Unpopular opinion, but this was one of the worst books for me. I have never read this author before. I honestly did not want to finish it. It was confusing to follow the different parts between the flashbacks from the psychopath and current story. The book also contained details that were graphic and not necessary to the story. It was also graphic and the way he murders was very sick and far fetched. The ending as well as the entire reasoning for his murders lacked for me. I do not recommend nor will I read this author again. This book was provided to me by net galley as an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

Among the many reasons I enjoyed this thriller: realistic and touching parent-child relationships, strong setting (small-town Maine), mild humor and a more literary writing style. The psychopath element is essential and the details are grisly, but the author makes that clear from the very first pages, so strap in and get ready!

"Granite Harbor" has been my biggest reading disappointment of 2024 so far. The book cover is stunning, and the description is captivating, featuring a serial killer similar to the one in "Silence of the Lambs." I was excited to start the audiobook, and it began decently, but I quickly lost interest.

I can't pinpoint what didn't work for me with this book and its characters. It could have been my mood or something else. It's worth noting that many other reviewers enjoyed it, so take my review with a grain of salt.

Sincere thanks to the author and Celadon Books/Macmillan Audio for providing ARCs through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and left voluntarily.

#GraniteHarbor #PeterNichols #CeladonBooks #MacmillanPublishers #macmillanaudio #netgalley

GRANITE HARBOR – by Peter Nichols

Nothing bad ever happens in Maine, right? ;)

As an avid fan of Horror, Maine holds a special place in my warm dark heart . . .

‘[Welcome to] scenic Granite Harbor, life has continued on―quiet and serene―for decades. That is until a local teenager is found brutally murdered in the Settlement, the town’s historic archaeological site. Alex Brangwen, adjusting to life as a single father with a failed career as a novelist, is the town’s sole detective. This is his first murder case and, as both a parent and detective, Alex knows the people of Granite Harbor are looking to him to catch the killer and temper the fear that has descended over the town.’

The story within these pages, though a slow burn, is disturbingly dark, with some scenes that made me cringe as I repeatedly guessed the who in this whodunit—Yes, Please, And Thank You!

Thank you, NetGalley and Celadon Books (Macmillan Publishers), for providing me with an eBook of GRANITE HARBOR at the request of an honest review.

Granite Harbor is a perfect town with a single detective. When a teenager is found murdered, its his job to capture the murderer--and the whole town is looking at him, pressuring him to solve the case. Its a slow burn crime drams with some graphic content. Trigger warnings for child abuse, SA, and animal abuse,

The characters are messy and lack anything to make me like any of them. The world building was great for Granite Harbor and I was picturing myself there in Maine. While there aren't many twists, its a true detective novel where we follow the detective as he solves the case. There were horror elements in the novel walking a thin line between thriller/horror.

Thanks NetGalley Macmillan Audio and Celadon Books for the advanced reader copies and advanced listener copy - I opted to listen to the audio and the narrator does a great job. It’s told in two POVs, Alex the detective and our unnamed perpetrator. Maybe it’s just me and my post-concussive syndrome, but I had some moments when I got a few characters confused so reading it either at the same time or solely may have helped.

The premise sounded intriguing to me, 1) because I enjoy thrillers/mysteries and 2) my background connection with Maine. However, this story gets gory, creepy, with some distasteful sexual content. Once you finish the story you can see why the author includes those things but it still can be quite hard to get through.

‼️There are tons of content and major trigger warnings, which include a descriptive murder scene of a teen, some profanity, references to sexual content (including a large age gap relationship and some detailed youth incest), death of loved ones (murder, lost at sea, cancer, etc), physical abuse and intense bullying, mutilation of an animal and later a human in a disturbing ritual, suicide, hallucinogenic use, and a character claims to be a clairvoyant.

Personally, this one was not it for me, primarily due to the heavy and at times quite disturbing content that fills it. I did ultimately finish it as I was curious about the overall mystery but had to take breaks throughout. I give it 1.5 out of 5.

This book was a slow burn but definitely something any police detective/crime thriller fan will enjoy. Granite Harbor is a seemingly idyllic place to live until a local teen turns up brutally murdered in a local archaeological site. There were many points of view in this book. Sometimes it was a bit slow, but the ending wrapped everything up nicely. There are a few triggers in this book including child murder, animal cruelty, and sexual abuse, Overall this was a decent read.

This book was so weird.

**Spoilers**

All the characters in this novel are a mess and there is SO much going on. The guy is a novelist turned detective, divorced, his ex wife has a backstory and isn’t a very good mother to their daughter but none of that really matters. The woman MC is a former teacher turned museum actor on a settlement who homeschools her teenage son (no homeschooling happens) while never actually being home. Her husband disappeared while on a boat adventure.

We get POVs from all these random people in this small town and honestly I don’t know that we needed it. We also get the POV of the killer without revealing who it is, there’s incest and abuse and a father/son relationship with a groundskeeper of his school. There’s a whole REALLY weird thing with frogs and rituals.

And then the woman just randomly has psychic abilities at some point, I have no idea where that came from.

Overall this was weird, dark, and uncomfy. There’s a lot of extra stuff going on that’s not needed, and none of the characters are very likable. It’s definitely not for me, but if you like weird, dark, uncomfy thriller crime novels, you may like it more than I did.

Thank you @netgalley and @celadonbooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Granite Harbor was a tale of a serial killer, but the twist for me is that I empathized more with the killer than the victims.

A group of teenages friends are murdered one by one in a gruesome, albiet unique, manner. A father of one of the teens is a rookie detective assigned to the case.

I found the teenagers' personalities to be cliche and interchangeable, all of them being glued to their phones, ungrateful to their parents, breaking rules and being just genrally rebellious entitled brats. They were pretty one-dimensional, and I actually felt more empathy for the killer than for them.

As for the mystery itself, the pace of the action was slow, with parts in between being mostly backstory flash backs and scenes of the teenagers giving their parents a hard time and ignoring their curfews, thus predictably landing them into trouble <eyeroll>.

The ending didn't feel very suspenseful, the action happened in a pretty straightforward, predictable way, nothing twisty.

Overall, I didn't find this to be very suspenseful (because I wasn't invested in the unlikeable victims' survival), and not very thrilling. But the author's writing style did make this story that was interesting to read.

Every time the book starts getting interesting Nichols interrupts the story with a backstory. It drags it down. I was looking forward to this book. I love mysteries, but this book is so slow.

I really wanted to enjoy this one as I’ve heard so much about it & was looking forward to it. However, after picking it up a couple of times & making it through a few chapters … I couldn’t finish it.
For myself … it didn’t hold my interest. Repetitive descriptions, didn’t connect with the characters. Just wasn’t for me.

Definitely more horror than thriller in my opinion. Some parts were slow, others were cringey and others had me turning pages. Also the song "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance kept playing in my head while I read this one.

Despite a few cliched elements, this novel had me staying up late to turn more pages. And the writing is refreshingly, well, not terrible.

This was a well-written literary mystery that was a little too slow for me, although, that may be because of the season I picked this up in. This is suited for a long leisurely day, not in bits and pieces. I definitely think I'll pick up more from this author, though.

Alex is a former novelist, currently the detective in a small town in Maine. When a high school student is found murdered, he leads the investigation. Research points to a similar murder, a cold case, a number of years before. Shane, the murdered teenager has 2 close male friends, as well as Alex’s daughter, Sophie. Somewhat gruesome.

Thank you NetGalley for gifting me an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review and opinions.

Unfortunately, I was unable to download the file prior to it being archived and have no gotten a chance to read it. I hope to read it in the future.

Maine, grieving, serial-murder, thriller, small-town, local-law-enforcement, investigations, secrets, lies, horror, historic-buildings, historical-reenacting, writers, research, suspense****

How do I feel about Alex Brangwen going from novelist to small town police detective all in one go? With a snort and one raised eyebrow. I went into the novel expecting a few things (loved the Living History aspect) but the addition of tortured animals and the overthinking of lackluster characters bummed me out. It soon became apparent that I am not the target audience, but I know friends who are. DNF
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Celadon Books via NetGalley.

Overall this book didn't really resonate with me. I had high hopes for it considering I thoroughly enjoy a good murder-mystery, but this one fell flat for me. I felt like I kept getting confused very easily and I think that was just the writing style of this book; it was hard to follow along with. The transitions felt a bit choppy and I think I would've liked this book more if the pacing was a bit quicker. I did like that some scenes were told from the POV of the killer, I enjoyed that! As always thank you Celadon @celadonbooks and NetGalley for the book!

Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols is a book I really enjoyed.
Being a Mainer, I have a soft spot for books set in Maine.

This is my first book by Peter Nichols and it did not disappoint.
A local teenager's body is found murdered in “The Settlement” the town's historic archaeological site.

The body has been hung from a handmade wooden structure, with a clue left INSIDE the grotesque body which has been sliced open

Alex Brangwen, the only detective in town is responsible for solving this crime. It is his first murder to solve, and the dead boy was a friend of his daughter. NO pressure.

I enjoyed this book, the characters, setting and the mystery. Very well written.

I was so excited to read this book, and while it was good, it didn't quite meet my expectations. I thought it was a bit slow in spots, and there was some animal cruelty in it that I wasn't aware of.* I thought Alex was a great character, and I liked that we got some POVs from the killer. This book was surprisingly gruesome at times, as the killer was SO twisted!

* Celadon did state in the letter that came with my physical copy that chapter 34 contains animal cruelty. I had just overlooked it, so be aware if you read this and that is a trigger. I pretty much skimmed through that chapter because I just can't!

Thank you @netgalley and @celadonbooks for the #gifted e-arc and physical copy!