Alexander Rigby (https://www.arigby.com) is the author of four novels. Point Roberts was published in 2021. It is the 74th book I completed reading in 2023.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence and mature language, I categorize this novel as R.

Point Roberts is a small town in Washington state. It is peculiar in that it is cut off from the remainder of the state by water. The only land access is through Canada. Even that is blocked every February. At least that has been the case for the last 27 years.

A series of murders began in Point Roberts 30 years ago and the 15 deaths are still unsolved. After the third February with murders, the town mayor initiated a lock down in each subsequent February. The border with Canada was blocked, as was access to the peninsula by boat. Since the lock downs began, no further murders have taken place.

The uneasy peace is disrupted when 17-year-old Liza Jennings arrives in Point Roberts. Jennings finds a mysterious book on the beach that gives details of the fifteen killings. She allies with four locals to investigate the cold cases. All five have a connection to at least one of the victims.

In a small town like Point Roberts, the efforts by the five to discover the killer can hardly go unnoticed. Will they be able to identify the killer before one or more of them become additional victims?

I enjoyed the 8+ hours I spent reading this 418-page mystery. The book has a good plot but the writing is a little rough in places. I thought the author tried too hard at times to work colorful phrases into the test. I do like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 3.7 (rounded to 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This book was a fun, wild ride. It felt like it was a Netflix show--slightly odd but filled with twists. I don't think I've quite read anything like it before. Point Roberts is a real place (look it up on Wikipedia), and Rigby uses its unique remoteness to his advantage. He fills the town with colorful characters and focuses on five and their quest to find the truth. There are plenty of twists here, enough to keep you going. Some of them are a little silly, but it feels like a Netflix show. That kind of silliness seemed at home in this story.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The beginning was incredibly slow and I gave the book up until 25% in, until I gave up. This is more than I normally give a book to hook me in. While this book had an incredible premise, I am used to grappling with mysteries and thrillers, but this one just didn't do it for me. A good thing about this book though is that it does have some good diverse representation in it (LGBTQ+, and Asian American and Black American MCs).

I really loved the premise of this book. However, something just fell short for me. Even halfway through I wasn’t invested in the story and finishing it felt like a chore. I think it had a lot of promise but just didn’t deliver.

Honestly, there's not much I could say about this book that hasn't already been said. There were several problematic elements, and unfortunately the uneven writing did nothing to help. Not a good fit for me!

I was intrigued by the premise and the setting of a sleepy small town but some parts of the story seemed silly and unbelievable (the naked fireside dance) which made it difficult to stay engaged with.

Alexander Rigby’s Point Roberts is a convoluted, implausible, and overwritten novel. I really wanted to like this book because it had an interesting premise and a diverse cast of characters. However, the purple prose is awful, the characters are stiff caricatures, and the story takes ridiculous turns.

The small town of Point Roberts has been living under the shadow of a brutal serial killer for twenty-seven years. Every February, the town disconnects itself from the outside world to protect the citizens from the Point Roberts Slayer who murdered fifteen people over a three-year period in the late eighties. Although the serial killer hasn’t struck in decades, the people still live in fear. However, with the arrival of spunky orphan Liza, things are about to change. Determined to solve the mystery and catch a killer, Liza teams up with four other citizens who have their own secrets and connections to the victims.

For the most part, the mystery is interesting. I liked the idea of a mysterious serial killer who attacks a small town over the course of only one month. I did figure out the identity of the serial killer very early on but their motives make sense. I do like that the plot moves fairly swiftly. There are a handful of decent twists but very little thrill and suspense. I never fully believed at any point that the killer would strike again or that anyone was really in any danger. Moreover, the plot becomes absolutely ridiculous and takes implausible and silly detours. I almost stopped reading at a particular point involving a situation with a character’s illness because it is just too outlandish to believe.

Furthermore, there is too much info dumping and not enough action to move the plot along. For instance, the exposition scene where the killer breaks down their methods and motives for every single murder is jaw-droppingly dull, inane, and drags. The ending is particularly cheesy and, quite frankly, ridiculous. Overall, the book could have been shortened by at least fifty pages.

The writing is just awful and extremely juvenile at times. The descriptions are over-the-top and so flowery that I got distracted from the mystery. The dialogue is extremely stiff and unnatural. No one really talks like this. Furthermore, I don’t think the writing perspective worked. Most of the book is written from the individual point-of-view of the main five characters involved in the mystery. Sadly, this doesn’t help me connect with any of the characters as their voices aren’t very distinct. Furthermore, near the novel’s end, there’s an abrupt switch in perspective to the first-person which is jarring and makes no sense.

I really wanted to like the five main characters because they seemed so diverse and interesting. However, they all feel like character outlines. Their personalities are simply a bunch of assigned characteristics. The characters are so flat and stereotypical that I couldn’t connect with any of them. They also act irrationally and unnaturally. The relationships between them feel forced and tenuous. I really cannot buy that they are any sort of family or even like each other. Furthermore, the attempts at diversity are very token, cliché, and problematic. If I had to hear one more time about how big, black, and imposing fisherman Grant was, I think I would lose my mind.

Point Roberts had the potential to be interesting but the overly prosaic writing, the dull characters, and the ridiculous storytelling made this book a miss for me.




½ 🔪 out of 5 knives!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tw: death, gore, homophobia, ableism, fatphobia, rape, transphobia

Every February for the past twenty-seven years, the small town of Point Roberts has been cut off from the rest of the world in an attempt to stop a brutal killer that only seems to strike during that month. Five strangers will forge an unlikely alliance to uncover the identity of the infamous Point Roberts Slayer.

I have mixed feelings about this book! Of course I loved the characters because the found family trope gets me every time and the individual characters were well-written and complement one another well.

I really liked the plot and I was shocked when I found out who the villain was. There were several plot twists that left me hanging and the ending was incredible.

That being said, I didn't like the fatphobia the book is littered with. The mayor is quickly introduced as creepy and untrustworthy and the author keeps underlining the mayor's weight as one of his negative qualities, as if to antagonize him more.
Furthermore, this book was longer than it needed to be. It took me so long to read it because I would often get lost in the descriptive prose and get bored.

All in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to mystery/thriller fans.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy!

I really enjoyed this book. The relationship between Liza and Theodore was wonderful. The diversity of the characters made me feel good, people are trying to write more inclusive stories without making the diverse characters just a token or a box to check.

ʏᴇᴛ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ, ɪᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ ᴀ ɢʀᴏᴜᴘ ᴏꜰ ᴠᴀʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴘᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇꜱ ᴀʟɪɢɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴏʟᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏɴꜰᴜꜱɪɴɢ ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀʏ.

What a WILD story this was!!! I was immediately sucked in to the story of the Point Roberts Slayer and the fact that the Mayor’s brilliant solution to stop the killer was to close the town for the month. No one allowed in or out. It was an intriguing cold case with a lot of unanswered questions, and high body count!

Set in a beautiful and creepy town that becomes it’s own mysterious character it’s more than just about solving a mystery. It was a touching story about how we build up walls to protect ourselves and our hearts, but some people are meant to come into our lives to make an impression. It’s about embracing chosen family and walking with them into the foggy unknown.

But if I’m being totally honest the ending fell super flat for me. It started out super strong with so much mystery and then it just fizzled out. By the end there was too much dialogue and not a lot of action that it started to drag on. There was no intensity or sense of urgency. I feel like so many things still don’t make sense. It’s a complicated story involving some really crazy people. I wanted to love this but it was just alright. However I do recommend this to fans of true crime.

What a ride this book was! I requested it because about 20 years ago, my aunt and uncle took us to Point Roberts while we were visiting them in Bellingham. I was fascinated by the little town and when I saw a murder mystery based there, I knew I needed to read it.

In this book, fifteen murders occurred on Point Roberts over the course of three years, always in February. For the past 30 years, the town is closed off from the world every February in order to keep the town safe. But are they safe?

Five strangers of varying ages, whose lives were forever shaped by the murders, come together to try to discover what really happened all those years ago.

I've read books from a couple different perspectives before, but a murder mystery from five different perspectives was unique. The characters were so fleshed out and each one was relatable in a different way.

Honestly, I was reading this book slowly at first, but that was entirely on me, not the book. Once I got about 75 pages in though, I was so enthralled. I woke up from a dream in the middle of the night and found myself thinking about this book at 3am, not able to go back to sleep. It was just so compelling. I feel like I lived the month if total lockdown and all the twists and turns with the characters.

Do yourself a favor and pick up this book. You won't be disappointed.

Sophie’s penultimate book this month was Point Roberts by Alexander Rigby, a thriller set in the strange little town of Point Roberts on the US/Canadian border. Between 1987 and 1989, the town became the target of a serial killer who attacked five victims every February. After the third year, the town’s mayor decided to lock Point Roberts down every February. No one is allowed in or out and it is illegal to discuss the murders or the fifteen victims with masked patrols always listening out for rule-breakers. There have been no deaths for nearly 30 years but the townsfolk have long suspected that the mayor knows more than he is letting on.

One February, five people decide to defy the order and finally solve the case. A teenage orphan named Liza, author Theodore, newly-arrived baker Colette, elderly recluse Maude, and fisherman Grant. All have their own personal connections to The Fifteen: Theodore was the husband of the town’s sheriff, Maude lost her husband to the Point Roberts Slayer and Grant lost his grandfather. As they begin to dig, they each receive a call telling them that they will be one of the next five victims. The Slayer appears to have returned.

This was a strange book that had endless twists and a whole boatload of serendipity as well. The resolution was a little absurd – if not the most ridiculous Sophie has ever come across – but the thing that made her rate the book only a two-star was the writing. Every page was filled with the most flowery of purple prose, metaphors that constantly had Sophie rolling her eyes, and unnecessary descriptions that treated the readers as if they were children. Clearly, this is not an author that has heard of the concept, “show don’t tell”.

Point Roberts did a great job of making Sophie want to visit this beautiful part of the world, but it also put her off reading any more books by this author!

I love a good mystery, which is what drew me to Point Roberts. The pacing was slow for the first five chapters, but quickly picked up after that. I love the concept of found family, and loved seeing the characters who had lost so much find a home within each other. However, I did find it hard to connect with the characters as they were mainly white.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

During the month of February, no one is allowed to enter Point Roberts. No one is allowed to leave.

After a string of fifteen murders taking place in the 80's, all in February, the town is shut down each year for 29 days in hopes they are keeping a killer at bay. But an orange journal has washed up on the beach, labeled The Fifteen. And someone is making phone calls claiming a new group will be the next victims.

Told from multiple perspectives, Liza, Maude, Grant, Theodore, and Colette all have deep investment in finding out who the Point Roberts Slayer is. Working together to ensure the killer is stopped before they strike again.

Content warning for: fatphobia, rape mention, abuse mention, f slur, transmisogny

Oh boy, hmmmmm! This was unfortunately just not for me. Two stars for a really, really interesting concept that had me SO intrigued and excited to find out where the plot was headed! Apart from the concept, I struggled with a lot of this story and found myself slogging through to finish it. I usually stop reading if I'm not enjoying a book, but I wanted to know whodunnit!

What I enjoyed:
• Grant has an orange cat named Binx. I have an orange cat named Binx!

• This has a pretty fast pace in the beginning, with little mini reveals sliding off the page to the reader every few chapters or so. I felt so interested in the oddities of the cases, mysterious writing on the wall in blood, limbs left on the shore, assailants dressed in capes and masks stalking through the woods!

It felt like a great setup for a slasher! All of your classic tropes of an over the top outfit the killer wears, leads that go nowhere, an isolated area where no one can leave!

What I didn't love as much:
• Oh boy. There is so much fatphobic writing. The town mayor is a pretty centric character here, and almost every single time he is on page, the fact that he is fat is written negatively. Every time he talks, moves, does anything. Villainous fat characters.......it is so tired. So tired

• The writing itself felt very hard for me to follow! I found it so difficult to focus, the writing felt repetitive, tedious at times in how overly descriptive the smallest bits were. I am all!!!! for descriptive prose, but it was less prose and more incredibly detailed descriptions of how a character would just like, walk in a door? I found it hard to focus on what was going on as the sentences trailed like this throughout the entire book

A lot of metaphors or ways of describing how a character was feeling felt off, sideways. Every time a character talks to another character they recount what they already have previously, in enough detail that it feels like I'm reading the same thought over and over again

• I didn't love comments the characters would make about things. It felt like the author was trying to be inclusive with his characters, but did so in a very clunky way where rather than be inclusive, naturally, it felt like a need to make sure the reader knew "hey aren't I being SO inclusive, here!"

A few examples:

Liza says Maude traveling to Kyoto is "exotic." There's a description of Grant, a Black man, his complexion "growing lighter" in the changing light of the side of a house. "Color of porcelain skin contrasting against his (Black skin.)" Grant is made to be somewhat intimidating to the other characters, which is just.. a tired trope as well

• I did have a pretty good idea who the killer would be, I found it to be a bit hmmmm as well. The idea behind who the killer is isn't bad, but their motive felt almost like it didn't fit the tone of the rest of the book in a way? But this is only personal preference! I didn't love that the villain has a really, really long monologue at the end of the book to explain everything. The characters themselves even say it takes like over 2 hours for the entire thing to be explained in-story??

Overall:
The concept is truly fun, and the idea of a group of found family to solve these murders is also good. That said, I really couldn't get on board with anything further than that.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Allegory Ridge Press for an e-arc!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Girl Friday Productions for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 1.5 (rounded down)

*Instead of a coherent review, I’ve opted for bullet points jotted down while reading. Some of these are stray observations, but most are general complaints/criticisms:*

•For such a seemingly small peninsula, Point Roberts has a prison, an airfield, and a funeral home... but no schools? That was very odd to me, but since—surprisingly enough—it’s a real place, I’ll let that criticism slide.

•The Briar’s Grove Society’s initiation was certainly... something. I thought it exceedingly silly. I don’t see how anyone in their right mind would ever participate so willingly in it. Seriously, I find it highly unlikely and unrealistic. As with the entire mystery, to be honest. You’re telling me that no one could piece ANY of the clues together? FOR THIRTY YEARS?!? It sounds like shoddy detective work to me, or an author trying to drag out a story for far too long by asking us to suspend our disbelief for 400 pages. The amount of evidence that’s discovered as the plot progresses makes it seem like anyone could’ve figured it out right away. It was all too implausible. I don’t know what more to say.

•You’re telling me Maude never once left her house—or spoke to anyone—in thirty years?!? And all it took for her to shove off her reclusion was a chance encounter with Grant? That’s it? A few words and she’s back in the saddle? I don’t buy it. Trauma and agoraphobia simply don’t go *poof* and vanish all at once.

•“...she noticed the pain written on the girl’s face...from a difficult life afflicted with sadness.” I’m sorry, but whenever I look at someone’s face, all I see are eyes, a nose, and mouth.

•There were out-of-left-field politics thrown in, which was strange. The author pushing their political bias... in a mystery novel, no less! There was no place for it in the story, but it was included anyways.

•Lots of unnecessary queer suffering. There are quite a few lgbtqia+ characters mentioned (I believe 4 or 5), and of those, three were murdered or dead, and one had AIDS. Like, why?

•There’s an obvious red herring thrown in at the halfway mark, and it goes on and on with that “suspect.” For such a glaringly obvious misdirection, you’d think it would nipped in the bud rather quickly, rather than dragged out. It was frustrating knowing this person was clearly not the killer, and then watching the characters scramble around like they were. Whatever.

•There were a few pages devoted to praising the film La La Land, which, I mean, it’s a great movie, but an odd addition to the overall story. It almost read more like a film review than anything; and using it as an analogy just didn’t work.

•Really, the whole story is predictable. It just sort of sputters and jerks us around until the last 1/4th. I wasn’t surprised, and I was so ready for it to be done (having gone on for far longer than it should have).

•For most of the story, we have a reasonable third-person point of view for all the characters. Then Part IV arrives and abruptly shifts into first-person, which I found strange and, frankly, unfortunate. And then again, it switches back after about 20-30 pages. It felt messy to me...

•From there, the story really stumbles towards its conclusion. I lost count of how many pages were devoted to the killer(s) explaining every little detail of their modus operandi... Quite literally, they go one-by-one through their reasons for killing each of the 15 victims. I wanted to pull my hair out, but I chose to hard skim the text instead. All I could think was how it mimicked the very same lame cliché for every terribly made mystery/thriller book, film, or television show: The antagonist has their long-winded oral exposition on the why and what and who and how and where and when. I hate it.

To conclude: All my interest went out the door the moment Part III ended, and to be honest, there wasn’t much left by then to begin with. It was such a shame, too. Point Roberts could’ve done things differently, but it instead opted to be just like most others in this bloated genre: uninspired and generic.

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were a lot of things I liked, and I was surprised to find myself attached to the (non-villainous) characters by the end. Plot-wise and characters-wise, this is around a 4-star read for me, but I have some gripes that lowered my rating.

What I liked:

The characters. Liza, Theodore, Collette, Grant, and Maude are all likable and complement one another well. Each person has some sort of character growth throughout the novel. They also become a found family, which I always enjoy.

The intrigue. I thought the plot was well-done and I didn’t see the villain reveal coming, as there are many twists and turns along the way. When the truth is revealed, it’s deeply disturbing and morbidly fascinating to read about. And that ending is quite a doozy; sometimes I randomly think about it and get the chills.

What I disliked:

Fatphobia. We’re introduced to the town mayor early on, and he’s immediately revealed as sketchy and unlikable. However, the author waxes on and on about the mayor’s weight, almost as if his being fat is supposed to make us dislike him more. I found this unnecessary and problematic.

Too long. I agree with other reviewers when I say that this book would’ve been better if it were 100 pages shorter. While the plot was interesting, it took me forever to read this book because it was so slooow. I didn’t always mind the descriptive writing style, but it didn’t have to be that way throughout the entire book.

The way the last 10% was handled. Like I said before, the truth was fascinating, but I thought presenting it in the form of an epic villain speech was rather cringe-worthy.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I want to thank Netgalley, Alexander Rigby, and Alden, The Allegory Ridge Press for giving me a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly find this book a little typical YA Mystery because I just feel like the things happened in the first few chapters just happened because that is the plot. Also in the later half of the book, although i'm enjoying the mystery aspect of it, some things just really happened because it needs to happen without any further in-depth explanation for it. I also find holes in the story---not the plot---that gives me some questions to think about. Some things here are really questionable and they are "just" exist because they are need to exist. There's this one event in the book that I found weird and a little insulting, even though The Fifteen were just fictional victims, I just really cringe at what happened in this particular event where I saw it as romantacizing the murder case. And I was like "dude, what the hell are you trying to do?" lol.

What also take away some of my enjoyment while reading this book is the info-dump. There are some things here that is just "telling" rather than actually "showing". The narrator really loves to dump informations that it feels like I was reading a website that is dedicated to this book's murder case. One more thing, I am really not impressed on how the author execute the revelation of the case, like it's info-dumping to the next level. Instead of having some effects to make it thrilling, the character just had a monologue about it like in over 2 paragraphs.

Truthfully, I really consider to DNF this book, but what keeps me from doing that is because the mystery is so good. It is really interesting and intriguing as the characters study the cases. I just really really wish most of the facts are not revealed in an info-dumping way. Though, the confrontation of characters towards the killer in this book is really ridiculous that I keep asking "why do you have to do that?" or "why is this particular thing happening", just why.

For the things that I love about the book, it has a big casts of characters and they really are unique in their own way. I really got excited when the book introduces them one by one. I also like their bond that evolves throughout the book. The author did a good job writing at their development and their relationship at each other. It has also LGBTQ and POC representation which is interesting to read. My favorite character is Maude, unlike other characters, she has complexity on her own that makes her more realistic. Other characters looks like they are just going with the flow. For example the character of Liza, she is interesting but in the later half of the book she is out of her character. She suddenly act like an adult rather than a curious and clever girl when I first read her. You can say that it might be a character development, but it's really not. It just happen and then bam! Plot progress.

Overall, I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars. Even though it gave me questions and some holes in the story, the mystery is still good. Recommended to all who needs an easy read but still looking for some good mystery.

Liza finds a book in the water She realizes it belongs to Theodore. He is an expert on the subject of The Fifteen, This is fifteen people who were murdered back in the 1980's. He is trying to find the murderer and Liza wants to help him accomplish this. He gets help also from Colette and she gets help from Grant and Liza also get help from Maude. Will they find out who murdered these people in the town that closes in the month of February.each year.
This book did not disappoint. I loved the characters and the storyline was different but worked.

I often say that I am not a fan of mysteries, but Rigby proved me wrong with Point Roberts.

Point Roberts is an actual place on a peninsula in Washington state. In this fictional account, 15 murders took place in the late 80's only in the month of February. As a result, they mayor of the town closes off the town each year for the entire month of February making it a crime for anyone to leave for any reason.

One day, a foster child named Liza is placed with a family in Point Roberts. Her adoptive father dies 3 years ago and she has not had an easy time of it since. She is walking near the shore one day and comes across a manuscript contained in a plastic box titled The Fifteen. Of course, Liza has to know more about it so she takes the book with her and hurries back to her foster home to try to get it out. As she passes by a nearby home, the author of the manuscript sees her and with it wondering how she has found it since he chucked it in the water.

Theodore, author of The Fifteen, eventually meets up with Liza and the became unlikely friends. He feels comfortable enough with her to tell her why he wrote the book since his deceased husband spent so much time trying to crack the case. The two of them also become friends with three other townspeople also desperate to find out who the Point Roberts killer is forcing their town to close every February.

There are so many layers to these five that unravel throughout the story bringing them all together in the end to decipher the details of what happened all those years ago and why the killer or a copycat killer has resurfaced all of the sudden.

Rigby has a great way of developing all of the characters so that you feel totally invested in wanting to solve the mystery with them. There was also a bit of a twist towards the end that I did not see coming and actually said out loud, "What? No!" Alexander Rigby remains one of my favorites, for sure.