NINE ELMS by Robert Bryndza

Genre: Serial Killer Thriller, Women Sleuths, Psychological Thriller
Series: Kate Marshall (Book #1)
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Pages: 392
Author’s Website
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

What can I say about NINE ELMS by Robert Bryndza? It was a story I could sink my teeth in, no pun intended. This is my first time reading anything by this author, and I’m so glad I took a chance and downloaded the kindle version. In a watered-down genre of female detectives, Kate Marshall truly stands out. I was expecting to follow the same detective procedural, solve the crime thing, but Robert turned the genre on its ear.

Kate, an upcoming detective constable, catches a cannibal serial killer when he makes her his fifth victim. Instead of being lauded and promoted, she is disgraced and fired. Talk about turning one’s expectations. We flash forward fifteen years; Kate is a popular criminology lecturer at Ashdean University. We discover not only is still dealing with the trauma of her near-death experience at the hands of a serial killer but was impregnated by him and had his son. I was sucked in at this point and knew I would be up reading late into the night.

Kate is a compelling protagonist who fights and deals with her inner demons. One of the fascinating aspects of her was seeing how the incident ruined her life, made her self-destructive, and put her life back on track for the sake of her son—got to love a survivor! But Robert doesn’t stop there; he pulls Kate back into action where she must help solve a copy-cat serial killer, and you can imagine what does to her psyche.

NINE ELMS is filled with tension, dark, and kept me reading late into the night. I will definitely be checking out the next book in this series and Robert’s other books.