BOOK REVIEW: The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
Frankie's Book Reviews #9
I refused to check any reviews of The Night Shift by Alex Finlay prior to reading the book because I wanted to love it and I didn’t want any lovers or haters of the book to muddle that for me at the start. I have a habit of relying too much on the thoughts and words of others instead of letting a book marinate with only me and my experience. But a murder mystery based in my home state of New Jersey with twists and turns? This one was right up my alley and delivered for the most part, even if some parts left me wanting or disappointed me.
The Night Shift has a 3rd person narrator that follows a rotating group of characters all connected in some way to the Blockbuster Murders that happened in 1999 and the nearly mirror case that happens in the present at a Dairy Creamery. The book starts focused in on a survivor of the Blockbuster attacks, Ella Monroe, who gets called to assist with another survivor, Jesse Duvall, from the Dairy Creamery and the story steamrolls ahead from there. Additional main characters include Chris Ford, the brother of the accused murderer, Vince Whitaker who vanished after being released for too little evidence, Sarah Keller, an FBI agent who isn’t fully convinced Vince was ever even guilty and her new partner Atticus.
The story bobs and weaves through three days from character to character establishing the plot and then unraveling the mystery thread by thread. I was engaged from the start with the flawed, complicated characters that are all dealing with trauma and navigating the ripples caused by surfacing truths. I love a good murder mystery and I really enjoyed Special Agent Sarah Keller in particular. She’s just a great character all around, level-headed and observant while also remaining empathetic and human. She was probably my favorite. The rest were all chaotic, overly emotional and scrambling, which certainly created a vibe. The book itself is definitely a page turner, with short chapters that typically end with cliff hangers and leave the reader saying, “I can read just one more…”
Yet aghhhh! Things I wanted to happen didn’t happen, which always bums me out a little bit but I try to remain objective about the author’s intent. Which brings me to the ending. The Day Three portion of the book moves like a non-stop freight train, barreling ahead and leaving behind details that I feel like the reader was owed, in some ways, like it wasn’t all completely fleshed out on the story board. And then some of the twists and turns felt like they were only there for shock factor but not necessarily because it was the best direction for the story. Like yes, I didn’t predict any of the twists in this one, but they all felt a little rushed and glossed over and like the reader just had to accept it. I wanted so much more out of the last half that I didn’t feel I got because the focus was “surprise, surprise,” but not the delicately crafted details we got in Day One. I felt very much like, “Oh, so that’s where this is going,” then, “Oh, I wish it didn’t go that way.” There is an underdeveloped love story here as well that really left me wanting and deserved a lot more attention.
So this wasn’t my favorite book that I’ve read over the past couple of months, which I really wanted it to be, but it kept me engaged nonetheless. I absolutely had to know what happened and spent the rest of my Sunday reading Day 3 just to reach the conclusion. And even if I was disappointed with the direction of two or three of the major story lines, there’s one scene at the end that certainly gives the reader a rush. It was good, but it could’ve been great.
Frankie’s Book Reviews Rating:
