What Remains by Wendy Walker was a wild ride! What Remains is classic Walker! Wendy Walker is an auto-buy author for me and this latest psychological thriller did not disappoint. It was unputdownable with a original premise, well-developed characters and a cat/mouse game at its best. I loved the writing and the storytelling! What a gem!

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This may be the biggest cat and mouse book I have read this year. You can feel that there is more going on than meets the eye after Elise takes out the shooter inside the store. Something didn’t quite feel right. After that the pace really picks up, and Elise doesn’t make the smartest decisions, but that's what made this book so suspenseful. The chapters start to alternate between Elise and the kill shed. I had no idea how the kill shed chapters were going to fit in, but when it was revealed it blew me away.

Next up from Wendy Walker is What Remains.

"Detective Elise Sutton is in a department store when a young man starts shooting. Elise shoots him to save an innocent's life. She struggles to come to grips with taking a life until she meets with Wade, the man she saved. But she soon realizes he isn't who he says he is. He's a ghost who's now threatening Elise's life and her family. Elise must find a way to stop him before he escalates even more."

There's a body found at a hunting shelter that's being investigated. You think you know the connection between the storylines but Walker keeps us guessing. I yelled at Elise a few times because it seemed like her decision-making was terrible. The final twist is a definite a-ha moment.

Another great story from Walker.

After loving Don't Look For Me on audio I was so excited to read this one. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one. I found the writing to be extremely dry and colorless - not a single one of the characters had a personality! I kept waiting to dive deeper into who any of them were as a person but the book just didn't. It was very plot based but didn't move quick enough and was just the MC making one questionable decision after the other. She was a seasoned detective... why wasn't she handling this all better?

I also thought the book focused way too much on Mitch's prior cheating because we never really got to know Elise and Mitch as a married couple or care about them enough to really feel for Elise . Of course cheating is terrible but why are we harping on something that happened four years ago - either forgive him or leave him and move on with your life.

The only reason I finished this book was because I wanted to know how the two stories would come together. Sadly the whole book was lackluster for me and I wish I had waited for the audiobook, because perhaps the narrator could bring the story more alive. Sadly this one was a miss for me.

Book : What Remains
Author : Wendy Walker
Pub Date : 13 Jun 2023

Thank you NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing & the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A twisty mysterious crime with incredible characters, dialogue, fabulous details and plot!! This book will have your mouth open the entire time. If you think you can guess what’s going on or happening—you won’t. This has you in a grip until the end.

I read through this fun book and devoured it. I had never read a book by Wendy before and I will definitely be looking out for more. If you want a book you pick up and don’t put down until the very last page, put this book on your TBR.

What Remains by Wendy Walker is crazy suspenseful! Walker never fails to make me rush to the end because I need to know what is going to happen ASAP. The trauma that Elise goes through is haunting and you can see how her thought process is affected. This story perfectly balances character and plot and I was completely satisfied by the end.

The lunacy of this woman throughout. I kept reading to figure out WTF was happening, which is in itself a draw? Some of the connections were tenuous at best.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

Wendy Walker, the author of “What Remains,” has written an edgy, intense, and chilling novel. The genres for this novel are Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, and Fiction. The author vividly describes her dramatic characters as complex, complicated, flawed, manipulative, and dysfunctional. The protagonist of this story, Detective Elise Sutton, is an expert on murder crimes. She has written about how murderers can make mistakes, and she works well with her partner, an ex-marine. Elise is also a wife and mother of two young girls that mean the world to her.

Elise finds herself in a dangerous situation when she walks into a department store and hears gunshots. She pulls her gun and shoots to prevent one man from killing another. Elise is referred to as a “hero” but is saddled with guilt at taking the life of one man to save another man’s life. Elise reflects and ruminates what has happened and meets the man she saved. He appears to be stalking her and is familiar with her family life, job, writing, and thinking.

This becomes a dangerous, twisted, and deadly game between Elise and the man she saved. Elise is trying to protect her family, her partner, and herself. I had “high anxiety” while reading this suspenseful novel. I highly recommend this thought-provoking thriller.

After killing a man who opens fire in a department store, Detective Elise Sutton is consumed with guilt. She connects with Wade, the man whose life she saved, and quickly discovers he has become obsessed with her. He threatens Elise and everyone she holds dear. Elise saved his life. Now Wade will never let her go.

What Remains is an intense, suspense-filled game of cat and mouse game! I found myself engrossed in the dual storylines of this psychological thriller and trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

I thought the villain, Wade, was well-written. I never knew what he would do next, with each action being more chilling than the last.

I look forward to seeing what Wendy Walker writes next.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for a gifted digital copy.

Wowwww! I loved this book from start to finish! It was a heart-pumping game of cat and mouse that starts off innocently enough with Detective Elise Sutton innocently buying towels for her daughters when a hostage situation takes place!

Wendy Walker should teach a master class in thematic layering and bringing to life incredible characters. This is such a great read and recommend to all my hardcore thriller lovers!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this ARC!

I really wanted to like this book, but I found it to be somewhat bland and underdeveloped. The writing felt choppy and disjointed, as did the plot. There were so many three- and four-word sentences, many back-to-back, which distracted me from the actual story. I could not understand the logic behind some of Elise's decisions, or why she thought certain actions were the best way to catch the man stalking her family. I found myself frustrated with her more than anything else. Overall, this was a hard book for me to finish, which was disappointing since I loved this author's previous books and What Remains was a highly anticipated book on my TBR list.

The plot was promising but the writing style made it hard to get into for me. this was interesting since her other books did not have this issue. not great but not bad either

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Elise is very relatable. This was my first book from Wendy walker and I loved it. This book was very easy to follow and it kept me on my toes. I felt like Elise was someone you thought you could be friends with.

Sometimes the books can be too long but this was just right and kept me guessing. I’d definitely read another book from Wendy Walker.

Elise stops a shooting in a store. As she quietly copes with the grief from taking the shooter's life, a survivor of the incident feels he has a deep connection with her.
I had such high hope for this book. I heard the author on a podcast and found her to be smart and engaging. The problem is that her book is not. I found it to be stereotypical and just not well written. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this one.

I've been a big fan of author Wendy Walker's for quite a while & have read most of her back-list, so I was very pleased to read her latest "What Remains", which is about a female police detective (Elise) who's involved in a shooting at a store & the aftermath and trauma that follows. (Things are not always what they seem.) While this one is more of a crime story than Walker's usual domestic suspense works, I really enjoyed it. Living in the USA right now, this was a nice commentary also on gun violence while not being preachy or partisan. RECOMMEND! My sincere thanks to the publisher for the complimentary DRC auto-approval and to Net Galley, it was my pleasure to read & review this one!

I was really excited to read this book because I have loved all of Wendy Walker's previous books. However, this one was just not for me unfortunately. Although the plot sounded really interesting, It was actually told very slow paced and unfortunately boring to me as the reader. None of the action really started until about half way through the book, and by that time, I didn't even care about the characters or anything else going on. I was very disappointed by this book, but Im always a Walker fan.

One-sentence summary:
A detective must draw her gun during an active shooting at a department store – killing one man to save another, but she soon learns that the man she saved is holding secrets and not who claimed to be, leading her into an investigation that may end her.

—-

This dark and tense thriller is fast-paced and gripping from the first page! It’s a shift from the more recent Wendy Walker books I’ve read - less domestic suspense, more crime thriller. More clinical and cynical. There’s a sense of isolation and loneliness that seems prevelant throughout the story, reflecting, perhaps, the struggle of the main character, Elise. It’s refreshing to see a thriller focused on a woman who has a family but focuses on her work, the way male detectives are always allowed to do in all of the hardboiled crime novels. I also really appreciated that Elise must deal with the trauma that exists after a public shooting, not only for civilians but for those who serve on the force.

There’s a noir feel to this, and I think it will absolutely appeal to Wendy Walker fans and anyone who loves crime thrillers!

This comes out June 13!

This was a cliff hanger for me. I usually figure the plot out in the first five chapters. This however, took me a few more. I did feel there were several repetitive places throughout but, it still held my interest. I have not read others by this author so cannot compare to her other works. Will however, keep an eye out for more by her.

Elise Sutton is an off-duty police officer who, while picking out pink towels for her daughters, is drawn into a store shooting where she shoots the perpetrator. As she tries to pick up the pieces of her life and deal with her guilt, the author takes us on a riveting, intense and smart journey to an unexpected ending, using great writing and intricate plotting.

I love Wendy Walker's books and I highly recommend picking this one up. You won't stop reading until you get to the end. Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this advance copy.

Elise Sutton is a cop who works cold cases, and has never fired her weapon in the line of duty. That changes on the day she takes out a shooter in a crowded big box store. Even though she’s hailed as a hero, Elise can’t sleep, and can barely function.
Then she meets Wade, the man whose life she saved. She's eager to get his take on that day, proving that she was justified in taking out the shooter. But the more she learns about Wade, the more nervous she becomes. He becomes her stalker, threatening her partner at work, her husband, and her two little girls, convinced that he and Elise belong together. And she realizes that only she can stop him.