The book summary pretty much lays out the beginning of the story and one of the primary storylines; the shooting in a department store, where Elise kills the shooter and the subsequent aftermath and the effects on the people involved. What the book summary doesn’t reveal is the other primary storyline: the discovery of human remains in an abandoned shelter, that hunters use because it has a “Kill Room” where they can process their kills. There is also an incinerator in this shelter, which is where the remains were found. This storyline is narrated by a cop that is investigating the murder and the narrator presents like he’s presenting the case to a superior or a prosecutor. The story flips back and forth between the two storylines.

Part of the aftermath is Elise being stalked by the man she saved. Initially, the man is named Wade, but they soon find out that is not his real name, and he then becomes 404, the code for an unnamed suspect. I guess this could be a trigger for those who have ever been stalked. So, consider this my trigger warning, because this is the part of the story that is very disturbing and becomes creepy af, at least for me it did.

There is also a secondary storyline where Elise goes rogue and starts stalking her stalker; the former prey now becomes the hunter. Now, at this point, a lot of readers would write off this story because they don’t like stories of cops going rogue. I get that, I really do! I just finished another book where a former agent went rogue, and it bugged the crap out of me, a lot! However, in this scenario, I liked it. I love a good payback story where a woman gets to give some jerk a dose of his own crap, especially a stalker. For me, stalkers are a whole other level of sicko that doesn’t deserve any consideration. They gave that up when they chose to become a stalker. Anyway, for a cop/investigator like Elise, this is what she does, and she believes she’s pretty good at it.

Which leads us to another secondary storyline, Elise has caught her husband seeing his mistress again. Yep, that’s right, four years ago, Elise suspected her husband of cheating and stalked him for a few days to confirm her suspicions. Four years later, she’s still obsessing over it and this jerk has the audacity to get pissed about it because Elise ruined the mistress’s life and marriage over it. SERIOUSLY??? Good grief!!! At this point, I was thinking that I hope that when all the drama is over and done with, that Elise kicks that bozo to the curb!

It's right before the halfway point, after a bunch of clues and leads regarding the two primary storylines are revealed and I am deep into my “whodunit” mode that I’ve plotted out the rest of the storyline as well as the killer. Well, I missed the mark on several angles, and the end was rather messy. It came down to a life and death scene for several characters. There was another scene that was really convoluted that I had to read it more than once just to fully understand all the details.

This was a quick read and that I had a hard time putting down, always wanting to read just one more chapter and then another and another… Unfortunately, for me, a messy ending is the difference between a 3star and a 4star rating. I guess if could, I would give it 3.5stars but I’m not feeling compelled to round up. I want to thank NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #BlackstonePublishing #WhatRemains

Walker is a talented author whose suspenseful novels consistently have me on the edge of my seat. I commend her for taking on a pressing issue that requires more attention. Although I was there for the ride, I felt a little let down by the outcome. This novel takes a different path, so don't anticipate a twisty read.

I'm so thankful to be chosen to receive an ALC of this book!

I read my first Wendy Walker novel last month and really liked it, but this did not feel the same.

At times I felt the storyline drug on and while I did appreciate the tension, the alternating POVs were a bit confusing to listen to and figure out what was going on until the very end.

I feel like the storyline kept introducing characters and it just wasn’t for me. However I still do like Wendy’s writing style and will read more of her in the future!

Thank you Netgalley, Blackstone Publishing and Wendy Walker.

This was my first Wendy Walker book and it was such a goodie. From the very start I couldn't stop!

It was gripping, suspenseful and twisty!

The multiple POVs were really a clever way to tell this story and made the book go even faster.

The narrators were excellent and this will be a book I'll be recommending for sure!

My rating: 4.5 stars

This book was so good! I never knew what was going to happen next because of all that was happening,
From our mc trying to catch the stalker all by herself which was just extremely dangerous and she knew this since she is in law enforcement, to the stalker making very strange choices at times.

We also got to see things occasionally from our mc’s law enforcement partner which was interesting and gave us a little insight into what was going on especially the closer to the end we got.

I highly recommend this book as I need to finish it as soon as possible because I needed to know what was going to happen to the mc and her family.

Walker does an admirable job at highlighting the difficulties of PTSD and how it affects the victims' lives - both mentally and socially. The characters in What Remains struggle to cope with their trauma as they search for meaning, justice and closure. It's a brave attempt to tackle such difficult pressing issues, and the author succeeds in making them accessible to readers. In addition, the novel also subtly explores the intersection between politics and justice - two topics that often clash with each other.
I couldn't help but love the twists and turns, but felt that more questions than answers arose. There were times when I wanted to scream out in frustration because of how tangled everything had become.
The characters in the book are interesting and well-developed. It was enjoyable to read about them, but at times it felt like I was being bombarded with too much information too quickly. I had a hard time keeping up with the plot because of the shifts in each chapter.
Nonetheless, What Remains is an intense and impactful read. It touches on deeper topics related to justice, redemption, and healing that are often neglected in other works. I appreciated its unique take on gun control and mental health, as well as its narrative structure which slowly but surely unravels the story. Though this book may not be for everyone, it's certainly a thought-provoking read that will leave readers contemplating its deeper themes.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This novel has all the ear marks of an excellent thriller. It starts off with the protagonist Detective Elsie Sutton shopping for new pink towels after work for her two little girls. Suddenly, she is caught in the middle of an active shooter event, annd Elsie is forced to kill the young man with the assault rifle in order to save another shopper. Having never taken a life before Elsie is traumatized and feels the need to speak to the man whose life she saved, but he has disappeared. I could have given this book a few more stars if Elsie had been just half as smart as the author painted her. Also, the twists were quite predictable and easily guessed.

This was my first Wendy Walker read but it won’t be my last. From the opening scene--an active shooting in a department store--I was pulled into the action and the minds of the characters and couldn’t wait to see what happened next.

The story starts with the department store shooting, where police detective Elise is forced to fire her weapon for the first time in her career. Crippled with doubts and guilt, she seeks the bystander whose life she saved by killing the shooter. When she finds him their encounter triggers a dangerous cat and mouse game only she can end.

I was gripped from start to finish. However I was somewhat confused by the parallel story--I listened to the audio version, which had a few glitches, so perhaps I didn’t hear the fact the kill room scenes were taking place in the future and so I struggled to make sense of how it fit into the story. At the end I got it, but that was a long time to be in the dark.

I’m not dinging any stars from my review but I will say I didn’t care for the reader of the book. Her voice was pleasant but she didn’t convey shifts in tension or mood and so every scene, even warm family scenes, had a sense of heaviness and tension. If everything is intense, nothing is intense.

I hope we see more of Elise in future books.

Thank you #NetGalley, #WendyWalker, and #BlackstonePublishing, for this ARC.

What Remains by Wendy Walker
★★★☆ 3.5 / 5 stars

▷ Synopsis:
When cold-case detective Elise Sutton stops at a department store to pick up some pink towels for her daughters, she has no idea what chaos her future holds. She finds herself face to face with an active shooter. Her instincts & training kick in, & she is forced to make a terrible choice: to save one life, she will have to take another. Elise is hailed as a hero, but she doesn't feel like one. Steeped in guilt & on a leave of absence from work, she's numb, until she connects with the tall man whose life she saved. Elise’s intuition tells her there's something off about this man. When he begins to stalk her, she must use everything she's every learned about getting into a perpetrators’s mind before he harms those closest to her.


▷ My Thoughts:
This book started out strong & had me hooked right off the bat. I enjoyed the premise of what happens to the “hero” as the aftermath of trauma unfolds. The writing was sharp & the characters were well
developed, but unfortunately I had a hard time connecting to Elise. I was frustrated by many of her choices & I had difficulty accepting the decisions made by a supposedly smart, experienced cop. Her lone-wolf behavior put people she cared about in danger which didn't jive with her devotion to her family and colleagues.

Also, The Kill Room POV & all the emphasis on Elise’s personal life didn't seem completely necessary. But there was a good twist at the end I didn't see coming, & I appreciated the focus on mental health.

Many other readers have really loved it this one, so take my review with a grain of salt. It was a quick one to listen to & I wasn’t bored for one second, it just was more frustrating than enjoyable to me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC ◡̈

3.5 stars

A twisty thriller/procedural featuring an MC who takes silly risks for no good reason. It’s still an interesting mystery with a unique setup though.

[What I liked:]

•The inciting incident & how it unravels into something unexpected is possibly the best part of this story. It is a strong opening.

•Despite eye rolling at the MC’s decisions quite a bit, I did care about her survival & her children. Her husband & her work partner were decent characters, too. The MC’s marital problems also added some layers of interpersonal tension to the story.

•The villain is actually pretty terrifying & I wasn’t sure how they were going to stop him. The stakes were high enough for me to care from the get go, and there were a couple decent twists along the way.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Okay, it super annoys me when cops in procedurals go rogue, shut out their heretofore trustworthy colleagues for no good reason, & take stupid risks for no good reason. It doesn’t make the story more exciting for me, it just makes me question the sanity of the MC 🙄

•The ending could’ve been worse, but those cops in another jurisdiction very conveniently didn’t investigate something they should have. I’m sure it happens in real life, it just felt contrived as a plot point.

CW: murder, stalking, sexism, domestic violence, substance abuse, infidelity

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

This is my third book i by Wendy Walker. I thank @netgalley for the audio. Very entertaining audio; told in two voices. Kept my attention throughout. Definitely a thriller!

This was an in hot table thriller/mystery. I liked the idea of the dual storylines going in between Elise POV and The Kill Room. It started off string and never let up. I liked the length of it too and that it was not a slow burn. There were lots of twists and it was a compulsive read!

Thanks NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing Audio Books for my ALC.

This was a good cat and mouse thriller if a little slow and confusing at times. But by the end you see how it all comes together.

Narrated by, Gabra Zackman & Peter Ganim both did a good job, Gabra brought the emotions for Elise and Peter was perfect as the monotone man describing a kill room and other crimes.

I would recommend this one!

3 Stars

I received this book from the publisher Blackstone Audio and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

#WhatRemains by Wendy Walker is a great read! The aspect of two crimes being solved throughout the story is great and I didn’t see the twist until the very end. The storyline progressed nicely through the whole story and I enjoyed every new surprise.

Thank you to Net Galley and Blackstone Publishing for accepting my arc request.

If you like crime thrillers/psychological thrillers and investigations, this book is for you.

This book revolves around Elise, a cold case detective ,and a man she saved in a department store shooting. Though she is announced as a hero, Elise is consumed by guilt because of the person she killed in an attempt to save the man. What makes the crux of the story is her discovering the man she saved, his actions and her efforts to save herself and the people she loves.

The story is told in dual perspectives, one by Elise and the other by a male narrator describing a crime/murder investigation in 'the kill room'. I found the dual perspectives quite suspenseful and it definitely kept me on my toes.

Another thing I liked about the book was the psychological aspect. I love books that have plots where characters are mentally disturbed or have dangerous tendencies. I also liked that mental health was not portrayed wrongfully, just to grab attention or to make it dramatic.

The only reason why I am giving this a 4 star is because listening to the audio sometimes became cumbersome. There were lots of investigative elements, and it was just hard to follow sometimes. I think it would have been a better experience if I had a physical book to follow along. The narration was well-done.

I received a copy of this in audio book form through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a fast and fun listen/read. The action picks up right from the start and doesn't let go until the conclusion. Fast paced with smartly written characters, if you enjoy crime stories/police thrillers/or stories of mental fall out, this one could be for you.
Elise is a cold case detective who is put in a position of taking a life in the first chapter of this story. With dual POV we see the fall out this has on her life as she looks for answers as to why this all happened, and why another survivor has now latched himself to her through unhealthy means.
Through out reading I had different ideas come to mind over how I thought this one would or should turn out. The ending was not one I expected.

What Remains, by Wendy Walker pulled me in right from the start. It is a perfect combination of action, suspense, dialogue, personal relationships and issues of trust and betrayal as well as character development and a thoughtful representation of the after effects of PTSD. Elise Sutton, a detective who helps solve cold cases walks into a department store and gets caught in the middle of an active shooter situation. The split second decision she has to make will have consequences that keep the reader glued to the story until its suspenseful conclusion. There is enough action to call this book a 'page turner' but there is also enough thoughtful reflection on the part the protagonist, Elise, that I came to know her well enough to care how it all turns out. The narrator, Gabra Zackman, does a wonderful job and is very versatile in shifting voices between characters. Peter Ganim, narrating Wendy's detective partner Rowan, is a bonus to the audiobook as well. Though Rowan has a small roll in the story, his point of view helps fill in a few missing pieces of the puzzle perfectly by the last closing chapter.

This was a wild ride right from the beginning and had me hooked! I honestly didn't see how this was going to end and I kept yelling at Elise that she was going to die! I loved the ending b/c sometimes it's nice when the bad guy gets his! This was my 1st book by Wendy Walker but will not be my last, I am adding all her backlog of books to my TBR!

#WhatRemains
#NetGalley

This started a little slow, and I was confused about The Kill Room timeline. It started to make more sense towards the end, and then made me want to reread all those Kill Room chapters! I started this on audio, but I couldn’t stay focused so finished it with the physical copy. Police/detective thrillers are always fun because you get a behind the scenes look at these cases. I enjoyed the parts where Elise is trying to think of how her stalker will think she will act. It gets a little confusing but was executed well in the end!

This was a pretty quick read and all the loose ends were tied up nicely! I can’t wait to read more by Wendy!

This was really well done -- it was unusual enough to hold my attention. I find that I am often disappointed that endings to mysteries are so bizarre, but this one stuck the landing.



Review copy provided by publisher.