why do authors insist on naming people by first and last name repeatedly throughout the book? Do you think we are stupid or are you getting paid by the word? Example: there is only one Aubrey in the book so why do you throw in her last name almost every time she is mentioned?Ditto for Nik- why spell out his entire first and last name when he is the only Nik?

Pet peeve #2: why are there constant recaps? Again-do you think we are stupid or paid by the word?

I won't be reading anything else by this author. Thank you NetGalley for and advance reader copy. Honest opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

Hannah Morrissey delivers another dark, atmospheric thriller with The Unlucky Ones, a gripping addition to the Black Harbor series. The novel plunges readers into a city on the edge, where crime, corruption, and personal demons intertwine. Hazel, a former police transcriber turned novelist, is drawn back into Black Harbor’s shadows when her ex-husband is brutally murdered. Teaming up with Sergeant Nikolai Kole—her former lover with whom she shares a complicated past—she navigates a case that’s as personal as it is dangerous.

Morrissey’s writing is sharp and immersive, painting Black Harbor as a character in itself—gritty, relentless, and suffocating. The tension between Hazel and Kole adds an emotional depth to the murder mystery, making their uneasy alliance just as compelling as the crime they’re trying to solve. While the plot occasionally leans into familiar noir tropes, the novel’s raw intensity and tightly woven suspense keep the pages turning. The Unlucky Ones is a chilling, well-crafted thriller that will satisfy fans of dark, character-driven mysteries.

I’ve followed the Broken Harbor series since Hello, Transcriber, and was thrilled to see Hazel return. Hannah Morrissey knows how to craft a twisty thriller and The Unlucky Ones is no exception. Truly loved the opportunity to dive back into this world and read this as an ARC!

The Unlucky Ones is apparently part of a series but can be read as a stand alone book. This was a gripping detective mystery filled with twists and turns, but had a great resolution.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Hannah Morrissey, and St. Martin's Press for the ebook.

I’ve been hopping around on this series (I read #1 then this, #4) which I think was fine because the other two follow different characters. I honestly think I liked reading these two stories back to back to keep the relationship and characters fresh in my mind. I love the setting of Black Harbor and that’s something that this series does really well. I didn’t love the characters as much this time around, I felt like we didn’t get much out of hazel and the time she spent away to be able to better understand her. The romance (which I disliked in the first book) was much better done here and I think this book stayed in the mystery arena much better. Overall, I enjoyed!

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Unlucky Ones By Hannah Morrissey
Publication Date: March 25, 2025
Publisher: Minotaur Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded Up To 5⭐)

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

Hannah Morrissey's Black Harbor series comes full circle in The Unlucky Ones, and I loved every damn minute of it. As a die-hard fan of this series of books, the return of Hazel to Black Harbor - and the reconnection of Hazel and Kole - was a long-awaited continuation of what began in Book #1.

Featured in the series' first book, Hello Transcriber, Hazel seemed to be one of the only residents of Black Harbor to actually be able to get out. This book brings her back to this dark town after the death of her ex-husband, and back into the realm of Police Sergeant Nikolai Kole again. Black Harbor continues to battle the infiltration of drugs on its streets, and Kole continues to lead the police department's charge to stop the carnage of drugs and deaths that permeate the streets within the underbelly of this town.

Just two chapters into the book, I was fully invested. There's something about the story of Hazel and Kole that has stayed with me since the beginning, and I couldn't wait to see where and how their paths might cross next. This book is just as dark and atmospheric as each of its predecessors, but with an additional tension around Hazel's safety upon her return to this town.

The ONLY reason I stopped short of giving this book a 5⭐ rating was because I was mad at a couple really stupid decisions Hazel made during the story. It was my own personal grievance with her character, not the telling of this suspenseful saga within Black Harbor's storied tales. If you're a fan of atmospheric thriller series and haven't yet discovered Black Harbor, you're in for a real treat because all four books in the series are available for purchase now!

Though this book answered so many questions that have plagued characters in this series for years, I have only one remaining question: will we get to visit Black Harbor again, Hannah Morrissey? 🤞🤞

#TheUnluckyOnes #HannahMorrissey #BlackHarborSeries #MinotaurBooks #ARC #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #thrillerreads #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #thrillerseries #booklover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

Thrilling police drama with many twists. This is my first Hannah Morrisey novel and this book is number 4 in the Black Harbor series. Having not read any of the previous books, I did not feel lost while reading. However, probably reading the previous novels would have set me up for a better reading experience. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the characters and walking through the investigation with them. Thank you to St. Martins Press and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Hello, Transcriber was one of my very first books I read as a reviewer and so The Black Harbor series is always an automatic read for me. I’ve really enjoyed listening to most of the series and so I knew I had to listen to The Unlucky Ones, to keep the tradition alive.

Our main POV Hazel is back for a second time as the lead in The Unlucky Ones. When her ex-husband is found murdered, Hazel can’t help but return to Black Harbor to help uncover his murderer. But going back to Black Harbor brings back all the memories Hazel has stored away for the past decade. Between the memories, the return of Kole her ex-lover to her orbit, and violent crime on the rise – Hazel may not make it out of Black Harbor a second time.

Most detective series you can generally read out of order and still get the jest of the story, and with the first three books in the series that holds true. But for The Unlucky Ones, I would highly recommend reading all three previous books before jumping into this 4th installment and especially paying attention to Hello, Transcriber.

With that said, I was underwhelmed with this one. It relies heavily on remembering details from Hello, Transcriber, and quite honestly I just didn’t remember a lot of what took place from that book almost five years later so I felt lost for parts of the story. There wasn’t a ton of character development either. In the decade that Hazel and Kole have seen each other, they seem to be almost the exact same people but certainly lacked any sort of chemistry this time around.

The plot itself revolves around the gangs and drugs that run Black Harbor, and while we did explore the ‘underworld’ more, everything felt fairly surface level. It’s a decent mystery, especially if you’re looking for a ‘midwestern noir’ type read or already invested in the Black Harbor universe. But I needed more from the story and didn’t entirely connect with a single character.


The Unlucky Ones comes out March 25, 2025. Huge thank you to Minotaur Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my:
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This is the fourth book in the Black Harbor series by Hannah Morrissey and the third one I've read. Although the town of Black Harbor is not one I would ever want to live in, these books are good!

Description:
A police transcriber-turned-novelist returns to Black Harbor to help solve the case of her ex-husband’s murder in the newest riveting Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

Black Harbor is a tinderbox. Temperatures and violent crime have both risen to all-time highs, a new drug razes the city, and the scene to which Sergeant Nikolai Kole responds is anything but a rote homicide. In the back of a clubhouse lies a body wrapped in garbage bags and doused in bleach.

It isn’t just any body. Tommy Greenlee, the ex-husband of Kole’s former lover, Hazel, has been shot several times and left for dead. What’s more…the killer left what appears to be a calling card.

Elsewhere, Hazel is haunted by her memories of Black Harbor. Lured there after eight years, she returns to find out who killed Tommy and why. Now back in Kole’s orbit, their love affair can hardly pick up where it left off. They both used each other to their own ends before, which begs the question: would they do it again?

With the atmosphere growing more volatile by the second, Hazel and Kole call a truce, and as they work together to solve this murder, they will not only unearth Black Harbor’s deepest, darkest secrets—they’ll each have to face their own.

My Thoughts:
The new drug that has arrived in town is really scary and Sergeant Nikolai Kole and his team face many challenges to stop the inflow. The dark drug trade is rules by some ruthless characters and they need to be stopped. The return of Hazel, a lover from Nikolai's past, after her ex-husband is murdered is suspicious. Nikolai thinks Hazel could have had nothing to do with it, but others on his team are not so sure and Nikolai needs to find the killer. There are red herrings to distract and a good investigation to follow. Anyone who enjoys a good mystery will like this one and the Black Harbor series.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books through Netgalley for an advance copy.

Wow. I'd say best of the 4, for sure. I love seeing what comes next each book. And each book just gets better.

𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨, 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚. 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙪𝙨? - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨

This is not only my favorite Black Harbor book so far but also one of my all time favorite reads! Captivating, atmospheric, dark, gritty but also sensual and the best of all, a reunion of my two favorite Black Harbor characters.

I won’t talk about details of the plot but I will say you need to read Hello, Transcriber first in order to experience the full impact of The Unlucky Ones. Hannah Morrissey created a setting that feels like quicksand for residents’ hopes and dreams, full of crime, despondency, drug use, tragic ends. And instead of Midwest icy coldness, this book takes us to new levels of hell, both in terms of oppressive summer heat and diabolical villains.

I love Hannah’s writing style. I found myself saving beautiful quotes left, right and center. I love how complex, fallible and human her characters are. I also love that I am drawn to rereading her stories - even once you know the twists, there are so many nuances and details to discover. And I loved the layers and twists of the case being solved in The Unlucky Ones.

I’ll just keep repeating it - as long as Hannah keeps writing Black Harbor stories, I will continue reading them! A huge thank you to Minotaur Books for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We’re back in Black Harbor! I loooove this dark crime thriller series! Hazel and Kole are two of my favorite characters and I was thrilled to have them back together on the page. This series works so well because Black Harbor is such a STRONG setting and THAT is because NO ONE writes descriptive/graphic imagery like Hannah Morrissey! I feel like I’m physically in each scene and sometimes they’re pretty gruesome. I’ll always come back to this series.

I first discovered Hannah Morrissey’s writing through her fantastic debut, Hello, Transcriber, where she introduced the bleak and crime-ridden town of Black Harbor, Wisconsin. Her atmospheric prose, combined with a gripping murder mystery, made the novel a standout. I quickly devoured her next two books set in Black Harbor, each featuring new characters and mysteries while remaining interconnected through their shared setting.

So when Morrissey’s publisher offered me a chance to review The Unlucky Ones, the fourth book in the Black Harbor series, I jumped at it. Learning that this novel would revisit the main character from her debut only heightened my excitement.

She wouldn't have believed you if you had told Hazel she’d return to Black Harbor. She was more than happy to leave the town and everything it represented behind. Black Harbor had given her nothing but misery: an emotionally and physically abusive ex-husband, a toxic workplace romance, and a job that entangled her in a murder investigation that nearly cost her life. She escaped, and she never looked back. But now, against all odds, she’s back, and the darkness she left behind threatens to consume her once again.

With the Fourth of July approaching, tensions in Black Harbor are rising. A deadly new drug is flooding the streets, the summer heat is suffocating, and, of course, there’s been another murder. Sergeant Nikolai Kole has seen plenty of crime scenes, but this one is different. A body, wrapped in garbage bags and doused in bleach, lies in the back of a clubhouse. The victim? Tommy Greenlee—Hazel’s ex-husband.


Hazel and Kole, former lovers with a complicated history, must work together to uncover the truth. They both want justice, even if neither of them particularly cares for Tommy. But can they trust each other? They once used each other for their own ends, and their reunion threatens to dredge up old wounds. As the chaos in Black Harbor escalates, Hazel and Kole strike an uneasy truce. To solve this murder, they’ll have to navigate the city’s darkest secrets and confront their own secrets along the way.

With The Unlucky Ones, Hannah Morrisey returns to Black Harbor, continuing the story that began in her debut and offering an unflinching look at the city’s dark underbelly. Known for her atmospheric worldbuilding, Morrisey once again immerses readers in her enigmatic setting. This time, she trades Black Harbor’s signature frigid winters for the sweltering heat of summer, a striking contrast that adds a new layer of tension.

Since this novel is a direct continuation of Hazel’s story from Hello, Transcriber, I’d recommend reading that book first to fully appreciate the depth of this one. The alternating POVs, carefully placed revelations, and relentless twists make for an addictive read. While the climax hinges on a plot point that felt a bit too convenient, I was so engrossed in the characters and their world that it hardly mattered.

With The Unlucky Ones, Morrisey delivers yet another gripping thriller, proving once again why she’s at the top of her game. Her next novel has already been teased as a brand-new standalone and is already on my radar. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"A headiness comes over him. Lack of sleep and old flames. She is the only person who’s ever had this effect on him. She can make him lose his composure, do things he knows he shouldn’t."

"If all you had to do was one bad thing, and you could leave Black Harbor behind forever, would you do it?”

There are three things you have to know about the tension filled police procedural romance suspense thriller The Unlucky Ones, by edgy holds back nothing in her gritty detailed writing, author Hannah Morrissey; first it takes place in the bleak town of Black Harbor where crime thrives and hope dies. Second is Det. Nikolai Kole fights the crime and prays for hope. Third, he never stopped loving Hazel Greenlee when she left Black Harbor.

In my favorite debut, Hello, Transcriber, Hazel was in an abusive marriage and her solace was transcribing Nikolai's police reports. They hadn't met yet. When they did, I could barely breathe with all the emotions that overwhelmed them. But their story had to take a pause. Now it's 8 years later and Hazel is back to find out who killed her ex-husband, because she has a feeling she may be next...and maybe to see Nikolai.

The supreme voice actress Angela Dawe gives Hazel her subtle vulnerability with her anger and fear. Phenomenal voice actor Robb Moreira lets Nikolai's pain seep through his tough exterior.

Reading and listening to this couple navigate through life and death situations while juggling long held feelings is an intense experience but so worth it. We are the lucky ones for this writer's gift to her fans, more Nikolai and Hazel.

I received free copies of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

For fans of the previous three books, The Unlucky Ones proves that Black Harbor can get even darker and more corrupt that you would have imagined.

So many beloved characters return from past books and the corruption in the drug world gets even more complex. The ties through the people of the town were so well constructed, I loved every minute. The bad guys proved to not be so obvious, which I loved. You really had to pay attention as motivations unfolded to give to the real villain origin stories. Satisfying ending to the series…for now 😊

Though it could be read as a stand alone, do yourself a favor and read the series to get the full enjoyment. I also recommend the audiobook, as Angela Dawe is amazing at portraying the darkness of the story.

4.5 stars rounded down to 4!

Another fantastic installment in the Black Harbor series! This gritty little town feels so close to home as a Wisconsin girl and I cherish the time I get to spend in it between these pages. I loved being back in the mind of Hazel and all of the easter eggs from previous books throughout that only added to the reading experience for me. Also absolutely loved hosting the fantastically twisted minded Hannah and my bookclub last weekend to chat all things Black Harbor! Getting to hear Hannah deep dive into these characters was such an awesome experience and just added to the enjoyment for me.

Huge thank you to Minotaur for my early copy! I love this series and will forever read any and all parts of it.

The Unlucky Ones
by Hannah Morrissey
Pub Date: Mar 25 2025

THE UNLUCKY ONES is a crime novel and police procedural that takes place over five days. The story is told from the perspectives of Kole and Hazel two of the books characters. It's a fast pace murder mystery full of suspense. It kept me interested from page one! Although this is a series, I had no issue reading it as a stand-alone book.

Synopsis: A police transcriber-turned-novelist returns to Black Harbor to help solve the case of her ex-husband’s murder in the newest riveting Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

Thank you #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress for providing me an E-ARC of this fantastic book!

I'm so grateful to @hannahmorrisseywriter, @minotaur_books, @stmartinspress, and @macmillan.audio for the gifted e-book and ALC.

This series has been fantastic, and Hazel's return to Black Harbor is a welcome addition. The town's dark underbelly is still fascinating, and the romance adds a awesome touch that I love. The audio narration is excellent, bringing the characters to life in a way that's hard to put down. If you're a fan of crime thrillers with a little romance here and there, you won't want to miss this one! Or any of this series really, you can't go wrong!

The Unlucky Ones is the fourth book in Hannah Morrissey’s gritty Black Harbor series, but it’s the first one that revisits characters from a previous book. This one takes place eight years after the events of Hello, Transcriber, the first book in this loosely connected series, and we get to revisit the main characters in that book, Hazel Greenlee (the former titular police transcriber), and detective Nikolai Kole, who had a short affair back then.

Black Harbor is a bleak city in Wisconsin, right on Lake Michigan. It is known as the highest crime city in Wisconsin and has huge drug and gang problems, among other issues.

Hazel fled Black Harbor and became a writer, fulfilling one of her dreams. When Hazel’s abusive ex-husband is murdered, she decides to come back to Black Harbor to find out what happened and why. This is that story.

The story unfolds via two points of view, Hazel’s and Nik’s. (The audiobook uses two narrators, which I loved.) Seeing them try to reconnect after eight years apart, dancing around their former connection, formed part of the book. Getting to know Nik’s partners in his violent crimes task force was another highlight. I could imagine the atmosphere in Black Harbor leading up to July 4th, which they knew would come with a few deaths. I can’t imagine living in such a depressingly bleak place, but Nik is tied to it and doesn’t picture himself leaving anytime soon.

There were several gang members that I had trouble keeping straight, but I powered through that issue and just kept reading/listening.

In addition to this book reaching back to the first book in the series, there’s a mention or two of the Reynolds family, who featured in book two, The Widowmaker, so perhaps Morrissey intends to revisit that story in a future book. Who knows?

Recommended for readers who don’t mind a gritty police procedural, with some violent scenes.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook and to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.