This book was sent to me by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the publisher for the electronic copy. I could not get into this story. It was dark...mysterious...and the characters were less than likable. Others might like this type of novel.

Book of Knives
by Lisa Haines
Pub Date: October 4, 2022
Poisoned Pen
336 pages
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I knew I was in trouble when there was a listing of the "main characters".
There are thirteen knives. One by one they begin to disappear

Nora didn't expect Hidden Lake Camp to be in a state of ruin. Dock full of rotten boards, smashed windows, cabins falling apart. To her new husband, Paul, the camp is the past he'd just as soon bury. Nora agreed to drive north with him to get his elderly parents settled while he makes enough repairs to sell the property. Only a few months, Paul said. The summer camp, however, and its deep lake have other plans.
Book of Knives is a literary thriller that shows how one person's unraveling can bring the whole house down.
Thriller
Fiction
3 stars

HAUNTED HORROR !This is how you write a slow burning creepy ghost story!
Nora is a documentary filmmaker and has followed her new husband to his family camp which has been closed for many years. Paul promised it will just be a few months to repair the camp and get it on the market.

The Hidden Lake Camp, however, needs more than a few new boards. Her sister and brother and law and their children join them and add to the tense atmosphere as they rule the kitchen with an iron fist. Nora starts to see ghosts and things start to disappear. She isn't sure who to turn to in this absolute horror of a place. There is a lot going on in this story - some complex characters and quite a few themes to keep track of (such as wanting a child, grieving a death of a partner, letting go of a parent, blended families..). But I LOVED it, it was truly creepy and the atmosphere of the camp will stay with me for a long time. If you like a slow burn, a creepy tale and believe that there might be ghosts and spirits in this world, then Book of Knives is for you!

#BookofKnives #LiseHaines #NetGalley #Edelweiss #Posionedpenpress

Dark Depths..
What secrets are held by Hidden Lake Camp? Now standing in a state of almost complete disrepair, the camp and its lake still hold dark depths. For Nora and her new family this may be just the beginning as a series of bizarre occurrences ignite an unraveling. Slow burn literary suspense with an almost dream like quality and suitable atmospherics. Unsettling and tense.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the arc!

Book of Knives is a pseudo-thriller novel about Nora, a recent widow who has since been remarried to Paul, her former roommate who had a massive crush on her after her husband died? And I think Paul and the husband were best friends? Honestly, the nature of this new relationship is super hazy and I was very confused. Anyways, they go to Hidden Lake Camp where a bunch of antique knives go missing.

I think this book has an interesting concept, but I'm just struggling with the storytelling. While the story's told in first person, Nora doesn't feel like a concrete character in the world. She's so far in her head going on tangents about her late husband that there's no concept of the world around her. It's more show than tell which makes it hard for readers to follow. Or, maybe, I'm just bad at visualizing and this narrative just isn't for me.

This book was very strange, and had so many characters in it , it was extremely frustrating. So much so that I almost did not finish this one!
There were too many characters and not enough of a captivating storyline for me!

This book felt like watching a documentary. I felt like i was watching all of the events unfold through a hazy camera lens and could feel the tension building. However, I wish we saw more of the ending through our narrator and she was more involved in the end action–however I guess that just lends to the theme of her being an observer. This is an excellent, suspenseful halloween read.

Book of Knives is a suspense story about Nora and her new husband who return to his families summer camp when his parents health declines. As they work to prepare the camp for sale, along with Paul’s brother and sister-in-law, weird things start to happen. Knives go missing, secret rooms appear, and paranormal activity starts happening. Nora must do her best to save the children from the curse of the camp.

I very much enjoyed this book - it had a unique writing style, almost like a commentator. I felt some parts hard to follow as there was not much detail provided, especially when people where talking. It could be hard to decipher who was saying what, but overall this book had a fast paced story line. I do wish more detail was given into the history of the camp and Paul’s family to help build more of the reasoning behind all of that instead of hearing about Nora’s travels with her past husband.

I do recommend this book if you are looking for a quick read, a slow burn suspense, and well developed characters. There is not enough ghost story to be scary,

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC copy of Book of Knives.

Book of Knives simmers with tension. Widowed documentarian Nora and her second husband head to his estranged (and strange) family's old summer camp to fix it up as his parents are dying. From there we have ghostly apparitions, suspicions rampant between famkly members, and a previous death on the campus to contend with.

The characters are unlikable, even the narrator, and I winced in every chapter. Nora tries to capture the truth on her cameras, but what you see through the viewfinder isn't always accurate.

Creep and unsettling!
3.4/5

This is a slow-burn creepy suspense novel about a family fixing up a decrepit family summer camp for sale. The main character is grieving the death of her husband but remarries and travels to her new husband's family camp along with her stepson. They are joined at the camp by her brother-in-law and his family. Her sister in law is a cook and shows off her collection of knives, which start to go missing and then reappearing. I was expecting this to either be a straight up psychological thriller or a horror story (come on, a summer camp and missing knives?) but it wasn't really either, it was a strange mash-up of genres and I wasn't really sure sometimes what was happening, especially at the end. The resolution was a little too muddled for me.

Overall this was a strange book, with irritating characters I could not relate to and I do not think this book was for me, at all!

It was not satisfying, the pacing was off and the ending left me confused...

I did enjoy the book cover art!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I hard a time getting into the story. It was not for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my ARC aim exchange for my honest review.

I kept going back and forth between a 2 and 3 star... so, this rating may change.

Still dealing with the grief of losing her first husband, Nora has temporarily moved to Hidden Lake Camp with her new husband, Paul, and his family to fix it up. Although she automatically bonds with Paul's nieces, Nora can't help but feel unsettled by Hidden Lake and it's many secrets. Why has Paul been so secretive of his past? What happened at Hidden Lake to make all of its residents flee and never look back? And who is currently steeling knives from the camp only to return them in disturbing ways?

I enjoyed the atmosphere and characters of [book:Book of Knives|60260665]. I even liked Nora, who I thought was relatable and evoked enough empathy that I was genuinely worried for her safety throughout. But, by the end... I just felt like I was either too simplistic to understand what exactly had happened or that the writing was too "literary" to the point that things became confusing. In general, I felt there was too many loose ends, not enough clarification, and at some points, just too confusing to understand what was really happening.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A satisfying domestic thriller that at times reads like a fever dream. I immediately wanted to turn back to page one to read it again.

I think readers who enjoyed Verity by Colleen Hoover would enjoy Book of Knives.

This book held my curiosity most of the way through despite the confusion, the odd behavior, odd plot, odd personalities, odd reasonings. But eventually all that caught up and I started to skim. The ending was underwhelming. Not a book I'd recommend.

**ARC provided via NetGalley for an honest review **

This isn’t my typical book but everything from the cover and what the book was about had me interested.

In the beginning I was a bit confused, because there were so many characters but I eventually figured them out. Once they moved to the lake I didn’t want to put this book down.

I was a bit disappointed with how everything ended. I wanted more to happen and to find out who did what with all the other knives, and I wanted a happier ending than what happened.

I did like this book and thought the author did a good job telling their story.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you for this book in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I expected more from this book, Book of Knives. It wasn’t what I excepted it to be. I was disappointed.

Straight up, this is a weird book.

The plot is bizarre and our characters even more so. I wanted to slap most of the characters – I think there were maybe 2 kids I didn’t want to slap? The rest? Thwack!

Our main character is just odd, though maybe slightly less odd than the others. I understand that her character is a portrait of grief, but seriously this woman was irritating.

The reason behind everything was just this weird mix of basic and out-of-left-field.

Why three stars if I have so much negative to say? I was curious enough about the book that I wanted to finish it to see what would happen. And I liked Jones. She was terrific and I’d read a book just about here.

I’m honestly not sure I’d read the author again.

*ARC via Net Galley

3.5⭐

After losing her husband Takeo, Nora, a documentary filmmaker and editor, marries their friend Paul, a contractor who had been temporarily renting their loft above Takeo’s ceramics studio in their home. Soon after, they, along with Leon, Paul’s eighteen-year-old son from his previous marriage, travel to Paul’s family campground, Hidden Lake, which has been closed down for years, to fix it up and eventually sell off the property. Paul, who had left his childhood home almost thirty years ago, does not seem to have too many happy memories of his childhood. Paul’s parents are still alive, his father terminally ill and his mother suffering from dementia. Nora also meets Paul’s younger brother Gabe and his wife, Salish and their four children. Salish, who takes it upon herself to cook and take charge of the kitchen, shows them a collection of thirteen novelty knives, a proud possession passed down to her by her father. Trouble starts when one by one, the knives start disappearing, despite Salish’s obsessive hiding and protection. Nora, intent on documenting as much as possible on video, embarks on an investigation behind these strange occurrences, often aided by Salish’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Jones.

Book of Knives by Lise Haines is a well-written slow-burn suspense thriller. Haines’s writing is elegant, descriptive and immersive. I was impressed with the author’s characterizations- the adults, teenagers and the children- all the characters, even the immensely unlikable ones are well-developed. The mystery behind the disappearing knives (a few of which reappear under mysterious circumstances), other sinister and paranormal occurrences, hidden rooms, strained interactions between Gabe and Paul, fluctuating tempers, tension and suspicion among all the adults, the suffocating atmosphere of the camp, and a decades-old murder mystery make for an engaging read. Yes, there are ghostly apparitions and sinister occurrences, but not enough to scare you silly!
The author does leave a few questions unanswered or rather leaves it to the reader to ponder over , but that’s okay. Overall this is an interesting, albeit slow-moving read, with a climax that satisfies, and a few surprises along the way.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed here are my own.

I really enjoyed Book of Knives! It has so many twists and turns that I felt anxious throughout! I know this will be a hit this fall when it releases!