Review - Where all the Dead Lie by JT Ellison

Book Summary

The headshot didn't kill Taylor Jackson. But it will haunt.


In her showdown with the murderous Pretender, a bullet taken at close range severed the connection between Taylor’s thoughts and speech. Effectively mute, there’s no telling if her voice will ever come back. Trapped in silence, she is surrounded by ghosts— of the past, of friendships and trusts lost—of the specter of a lost faith in herself and her motives that night.
When Memphis Highsmythe offers Taylor his home in the Scottish highlands to recuperate, her fiancé John Baldwin can’t refuse her excitement, no matter his distrust of the man. At first, Memphis’s drafty and singularly romantic castle seems the perfect place for healing. But shortly the house itself surrounds her like a menacing presence. As Taylor’s sense of isolation and vulnerability grows, so, too, does her grip on reality.

PTSD. Pills. Ghosts. Grudges.

Someone or something is coming after Taylor. But is she being haunted by the dead...or hunted by the living?


My Review - 4 Great to the last Drop

JT Ellison is a great author when writing about serial killers.  This is book 7, the end story of the series.  I thoroughly enjoyed So Close the Hand of Death and feel like these 2 read together complete a great story.

I found this one to be very different from what I expect of JT, no serial killer involvement, only the after affects of almost dying from the hands of one.  Initially I felt the book was all over the place, was it a mystery, romance or ghost story.  I find many story lines are intertwined and create the perfect puzzle but this one felt odd to me.  Then, we get the heart pounding race to the end, total edge of your seat greatness.  The book went from an almost 3 to immediate 4 star for me, a great Psychological Suspense read.  JT may have went for playing with the readers mind with not allowing us to know where it was going but I have to say I don't think it was executed well but it was greatly pulled together at the end.

Sam was dealing with Post-traumatic stress disorder and the way the counselors assisted her was extremely interesting and set the scene in many ways. I did enjoy not knowing what was reality or possible hallucinations.


Quotes I enjoyed

At least Sam was getting a chance to heal; her wounds were hidden, on the inside.  Taylor had to parade around town with her scars, and without her voice.

This was what she wanted, right?  For him to apologize.  To offer to make things right.  They were better as a team. Together they could conquer anything.  But apart, they were two lonely icebergs, drifting silently toward a certain doom.

She felt the nimble touch again, more familiar this time, then it stopped and she was able to breathe and then sit up. She turned on the light, hands at her throat, gasping for air.  Her heart was pounding out of control.. What in the hell had just happened?


Thanks to NetGalley for having it available last year. 
Other Books in series I have reviewed.

All the Pretty Girls  Book 1

So Close the Hand of Death  Book 6