New Book Alert: The Surrey Stalker by B.L. Pearce; Tight Suspenseful Novella About the Hunt for a Serial Killer

New Book Alert: The Surrey Stalker by B.L. Pearce; Tight Suspenseful Novella About the Hunt for a Serial Killer

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews



Spoiler Alert: B.L. Pearce's novella, The Surrey Stalker is extremely short. Because of that, it lacks something in characterization. But what it lacks, it makes up for plot and suspense. It's a brief read but it is one that keeps the Reader on the edge of their seats from first page to last.



A sinister character has been stalking and murdering various women around Surrey. His latest victim is an archivist named Julie Andrews ("like the actress", the officers say). DI Rob Miller uses the case as a distraction from his relationship woes with his fiancee, Yvette. As the body count increases and the investigators profile the killer and follow possible leads, Miller puts his and Yvette's lives on the line in his determination to catch him.


This is a tightly wound book where clues and suspense are laid out intelligently and lead to precise and well thought-out conclusions. When the police officers learn that the victim's engagement rings were forced inside the victims, they realize that the killer might be involved with weddings and envy those who have had good relationships when he had none. Profilers analyze that this is someone who had a stormy love life. Those leads prove to be effective in catching the Stalker.


The victims are chronicled through their encounters with the Stalker and the interviews with anguished fiances and family members. Justin remembers Julie as a loving affectionate woman who was worried about a troublesome follower. Sara Bakshi wanted to start a family. (I just want to mention how personally weirded out I am, reading a suspense novella in which two separate victims share my first and middle names.) The Reader really feels for these women who had their lives ahead of them but were cut short just when they should have been their happiest.

The chapters between the Stalker and the victims are the best. We peer into the Stalker's dangerous frame of mind almost like a hunter or predatory animal closing in on his prey. It is terrifying and mesmerizing as he follows them and ultimately traps them.


The characterization towards the police officers is unfortunately not as effective. Miller's relationship woes with Yvette are heart felt but serve mostly as distractions to the goal of catching The Surrey Stalker. They become repetitive and don't add anything new to "the lonely cop with spouse/significant other problems" trope.

However, Miller and Yvette's arguments puts her at a vulnerable position and leaves her right in the path of the Stalker so it moves the narrative along to an effective climax.

The Surrey Stalker is a tight finely structured novella that is filled with suspense and leads to a thrilling conclusion.

New Book Alert: Shove by Sarah Ciacia; Suspenseful Emotional YA Novel About The Traumatic After Effects of The Accidental Death of a Child

New Book Alert: Shove by Sarah Ciacia; Suspenseful Emotional YA Novel About The Traumatic After Effects of The Accidental Death of a Child

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews



Spoilers: When someone dies after an illness, it's sad but at least it's expected. Plans can be made, possessions can be transferred, and there is a serene sense that at least the person is no longer sick or in pain. When a person dies unexpectedly, it throws everything off kilter and when the deceased is a young person, or worse a child, the after effects are worse.


That's the situation faced by the characters in Sarah Ciacia's novel, Shove. A young boy is suddenly killed by a teenage assailant for no reason except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The horror of the randomness in the boy's death is emotional as many people are affected by his death and the circumstances surrounding it.


At first the only thing on the mind of of Whaly, the narrator, is whether Jude, one of the most popular boys at school likes her. So when she is invited to a party at popular girl, Cora's house,Whaly wants to get a chance to be alone with Jude to find out. She also brings her new friend, Lenore, a socially awkward new kid, to the party so she can make new friends and be part of the group.


The usual teen party hijinks of hooking up, making friends, and underage drinking comes to an abrupt screeching halt, when Kirby, Jude's tag along kid brother, is attacked outside the house where the party is held. Worse, he is attacked by Harlan, a friend of Lenore's older brother, Dustin. Harlan had been making inappropriate comments towards Whaly and lately has been getting more aggressive in his demeanor. At the party, he gets drunk, violent, and poor Kirby ends up being the innocent bystander that gets the worst end. This unexpected violent act which results in Kirby's death changes the book from a happy go lucky unassuming YA novel of teen romance into a tragedy on how people deal with the accidental death of a child.


Many of the characters react differently to Kirby's death and it says a lot about who they are as individuals. Jude is looking for someone to blame and is angry at everyone, including Whaly whom he blames for being the catalyst for Harlan's rage. He closes himself off emotionally from his friends as his family struggles with losing a son and brother.

Harlan becomes even more violent as if in denial over Kirby's death. He claims that he never meant to hurt the boy, and he's probably right. But, he continues to behave like a simmering volcano waiting to explode. Suspense builds when trying to figure out who will be the next recipient of Harlan's unpredictable rage.

Whaly's friend, Cora, proves what a faithless friend she really is. A self-involved popular girl, she doesn't mind playing up the tears in front of a media audience about how the tragedy occurred at her house. However, in private, she can't resist bad mouthing Lenore and Whaly. Lenore, meanwhile, sheds her social awkwardness and shows an underlying strength and resilience, emerging as a true friend to Lenore.


Whaly also has to deal with her emotions flying all over the place. She is grief stricken and guilty over Kirby's death and can't get him out of her mind. She feels separated from her friends when both Jude and Cora reject her in different ways.

She is also suffering from PTSD because of Harlan's aggressiveness. She is fearful and suspicious of everyone. This is particularly felt within her home when Dustin does some construction work around her house. Whaly constantly questions Dustin's motives. Is he in touch with Harlan? Is he coming onto Whaly's divorced mother and does her mother return those feelings? Whaly's behavior is that of most teenagers, constantly worried and angst ridden.


Things take a violent turn in the climax, which shifts friendships and romances. Some characters mature and change while others do not. By the time Shove ends, the characters still mourn but they also accept the changes that have come.