No Rest for the Wicked: A Novel by Rachel Louise Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Almost 20-years ago, Dolores Hawthorne fled her hometown of Little Horton, Wisconsin. She attended college, worked hard, and became a successful forensic pathologist.
She never planned to go back, until she gets a phone call from the FBI, telling her that her father, Little Horton’s former mayor turned US Senator, has gone missing under mysterious circumstances.
In spite of everything, Dolores cares for her father and returns to help in the investigation in any way she can.
Her reunion with her remaining family and the town is mixed, but before long, she’s coming to grips with her past and aiding the FBI with the search.
Other startling occurrences hit the town hard and it becomes clear, something sinister is haunting Little Horton this Halloween season.
Confession time. When I was offered an ARC of this book, I took one look at the cover, read the title, and thought, yes, absolutely, yes. It just looked like something I would enjoy, and luckily, that was true.
However, I had no clue what it was about, but made certain assumptions, and they were all wrong. I actually Buddy Read this with a friend and we both commented quickly that we both assumed it was YA, which it’s clearly not.
If you read the synopsis, unlike me, you’ll have no problem understanding that, but I just felt like the cover, though one of the most gorgeous covers that I’ve set my eyes on lately, really doesn’t portray the feel that I took from this Adult Mystery/Thriller novel.
With this out of the way, my head scratching at the cover art choice really has nothing to do with the book, or the story. I really enjoyed the twisted nature of this and all the dark small town drama. It was captivating and also contained one of my favorite tropes.
I absolutely adore when an MC returns to their hometown, after a number of years away, and ends up digging into some sort of mystery from their past. It’s even better when there are past and present mysteries intertwined, and that’s exactly what Adams delivered here.
It was interesting watching Dolores reintroduce herself to the home she left behind. The interactions among her family were interesting, and I liked how we learned about the past via various timeline/perspective shifts.
We also get a front row seat to the investigation into her father’s disappearance, as well as the other incidents happening around town.
Little Horton was a fun setting. It’s a self-proclaimed Halloween town, so they really lean into the holiday. It gave a lovely, moody backdrop to our overriding mysteries.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this. It was intriguing and fast-paced. I was surprised by it in many ways, and look forward to reading more from this author. I actually would love another book with Dolores as a main character. I grew very fond of her over the course of the story.
Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.
Everything from the tone, setting and characters, to the mystery itself, was engaging for me. Rachel Louise Adams is definitely an author I’ll be reading more from the future!