The Echo Man
Sam Holland
There is a serial killer on the loose echoing the murders committed by the most heinous serial killers of the past: Sutcliffe,Gacy, Bundy, Kemper, Dahmer, and Manson. The murders are disturbing and vicious. Cara Elliott and Noah Deakin are the lead detectives on the case. They find a car with two young women decapitated. Elliott is the head of the Major Crimes Team which includes Toby Shenton.
It was late at night and Jessica Ambrose was asleep when her home was torched, killing her husband, Phillip and endangering her daughter, Alice. Jess was a patient at the hospital when she overheard DS Taylor desire to arrest her. She is the main and only suspect. After escaping the hospital, she turns to Nate Griffin for assistance. Nate is a former Police Detective; when his wife was murdered, and he was beaten within an inch of his life he was suspended from the department. Both Nate and Jessica have damaging pasts. Nate has been researching the serial killer on his own certain the murderer is the one that killer his wife. Jess realized the connection between the current murders and that of other serial killers.
This tale Is a cross between horror, mystery, suspense, crime fiction and a touch of romance. If you are looking for a high death count this Is the book for you. The murders are gruesome and could make the strongest tummy turn inside out. The ending was uncomfortable. The plot went from a police procedural tale to a psychological thriller. Why wasn’t someone watching through a two-way mirror? The ending just didn’t work. This is author Sam Holland’s debut novel. Despite my complaining about the ending this is a well written tale. He has proved his ability! What’s next Sam?

ARC audiobook provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“The Echo Man” tells the story of Detective Cara Elliott as she and her partner, Noah Deakin, race to solve a string of murders that mimic the work of some of the world’s most famous serial killers. Meticulously arranged into tableaus echoing the work of Dahmer, Bundy, Manson, Kemper, and more, the murders are piling up, pressuring Cara and Noah to solve the mystery before the next person falls victim to their killer.

At the same time, Jessica Ambrose is in hiding after a fire takes the life of her husband and injures her daughter. Jessica is sheltered by suspended detective Nate Griffin, who happens to be Cara’s brother. As the bodies pile up, Jessica and Nate discover a link between the copycat serial killer and the arson that took Jessica’s husband. Can Jessica and Nate uncover the whole truth and exonerate Jessica? Or will their investigation to prove Jessica’s innocence lead to dire consequences?

This book is a mystery/thriller in which the characters race against time to uncover a killer. It is a fast-paced read that I found hard to walk away from. I barreled through this book, working to solve the mystery for myself. I did work it out in part just before the big reveal, but for the majority of the book I was left guessing. The book is well developed, and the characters are engaging. The character’s backgrounds and stories were laid out well, making me feel invested in what was happening to them.

As what I can only describe as a true crime enthusiast, I was impressed with the author’s attention to detail in describing the scenes mimicking the world’s most famous serial killers. The author’s strong knowledge and research on the serial killers who the copycat chose was on display. The details and descriptions were on point factually, which kept me engaged in the storyline.

The ARC book I had was an audiobook. To that end, I was a bit disappointed with the narrator. The narrator’s male voices were weak, and I felt that all of the voices blended together a bit too much. I would prefer a different narrator who could give better definition to each of the characters in this story.

Overall, this book was engaging and entertaining. I would give it 4.5 stars because I wish the full reveal at the very end of the book was flushed out further. Otherwise, I couldn’t walk away from this story. I believe this book would be great for mystery and thriller fans, and that true crime fans would be impressed and engaged in the narrative. I highly recommend this book, especially for those true crime junkies out there.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sam Holland, and Dreamscape Media for an advance listening copy of this debut novel in exchange for an honest review. WOW!! What a great debut. This one reminded me so much of Karin Slaughters Will Trent series and I hope that this author writes another police procedural novel like this (maybe even a series?!) Not only was this written so well, the plot flowed and the details were easy to understand even with an intense plot. I didnt see the twist with the killer at the end coming and to me, thats a huge feat. This one is out on April 5th, 2022 and needs a place on your bookshelf or your audible account!

What a fantastic debut! 👏🏼 Extremely dark and creepy with amazing characters. I didn’t love the ending, but I’m hoping it’s because there will be a sequel! 🤞🏼 Put this one on your TBR!!! (If you can stomach it)

Fantastic debut! I'm so impressed this is a "debut" and look forward to more from this author!

YES this book is dark. You should know that going in. It is graphic, disturbing in parts and intense. I personally am fine with dark, not sure what that says about me, but I believe you will really enjoy this one if you enjoy your books on the dark side.

This book kept me entertained from beginning to end. The Echo Man is replicating the kills of notorious serial killers down to the exact crime scenes. I was intrigued and constantly guessing. I really enjoyed Detective Nate Griffin and DCI Cara Elliot's character and hope this is the start to a new series! Jess can go though, didn't care for her or the romance between her and Griffin.

The pace was excellent. The twists? Wow, just wow! Such an impressive debut.

A big thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Echo Man was brilliantly written!
I listened to the audio version and found the narrators accent to be inconsistent. At times, she sounded British and other times Irish. Just one minor bother I had.
The amount of details involved in writing a book of this nature shows the authors dedication. As an avid listener of true crime this book was masterfully executed. The final chapters kept me on the edge of my seat, trying to guess who the killer was. I would love to read/listen to more from Sam Holland.
My only suggestions: it should definitely have a trigger warning at the beginning and consider both female and male narration.
Overall, a wonderful piece of artistry.

First of all, trigger warnings: all of them. Violence, gore, sexual violence, child abuse, …like all of it. Second of all, if you can name out serial killers and their MO’s like a bingo card and have no problems with triggers then this might be a book for you.

The Echo Man follows a few characters as they run into a pattern of various murders. A true crime junkie who apparently caught some of the wrong attention and is falsely accused of a crime notices that some of the murders taking place look awfully familar. They look like serial killers of the past.

As a bit of a true crime, not junkie but at least someone who has consumed plenty of docs, podcasts, and books, I had a pretty good time with this. I really enjoyed the introductory side of it where we are learning about the crimes because that’s where your knowledge comes in. Saying Kemper! Kemper! Kemper! Over and over again to the main characters until they realize what’s what and multiple instances of reading a case that sounds familiar and realizing who it must represent.

The lead characters are all interesting enough to keep the investigative and non-murder side of the story interesting. Jess, our crime junkie and falsely accused mom, is pulled into the crimes when she is arrested for a crime that is very similar to one of the past. She has the support of Griffin, a suspended detective who also had his own run in with the ‘Echo Man’ and his sister, the lead detective: Cara. Their relationships are a nice side of character drama that spread out the darkness enough to recover at least a little bit between horrors.

I was not surprised by the twist but that didn’t make it bad. I tend to be a helluva guesser (banned from guessing movies/tv with my bf). The ending was rather open ended though and I wish I could have gotten way more out of the psychology of the set up which made less sense than I wanted it too. But the ride up to the finale was so wild that I didn’t even really care about the ending? Which is weird to say wasn’t a bad thing.

It felt very on theme with the movie Se7en and I was very much reminded of the show Hannibal during listening to this. The bit at the end especially made me think that there was a purposeful shout out.

Anyways, this book was very dark and violent so really if you have any issues about hearing about any details in crime then this is not going to be for you. But if you are pretty dark and twisted then enjoy yelling out serial killer names. I knew that skill would come in handy one day.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. This was narrated by Jodie Harris who did an absolutely wonderful job.

A stellar book from beginning to end. It's incredible the way the author writes the characters and relationships within, how the reader is able to adore each character and be wary of what they're capable of at the same time.

Jess, Cara, and Griffin are equally impressive and well fleshed out leads (pun intended). Each character very different, but very human: empathetic, angry, sorrowful, loving, tired.

The climax of the book had my heart racing to the point where I truly squealed into my pillow as I listened to everything unfold.

The author, Sam Holland, has truly created a masterpiece. Something truly unique and captivating. I look forward to the future of their writing career.

So many twists and turns in this thriller involving a serial killer who is echoing other serial killers. The killer seems to be several steps ahead and on no clear path. Finally Griffin, who was injured when he was attacked and his wife was killed, figures out that the murders are actually patterned after serial killers. When he brings this to the attention of the crime task force they do not see it and it takes them a while to catch up. I enjoyed this one up to the ending, the second part of the epilogue...nope, that ruined the story for me and took it from 5 to 4 stars. Other than that, I'm going to leave you to read/listen to this one and tell you if you are a fan of murder mysteries, this one will have you going. Grab it up!

Reviewing
The Echo man
By Sam Holland

This is a deeply disturbing and extrenty gruesome thriller that focuses more on the thrill of the kill rather than the motives behind it. Characters are well developed but difficult to keep straight with the use of multiple nick names. All the twists and turns make for a jaw dropping finish however readers should be
Prepared for a long and graphic road.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5 stars with an excessive warning for graphic content and extreme trigger warnings. Rated NC17

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader audio copy of this book. What a fabulous read!! Twists and turns that ultimately make for a great surprising ending. Nice short chapters make for a smooth quick read. No trouble listening to the narrator or understanding the accented speech. 5 stars

A fabulously gruesome tale of love & loss. I loved this book for these reasons: the narration was spot on, the characters were well developed, the plot was well executed. Plus if you’re as interested in true crime as I am, you’ll enjoy trying to guess which serial killer is being echoed.

An unusual thriller, very graphic so be forewarned.
I gave this book a four because the story was interesting, well written and the narrator did a great job. Each character was well developed so that I really got the feeling of what was going on in their heads. Each person had their own problems and secrets. I would have given it a five star but was disappointed at the ending. Some of lose ends could have been cleaned up nicely with an extra chapter but in real world we don’t always get everything tied up either because life is ongoing. Possibly will get a sequel that deals with the loose ends or we might just have to draw the conclusion ourselves in what we like to see happen.

Very dark and gruesome which is right up my alley. The various m.o.’s used were a nice touch and keeping the detectives seemingly one step behind at all times. A lot of twists and turns which I did not see coming. Overall a great read for those into darker crime fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media who sent me an arc audiobook of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This started out more gruesome and graphic that I expected. I am okay with dark and creepy but I was positive I made a mistake in not listening to the audio sample ahead of time. It is a story about a serial killer who is copying other serial killers.
I hung in there and found the Epilogue interesting.
However ~
It didn’t work for me but I am sure it will find the right audience.

Want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this audio eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 5, 2022.

This was gifted to me early by Netgalley, so thank you to them! I was interested in this because of the synopsis. I love all things crime, and in the book we are following the detectives, as well as this other woman who has been accused of burning her home and killing her husband. I was interested to see how these two timelines would intertwine. I was unfortunately, let down by the book. I was uninterested by the 30% mark and felt like it was predictable and boring. I did not finish the book, but I was dragging through it. This is a pass for me.

Holy Cow!! That was a ride! I’d give this book 6 stars if I could! I’m blown away still that this is a debut novel because it is written like it is from someone with a bookshelf of best sellers under their belt! I NEED A SEQUEL!!!!
Once I started listening, I couldn’t stop- the narrator was excellent might I add- great choice there! I was so excited when I read the book’s description because the plot was so unique and had so much potential and it delivered all it promised. I love the characters- even the ones you are supposed to hate and they were developed well. The pace was PERFECT! It moved quickly enough and was never boring. And the twists!!! I usually get bored with police procedural type thrillers but not so with this one. This might have taken top spot of best book I’ve read in the last 5 years! Well done Sam Holland! I hope you are working on the next one!

Her house has been burned to the ground, she and her daughter barely escaped with their lives. Her husband wasn’t so lucky, and now the police believe that Jess Ambrose is the one that set the fire. Jess escapes from the hospital, determined to prove her innocence, but to do so, she must discover who set the fire that killed her husband. She teams up with an unlikely ally, Nate Griffin, a cop on leave after the attack on he and his wife left him injured and his wife dead. They soon discover that their crimes are linked by a killer mimicking the most infamous serial killers in history. As the horrific body count rises, Griffin and Jess, along with Griffin’s sister, police detective Cara Elliot and her team rush to find a killer so devious, so horrible, that he defies description. Sam Holland is the real deal, THE writer to step into the late Mo Hayder’s shoes as master of the macabre mystery

I really enjoyed this book! I LOVE multiple perspective books, especially when you get the POV of a killer! Additionally, a killer who is a copycat of the most famous serial killers - UM, YES!

The ending I kind of caught on to, but it didn’t make the book any less enjoyable. I loved it! I will definitely be purchasing a hard copy when it comes out for my shelf. I’ll also be checking out books by this author in the future.

While I was able to finish this audiobook, there were several points that I almost just stopped listening to it. I did not like the graphic nature of the sexually deviant behavior described in the book. I also did not like the language used instead of vagina. Overall, I also expected more from the premise. I thought that a serial killer that bases their kills off of other famous serial killers would be very interesting; however, this book fell flat for me.