It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in Linden, New Jersey, four teenage girls working the night shift are attacked. Only one survives. Police quickly identify a suspect who flees and is never seen again.
Fifteen years later, in the same town, four teenage employees working late at an ice cream store are attacked, and again only one makes it out alive.
Both surviving victims recall the killer speaking only a few final words… “Goodnight, pretty girl.”
In the aftermath, three lives intersect: the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive her tragedy; the brother of the original suspect, who’s convinced the police have it wrong; and the FBI agent, who’s determined to solve both cases. On a collision course toward the truth, all three lives will forever be changed, and not everyone will make it out alive.
Twisty, poignant, and redemptive, The Night Shift is a story about the legacy of trauma and how the broken can come out on the other side, and it solidifies Alex Finlay as one of the new leading voices in the world of thrillers.
The Review
THE NIGHT SHIFT by Alex Finlay.
Reading this book is like watching an action movie. The tension and pacing were high and quick. If you like that sort of thing.
The story, although set in the 90’s, is not immersive. I’ve heard some compare it to SURVIVE THE NIGHT and although I see the similarities and the proposed readers are similar, I’d suggest this thriller is a bit rougher around the edges and straight to the point.
Which may be its intention.
It comes across as very masculine. And what I mean by that is in the efficiency of the plot. There’s not a lot of explaining going on. Motives are not pondered, it’s declarative and concise. There’s not a lot of conjecture.
The thrilling part is not necessarily peeling back each character like an onion, it’s more following a case. It’s really more of a procedural and it’s similar to thrillers like those written by James Patterson, Lee Childs, and Jonathan Kellerman.
A crime thriller.
Maybe I was in the mood for something else when I picked it up.
I would recommend it to readers who don’t need finessing or nuance.
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for this advanced copy!
⭐️⭐️⭐️
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