Downstate Illinois
by Wesley Payton
Pub Date 26 Jul 2021
The Wild Rose Press, Inc
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers | Romance


I am reviewing a copy of Downstate Illinois through The Wild Rose Press, Inc and Netgalley:




Weston Payley is a muddled aged romance novelist who moves from Chicago to the small Illinois town where he summered as a boy. He’s looking for the simpler life he found there as a boy, but instead of that he finds complications, like beguiling single mom Rebecca. As their affair heats up, Weston becomes embroiled in a murder investigation.





Suddenly the small Illinois town becomes a hotspot of danger and passion. Instead of the fresh start he was hoping for Westons new life just may come to a sudden end.



I give Downstate Illinois four out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated and snickered at the authors sense of humor. I understood his outlook on life! I would recommend it to those who love a mystery, but do not like the gory violence of some mysteries today. The title is deceptive I feel. As a resident of what I would call downstate Illinois, I would like to say that this is not descriptive of down under Illinois, but again, it is a mystery novel--right?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book. The title jumped out at me, as I live in Downstate Illinois. But the book quickly fell flat for me, and I started skimming just to see where the story was going. The timeline of the pregnancy bothered me too, that 40 weeks passed very quickly in relation to the rest of the book.

Mmm mmm well this book had suspense, action, intrigue and it was actually funny at times! And while this book is worth reading, it's not one of my top favorites! Its a decent read the storyline flowed nicely but it fell kind of flat for me?! It just was like "well ok that book was alright" thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!