Destruction follows the ruthless serial killer, Jeremy Rose, the Bayou Butcher, as he heads north to evade capture for his horrific crimes. As he seeks safe harbor with a former friend, he remains focused on unfinished business with forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller, the only target who’s ever escaped him—twice. But not this time. He’s determined to make Wren suffer, and he’s promised to make her play by his own twisted rules.

Wow, this one was a fast paced, heart pounding ride! I think I liked this one even more than the first book in the series. A perfect read for Spooky Season, murder, mayhem and a little bit of gore. As always, Alaina throws in such great details from her personal autopsy experience. I think she's definitely honing her writing craft and can't wait for the next one! Especially since she left us on such a cliffhanger!!!!! The audiobook was also really well done, I enjoyed the alternating between the male and female narrators.

Thank you to @netalley, @dreamscapselect and @alainaurquhart for this advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

Another 5 star review for Alaina Urquhart and the next book in the Dr. Wren Mueller series. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Audio, and Alaina Urquhart for this audiobook ARC of The Butcher Game.
I listened to this book in less than hours! It was written exceptionally well with imagery that will blow you away (and scare you too). The Butcher Game was a face paced, nail biting, thriller that will leave you speechless after reading/listening to the last page. Very well done.

The Butcher and the Wren leaves you with a completely wrecked Wren after she and her team let serial killer Jeremy Rose escape capture and disappear into the forest. We find out that Wren, or "Emily" has a complicated past with Jeremy, or as she knew him in a previous life, "Cal". Being a psychopath he was able to insert himself into her life and abduct her into his sick game. She escaped with her life but she is still haunted with /the events of her past. An important d/etail to remember is this: on the last body found in the woods, there was a library card left. Remember the name on that card: Philip Trudeau

The Butcher game picks up with Wren and her partner John mutually deciding that they aren't going to wait for Jeremy to come out of hiding, instead, they are going to hunt him down. The "hunt" takes them to Salem, Massachusetts, where a handful of bodies are dropping that seems to match Jeremy's MO. Unfortunately, RIchard, Wren's husband, decides to tag along for the trip in hopes of making light and bringing fun into a morbid trip.

They arrive in Salem to find a less than enthusiastic police force with bad jokes and a chip on their shoulder. While the pissing match ensues Jeremy Rose is up to his old games - luring women with his Ted Bundy looks and charm, Bodies continue to hit the ground and it seems that no one really sees the full picture until it's too late and the tragedy once again hits Dr. Wren a little too close to home.

The Butcher Game was published on 9/17/2024 and I would highly recommend it to all my friends! I would LOVE someone to pick up this series and create SE or collector editions. I would love to add them to my shelf.

This was an excellent follow up to The Butcher and the Wren. It didn't quite have as much intensity for me, but I still really enjoyed it. I love the dual POVs and I think both narrators do an excellent job of bringing Jeremy and Wren to life. I look forward to seeing what happens next in this continuing game of cat and mouse.

The Butcher Game by Alaina Urquhart is absolute excellence in the suspense/thriller genre. With only the second book in this Dr. Wren Muller series, I am hooked and left wanting more of the story. I love the strong lead female character and am horrified by The Butcher. I highly recommend this book.

thanks NetGalley for the great listen! This series is so well written, but a bit much for me. I think it is a great mix of mystery, horror and thriller, and I appreciate that.

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook!

Goodness. I thought I loved the book before, but listening to it put it on a whole new level I didn’t know existed. HEARING about Jeremy’s horrible, gruesome acts had my heart pounding. And the end and the disappointment, fear, everything Wren felt… the narrator did such a great job conveying the feelings in her voice.
I was very very impressed with this one. Sometimes audiobooks can lack the emotion needed to make the story amazing. But this one did not disappoint at all.
Again, thank you NetGalley!

I just finished The Butcher Game by Alaina Urquhart in 24 hours by switching between the audiobook and physical book. It is such a creepy sequel to The Butcher And The Wren. The setting has changed from New Orleans to the Berkshires, but Dr. Wren Muller is still on the hunt to take down The Bayou Butcher serial killer, Jeremy Rose. Like the first book, this story is full of twists and you will not want to put it down.

The audiobook is well narrated and I loved how there is a discussion about the book at the end between the two Morbid cohosts.

I highly recommend this book and series if you love reading crime fiction from a forensic pathologist point of view.

(This same review was shared on the Barnes & Noble website)

4.5⭐️
This sequel is perfect!! I really enjoyed book 1 and after the cliffhanger it ended on I needed to know what happened. Book 2 is even better! I ate this book up in one day. It is so fast paced, but with so many twist and turns. I loved the dual point of views that this story is told from, the killer’s perspective and the former victim/M.E..
If you like thriller/suspense you definitely need to check this out. I never found myself bored and I did often find myself saying “no way” as I read.
Thank you to NetGalley and dreamscape select for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and Alaina for allowing me a copy of this audiobook for an honest review! Dr. Wren Muller is back again and facing an even more harrowing time with serial killer Jeremy. New faces, back stories, and of course, deaths are brought to light and told in a way that will leave you on the edge of your seat! It is a typical kind if cat and mouse trope, but I had a great time reading it and cannot wait to see what else Alaina has in store for us!

A major miss for me! The dual POVs were unnecessary and the villain was so cartoonish that it took me out of the story a lot. The ending left a LOT to be desired and was messy. I feel like I can predict how the 3rd book will go based on the ending and I know I won’t enjoy that dynamic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Select for the advanced audiobook access!

Ever since I read the first book, The Butcher and the Wren, I knew I HAD to read this book as soon as it was published. Urquhart had a good way of telling a story that was just chilling but also so engaging. This book was no different.

It picked up where the huge cliffhanger happened at the end of the first book. Wren was healing from everything that occurred and Jeremy is unaccounted for and on the run.

The story is a cat and mouse game of them trying to find him before more people were hurt. You learn more about how Jeremy was as a teenager. And we were told his history with Phillip, who was mentioned in book one.

I was so engrossed in the story, it was such a quick and fun listen. Listening to it on audio was so much more intense. I felt the narrators did an amazing job of showing the emotions of each character and their voices just went so well together. I felt as though they were a wonderful pick for narrators.

As captivating as this story was, Urquhart left me with another cliffhanger…I suppose that means there will be a book 3 in our future? 🤞🏻 I need answers.

I highly recommend these books to someone who loves a fast paced, engaging story with the twists and turns to keep you turning the pages.

Buckle up buttercups, The Butcher Game is a twistedw, wild ride.

I love the @morbidpodcast. Ash and Alaina are the freaking best and I have been a Weirdo for years. When Alaina published her first book, The Butcher and the Wren, two years ago I knew I had to read it. Even though I listen to true crime I’m not the biggest thriller reader, but holy crow was her book good. It was so demented in the best of ways and had me literally biting my nails. I couldn’t wait for the sequel and thankfully it’s finally here! @netgalley was kind enough to approve me for the audio and I just finished. Friends, I am shooketh! This is so insane and I loved every second.

The Butcher is back and has traded the bayou for Massachusetts. While Jeremy hunts (I do mean that literally 😱) new victims Wren is unable to rest and heal without knowing if he is still out there. When word gets out of murders that specifically point to him Wren heads up to New England with her husband, Richard, and friend, Detective Leroux, to help end the murders for good. This is an edge of your seat, mind of a killer, intense book. Dual POV with insight into Wren and Jeremy’s stories. There is no softness here, it gets gory and psychologically messed up and Urquhart unforgivably kills a character I loved so much, but it is written so dang well. This is my favorite thriller series to date, if you like the genre I highly recommend! You 100% have to read The Butcher and The Wren first though, these books are very closely linked.

If you like gory dual pov thrillers that one pov is the mind of a killer and the other is the mind of the person trying to catch them this series is for you!

I would recommend reading the first one before this one as you really do need it as this one continues from that first book and wouldn’t make sense without reading the prior book.

This is also a great thriller for cat and mouse if you really love that vibe!

Thank you so much to the publisher for my ARC and gifted audiobook in exchange for my review!

📕Yeah Jeremy, we got you. You are a sick f*ck! You put on Black Star by David Bowie (I presume) and start your creepy and deadly game with anyone who happens to not keep their mouth shut and fall into your orbit
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📗What we did know was who else knows about your stomach churning fantasies. Also I don’t know to how to say more about this other character without giving away more. So gentle reader, pick up a copy and have your realizations about this new addition
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📘Alaina! Now that you opened a new can of worms and I heard you talk about your whiteboard of inspiration on your living room, please don’t make us wait for long. I cannot wait to continue playing this game 😜

This is the second book in the butcher installment. I read the first and gave it five stars over a year ago now. I was hoping I’d remember enough from the previous plot to enjoy this one, and I did. I would recommend reading the first book for maximum enjoyment, but you could also read this as a stand alone. The book picked right back up where it ended and the depravity of the butcher doesn’t stop. I really enjoyed the pacing and was always wondering what would happen next. Wren is such an interesting character and we still don’t know everything about her. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for the next installation!
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Amazing!! The narrators did such an amazing job! I loved the dual pov. This is such a well done suspense/ cat and mouse!

If you've read and enjoyed The Butcher and the Wren, you'll be excited that book two, The Butcher Game is out now. Dr Wren is back and Jeremy, our serial killer is on the prowl again. Can he be caught?

I was lucky enough to listen to this one on audiobook and boy, was it intensely enthralling! It was dark and disturbing and I loved everything about it. With dual POVs (one being the serial killer!) and the premise of another book in the works, this one is perfect for spooky season. I would read book one first though if you haven't already as this second book picks up where it left off.

I absolutely adored The Butcher and the Wren so i was extremely excited when The Butchers Game came out and i was not disappointed at all. Falling back into the cat and mouse game with Wren and Jeramy was exactly what i needed. Sophie Amoss and Joe Knezevich give an outstanding preformance once again. Especially the way Sophie makes you feel like an old friend with her comforting voice. I highly recommend this fabulous sequel and from the conclusion i hope we get one more. I will definitely be on the look out.

I loved this one! I liked it even more than The Butcher and the Wren. This one is quite the nail biter and I just devoured it. The end was a surprise and emotional. This book also ends on a bit of a cliff hanger and now I have to wait for book 3! Nooooo! (the down side of getting ARCs of series books) I loved the author interview with Urquhart's Morbid co-host at the end of the audiobook too. She says that writing these books is her favorite thing and I hope that she keeps it up because the books are getting even better! The audio narrators for this book were also great!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape for this advance listening copy for review.

The Butcher game is everything you could want in a thriller. Jeremy is the embodiment of pure evil and he’s leaving a trail of brutality in his wake as he goes on the run. Jeremy is a known serial killer that manages to avoid capture while he’s executing a very calculated plan to draw out Wren, his ultimate “end game.” She has gotten away from him twice with her life and he refuses to let it happen a third time.

This is one of the most fast pace unputdownable thrillers I’ve ever read. I absolutely highly recommend this for all readers.