Sub-plot confusing. ( )

NYPD Detective Leigh O’Donnell returns to her hometown of Copper Falls, Ohio with her daughter after being suspended from her job with the NYPD, which also puts a strain on her marriage (for reasons that are divulged later in the narrative). She joins her brother Ronan at the local PD investigating the mysterious death of three local men who apparently died from drowning in the Falls- suspected homicides, the cause of death being uncannily familiar to the death of three high school students years ago. As she progresses with the investigation it becomes evident that there are secrets in this small town that more than a few people would like to keep buried.

The Hunter by Jennifer Herrera has an intriguing plot, as far as the mystery element is concerned. I was impressed with the beginning of the novel and the build-up of the mystery, the historical context of the small town and the mysterious occurrences in its past. However, there are multiple threads to the narrative - the events leading to Leigh’s suspension from the NYPD, the troubles in her marriage, her relationship with Copper falls and her family history, the history of the town and its residents and of course, her new assignment investigating the murders in a small- town with a lot of secrets. I felt there was too much going on which distracted me from the actual mystery. I enjoyed how the mystery was developing (including the paranormal element) but with so much focus on the other aspects of her life, the pace slows down considerably after the halfway mark leading up to an ending that is a tad convoluted and not satisfying. The resolution of the mystery left me with a lot of questions and I felt that Leigh’s talents as a strong-willed, intuitive law enforcement officer took a backseat to her personal life. This is an ambitious debut and though I found some parts of the narrative engaging, overall, I wasn’t happy with how the story played out.

My Rating : 2.5⭐ rounded up!

Many thanks to Penguin Group-Putnam and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in the review are my own. ( )

After reckless behavior costs NYPD detective Leigh O’Donnell her job and her marriage, she returns with her four-year-old daughter to her beautiful hometown of Copper Falls, Ohio. Leigh had stayed away for more than a decade—even though her brother and a trio of loving uncles still call it home—because, while the town may seem idyllic, something rotten lies at its core. Three men in town have drowned in what Leigh suspects to be a triple homicide. She hopes that by finding out who killed them, she just might get her life back on course.

Headstrong and intuitive, Leigh isn’t afraid to face a killer, but she has to do more than that to discover the truth about what happened to those men. She must unravel a web of secrets going back generations, and, in doing so, plumb the darkness within herself.

I liked the book and the talk about ancient caves and artifacts. I did not like the ending. ( )

Strange - so strange - chopping up rabbits for a pie while questioning someone during a murder investigation. Really strange - a detective holds a gun to her partner’s head and we are really not sure what predicated this insanity and never are given a satisfactory answer. And why would the police chief in small town Copper Falls, Ohio want to hire this hometown woman knowing of her behavioral aberration. Never string a reader so long that you risk losing their interest.

There is just too much going on in this story - the breakdown or a marriage, the race card, the sexual card, the biracial card, the family trouble card, small town drama and corruption, all circling around each other, poking at the story and ultimately distracting from what could have been a tightly drawn murder mystery.

Thank you G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for a copy ( )

The Hunter by Jennifer Herrera is a highly recommended debut investigative novel of suspense.

Leigh O’Donnell, former NYPD detective, has lost her job due to a poor choice. Her husband, NYPD Police Captain Eric Walker and commanding officer, was the one who had to suspend her and then the two separated. When her brother Ronan calls and tells Leigh she has a job at the Copper Falls, Ohio, Police Department, she resists until he admits three dead bodies have been found. Now she is taking her four-year-old daughter Simone to Copper Falls, her hometown, where her brother and three uncles live. The town may look picture perfect, but there is something that has been amiss there for years and some of the towns darkest secrets are about to be exposed.

While it is an investigative novel, The Hunter in many ways is more an atmospheric in-depth character study. The good news is that Leigh is an interesting, complicated character to study. She has been away from the town for a decade. Even when she is investigating the deaths of the three men, she is also dealing with complicated memories and emotions. Her interactions with the world around her are very sensory and unique. She is a character that is full of pain due to trauma from her childhood, but also a result of more recent events. And she is a devoted, loving mother and a doggedly determined investigator.

The actual murder investigation is very interesting and compelling due to the questions that arise in this even paced novel. The investigation follows several varied directions and borders on the supernatural at times. Leigh retains her interest as a character, which keeps things rolling along while there are plenty of questions and suppositions to keep interest high. The family drama intertwined in the plot adds a different dimension to the investigation. In some ways there were a few too many extraneous story lines that could have been eliminated.

The writing is quite good. It will be interesting to see the next novel Herrera writes and see if it is more a character study or procedural.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Putnam via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/01/the-hunter.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5242953789 ( )