⭐⭐ -- Great cover!

So I didn't love this one. I didn't hate it either. It just sort of sits in the middle area between the two. The writing and I didn't mesh. It was SOOO slow burn, and honestly, just wierd. 🤷🏻‍♀️

**ARC Via NetGalley**

I had high hopes for this book since the blurb sounded intriguing but it didn’t work out for me. It seems like the perfect thriller: isolated location, odd characters you can’t trust, strange possibly paranormal happenings, but there was no suspense, sense of dread or creepy atmosphere. Most of the time it did not feel very cohesive-I felt either bored like nothing was really happening or confused because it meandered a lot. I kept reading hoping the ending would piece everything together but it was underwhelming and left me with so many unanswered questions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Just a little slow and unbelievable at some points. Slow start and end. Not sure where the thriller part in this was. Very slow and just couldn’t engage in it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This one gave me Haunting of Hill house vibes, which was a book that I did not like. So I ended up DNFing this one.

"The Book of Knives" begins when Nora (a documentary filmmaker) gets together with contractor Paul who was good friends with her deceased husband. Eventually, Paul and Nora get married. Paul gets the message that his parents are in poor health and he, Nora, his brother, his sister-in-law, and their four children travel to the Hidden Lake camp that his parents own. Paul and Gabe's parents have serious health issues (his father has cancer and his mother has extreme memory loss) and the camp has fallen into severe disrepair. When Nora and Paul arrive, Gabe's wife Salish gives them food and then proceeds to show them a set of thirteen knives made by her father. The next morning, one of the knives is missing. Knives continue to go missing throughout the story until they start showing up in strange and gruesome locations. The oldest daughter Jones believes ghosts might be responsible.

This book is very strange. It seems very odd that the first thing you do is show someone your handmade knives when you've never met them before. The end is also odd.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for a review. This novel released on Oct. 4, 2022.

I usually don't mind slow burn stories and find myself gravitating toward them, but this one was too slow. I struggled to stay focused and it was hard to want to continue reading. I did enjoy the creepy camp atmosphere. Nora was a very weird character and I usually love weird, but this didn't work as well as I had hoped. I had to keep reading though to see how it ended so that is something positive!

DNF @ 35%

I had high hopes for this one. It started off with an interesting family reunion premise at one of my favorite settings, a summer camp. However, the further I go into reading the story the more it dragged. I understand the need to backstory, but by 35% I felt like I should have started to see some action or felt intrigued about where the plot was headed, but I didn't.

I'm not one to DNF without trying out my read in an alternate format, so I decided to give the audiobook a shot, but despite a great narrator, I was still unable to connect with the story.

I do think that this book could still work for some readers, but they need to know going into the book that this is very much not a thriller.

A huge thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for my gifted copy!

Book of Knives is highly suspenseful: a family drama with a tinge of the paranormal. Nora follows her new husband, Paul, to his parents' home/ campground to help them during their final days and fix up the place to sell it. Relationships are quickly tested and eerie things start happening. Is it the work of a disgruntled family member, or a ghost? This novel provides a deep look into dysfunctional family relationships, with scenes of brief horror sprinkled in. The creepiness definitely ramps up toward the end. The paranormal elements were what really kept me engaged.

This story follows Nora who found comfort in Paul after her husband, Takeo passed away. Nora didn’t think she had space in her heart for love but she ended up marrying Paul. All seemed well until Paul received a call from his estranged brother, Gabe. Paul didn’t have a good relationship with his family and Nora knows not to pry information from him until now…Paul is forced to go back to his family home, Hidden Lake Camp, to take care of his ailing parents and refurbish their property. Things started going downhill from there when Nora slowly uncovers what Paul had been hiding…

Honestly, this was very slow for me and I still don’t understand what the point of this story is. I was going to DNF this halfway through but I was too curious about the knives! I do love a quirky plot but this one just didn’t make sense enough to work for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the arc.

An excellent creepy-fun read reminiscent of the best of Riley Sager.

Book of Knives is the kind of spooky popcorn horror I always look for in the fall. The setting, slow burn, and sense of menace is exceptionally well done, and I was juuuust the right amount of scared while reading it.

The story is definitely a slow burn that is more gothic horror than thriller in terms of genre, so this will work well for those who like the creeping dread style of pacing like me, and maybe not as well for those who like heart-pounding action.

The mystery itself leaves a few loose threads in the end, but the solve is good enough and takes a backseat to the strong sense of place and foreboding atmosphere of the book.

Audiobook readers: Again, this is a slow burn, so while it’s not a long book, it does require a bit more focus than more action driven stories do in the audio format. That said, it’s well-narrated and having the audio adds the atmospheric experience of the book.

This is a great spooky season read, and the atmosphere is intense. I think for fans of Fredrik Backman, this novel will be very entertaining, and a great read. For me, the single location, the introspectiveness of this novel, and the lack of action/dialogue didn't really work, but I know that it will for other people. I will not be giving a review on this novel on social channels, but am happy to share my review here on Goodreads.

This book is a suspense mystery thriller. The story was good. I felt like it was nothing new though. It was like every other mystery thriller. That does not mean that this book was not worth the read, because it definitely was. Suspense lovers will not regret reading this one.

This was a great read. It kept me engaged and did not disappoint. I read this fast as I wanted to keep reading! HIGHLY recommend!

Okay, WOW. Thank you @netgalley @poisonedpenpress for my copy of Book of Knives! This book had me instantly invested. This is an incredibly original concept with absolutely superb writing. The tension is built phenomenally, reaching a crescendo where it all comes crashing down. The pacing is brilliantly done keeping your attention at all times.

This is a story of grief, love and loss with many twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat. All the characters are unreliable and strange making it difficult to uncover what is happening. This is a hackles-raising kind of read that is perfect for the Spooky Season that’s in it🎃 You will not regret picking this up!!

I was expecting a scary horror story, but this wasn’t it. Its a very slow burn story about grief and abuse with some spooky elements. Nothing much happens and then at the end everything happens at once, but the ending leaves you with more questions then answers.

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this Thriller but there was way too much going on in this story that made it just strange instead of chilling or creepy. The overly strange characters were over the top and pulled focus from the main storyline too much.

Unfortunately just couldn't get into the writing and story. I was intrigued by the premise but everything seemed too haphazard and I was confused by the beginning.

the synopsis was super intriguing and there were good ideas here but unfortunately the dry writing style really fell flat for me and the twists were super predictable

2 stars!

When marrying Paul, Nora did not expect to also be apart of Paul's family's camp, Hidden Lake. With a terminally ill father and a mother with dementia, Paul, Nora, and Paul's teen son Leon visit the run down campground to fix it up and sell it. There, Nora also meets Paul's younger brother Gabe, his wife Salish, and their four children. Things start to go wrong when Salish's 13 novelty knives-which had been passed down to her form her father-start disappearing. As a documentarian, Nora is determined to investigate what is truly happening with each knife disappearance, and figure out who's behind it.

I think the biggest issue this novel had was in its pacing. The whole thing felt very slow and drawn out, and never once did I find myself excited while reading this book. Also, my biggest disappointment was with the ending. I felt that many of the questions never got resolved, which was not great for me-someone who doesn't love an openended ending.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!