Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
Ooo, Blood Like Mine was so, so good.
A fabulous blending of Horror with Crime Fiction. It was gripping, fast-paced, included excellent character work and a bloody sensational ending!
After seeing a couple of trusted Book Friends write glowing reviews for this one, I started to experience my typical high-levels of FOMO. They were enjoying it, therefore, I wanted to be enjoying it. I couldn’t rest until I was.
I requested an audio copy and very luckily, my request was granted. I started right away and was so very happy that they brought this book, and this author, onto my radar.
In this story, we are following Rebecca and her daughter, Moonflower. It’s clear the two are on the run from a difficult past, but the full truth of that isn’t revealed right away.
As we get to know Rebecca and Moonflower, the truth behind their past, current situation and close connection, is beautifully-exposed. I loved getting to know these two characters. They were both so real to me and fascinating.
We also meet a Special Agent with the FBI, Marc Donner. For the last two-years, he has been hunting a serial killer across the American West, a killer who drains their victim’s bodies of blood.
As the trail he is following leads him closer to Rebecca and Moonflower, the existence Rebecca has worked so hard to create for them is inexorably threatened. Donner isn’t giving up, he’s not turning back, and they’re all set on a crash course with disaster.
The synopsis describes this one as cat-and-mouse and I absolutely agree with that. I love those types of stories, so that played a huge role in my enjoyment.
It was intense. I grew to care for all of these characters, not just Rebecca and Moonflower, but also Agent Donner. The high stakes involved, you know it can’t end well for everyone though, which made it particularly gripping for me.
Who was going to end up on top?
I vibed so well with the way the author told this story. The level of intrigue is high from the get-go and for me, it really never let up. You can intuit what is going on with Moonflower and Rebecca, but there’s a certain level of uncertainty that did keep me guessing.
Until there’s not. Once it’s clear, I was loving this even more, because if anything it only upped the stakes of the game playing out on the page.
I would love to read more from this author. I think the genre-bending nature of this really took the cake for me. The Horror aspects blended perfectly with the Crime Fiction elements. It was seamless.
I would recommend this to Horror Readers who enjoy fast-paced, high-stakes Thriller-type reads. This is unique, fun and for me, memorable. I’m looking forward to seeing what more Readers think of this one.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Recorded Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. The audio narration was so well done and definitely helped to bring this story to life for me!