The Narrow Three (The Hunt for Emily Henderson Book 1)

This book is an acknowledged "novella." That just means it lurks around 50,000 words. So, it's a fairly short work that didn't allow a lot of room for development of characters.We start off by meeting Nathan McLain. He was previously a detective in Tennessee and moved to Tenaple, which is, as far as I can tell, a small town in the Tampa Bay, FL area. He became a private investigator who would periodically help the police out. The whole book kicks off with him in interrogation being questioned about a woman that was murdered. We later find out that it was his girlfriend, which of course makes him the prime suspect. By the end of the prologue, he'd managed to catch the real killer and get a confession. We are also semi-introduced to the elusive Emily Henderson.Here's where things went wonky, in my opinion. There's really no time line going on here, so I'm not sure how long it was between the murder and catching the murderer. However, he's already out chasing skirts and that just drove me nuts. He was supposedly so broken up he hadn't managed to finish cleaning out all of Nancy's stuff from his place, but that didn't stop him. Maybe it's a male/female difference. I don't know. I do know it irritated me so much I almost set the book down.Nathan was then asked to help out on a weird case happening in the city. Animals that normally didn't bother anyone were all of a sudden attacking in strange ways and causing severe damage. The only thing Nathan found at the scene was a trace of blue goo.Shortly after this point, if you can get past how many times this guy is with another woman, the story really kicks off and picks up speed.I do wish there had been more character development, a little less random encounters with women, and more background on how, what, why on the blue goo. Perhaps that will be brought up in subsequent books. They will definitely be needed as this one ended with you hanging in the air. I will probably pick up the next book when it's out and decide from there if I'll read anymore of his work.I decided to come back to this review and add a few things. First of all, this book was well-written. When the story picks up, it will grab you and drag you along. It was only my personal prejudice against the main character that caused the 3 star review. Okay, that and I like my books to have more to them. By more, I mean more character development, more behind WHY something is happening. However, if you like short books that get right to the point, then I would definitely recommend this book. You'll probably enjoy it quite a bit.

I don't read many novellas, but this one presented to me from a friend, and after reading the blurb, I had to admit the story sounded rather interesting. A sample proved the story was well-written, so I bought a copy and began reading as soon as I was able. I enjoyed the characters and the plot, and although I don't really read much sci-fi or much mystery (and this was both) I ended up becoming rather enchanted by the whole ordeal. I would read more from this author.

So, a friend of mine put me on to this book, since I like scifi/fantasy she figured, it was right in my wheel house. She was right.I have a background in forensics and one of the main principals is Locard's principal that suggests every contact leaves a trace. There's always evidence that someone was there. So, the idea of the woman the cop was chasing never leaving any trace of herself behind intrigued me.There were lots of plots twists, not in a M. Night Shyamalan kind of annoying way, but just enough to keep me on my toes and engrossed in the story. Since this is the first book in a series I was expecting there to be some loose ends and was pleasantly surprised by how the author chose to tie up the ends and set up the next installment. Which I am very much looking forward to reading.

It was very suspenseful. It was much better than I expected it was going to be when I first picked it up. It made me think a little of Resident Evil, which I actually liked because that's a cool story line in a way. The sections about it referring to the rat and raccoon with the blue eyes made me think of one of my favorite movies I saw on Syfy (then Sci-Fi), so it was a nice bit of nostalgia thrown in there. I loved the book and the only reason I am not giving it 5/5 is because it ended. I got to the last page and wished there was more to read.

This was a wonderful "quick read"! I actually got so lost in the story that I burned dinner. Note to self - don't start a meal while reading, even if you think you can "keep time", don't...just don't. Every time I thought I could put it down, something else caught me off guard. Just when I thought: "oh, I know where this is going, the entire story went sideways! So glad I was made aware of it, and took the time to read it. Even though dinner was burned.