Originally this book blog started off with cooking recipes that relate to the setting of books. There are only so many American dishes I can cook that is “unique” and “edible.” Therefore, instead of cooking American dishes, I will do something else that relates to the setting – show vacation pictures, discuss an interesting historical event/person, and so on. So, up first…Historic Annapolis.
In 2019, Mount Vernon hosted a teacher institute reunion. My family and I decided to attend the reunion. Since we do not take many big vacations, we decided to make this one memorable. First, we hiked in Roanoke, Virginia followed by touring Montpelier (James Madison’s home…we had toured Monticello in 2015). Then, we headed to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where we toured the battlegrounds for seven hours. Instead of staying two days in Gettysburg, we decided to stay one night and head to Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia, we decided to stay one night and go to Annapolis so it would not take as long to drive into D.C. So… that is how we ended up in Historic Annapolis. As you can tell, I am a planner but I also like spontaneity.
Historic Annapolis is an incredible place to visit. I hate that we were only there for one night (we had to be in DC the following day for a private Capitol tour and Hugh Jackman’s concert 😊). I would love to go back and enjoy the historic area more (and see the Chesapeake Bay…it is HUGE…I guess I never really realized how large it is). By the time we went to Historic Annapolis, we had already spent time at three other historic places. Although I love historic architecture, the girls were sort of “over it” by the time we got to Annapolis. Although I thought it was incredibly cool to see the place where the Treaty of Paris was signed (FYI…American Revolution), not so much the girls. I do think, though, my oldest looks back at our pictures and thinks more about all those places now that she has studied more of the historical significance of each. We also stayed at a historic inn on the square, across from the State House.
State House
Mattie who found some slime beside a home that was getting rid of stuff. As you can tell, she was totally “over” looking at historic homes.
Our cute little inn where we stayed.
State House at night.
To the book…
This was a really good book. It took a few chapters to get into the book but the story captivates you. I had never read anything by Ronald Malfi so I was not sure what to expect. Apparently, he writes horror genre, but it seems many Amazon reviewers stated this was more of a psychological thriller. It definitely wasn’t horror to me. As I was reading it, I kept thinking of the movies Mothman Prophecies and White Noise. Although those two movies really weren’t similar to the plot of the book, I just kept getting that feeling.
The basis of the book is a guy’s wife got killed in a shooting at a local store (mass shooting). When he was going through her stuff, he came across some hidden research she had done. Her notes indicated a possible serial killer. As he begins to piece together what she was hiding, he also begins to find out stuff about her.
While you read this book, you get a sense of some paranormal activity. It isn’t scary but definitely some random events. Because I was so “zeroed in” on finding out who the serial killer was, I totally didn’t think about the paranormal activity part (except that it was creepy). This book would have been like many other books until the very ending and then BAM!!!! What just happened?!?!?! What?!?!?! Um, like what?!?!?! I literally had to reread the last few pages then google to see if I could find a review by someone who discussed the book (spoilers) then go back and skim through the beginning of the book that discussed some stuff. When you put together the wild and crazy (and fantastic) twist of an ending, your mind is just blown away. I never want to give away spoilers so I will not go into any more details.
I do want to warn about one graphic sex section. I do think this could have been left out of the book. He was sort of random to me but oh well… if you wanted to be warned of that section (or just skip entirely), it is on page 250 (Chapter 8 part 2) in my book and ends around page 255. You can read page 255. I know many people are different with these types of scenes so just want you to be warned if you do not like that type of reading. It is also one I would not want my 15 year old to read.
Other than those few pages of the book, I thought it was a great read! The ending is definitely worth it to me. If I had time, I would have liked to reread it with the ending in perspective. Maybe it will turn into a movie or tv series… Happy Reading!
