Hello Again by Brenda Novak is a fascinating mystery weaved into a chilling romantic suspense novel.

The paperback was a gift and it certainly sounded like something I would like to read.

Blurb:

SHE CAN MAKE SENSE OF A COMPLEX CRIMINAL MIND.

Evelyn Talbot, a psychiatrist at a maximum-security prison in Alaska, studies some of the world’s worst serial killers. But she’s about to meet her most elusive patient at Hanover House yet: Dr. Lyman Bishop, AKA the Zombie Maker given his fondness for performing ice-pick lobotomies on his victims. A brilliant cancer researcher, Bishop is either the most cunning psychopath Evelyn has ever encountered―or he is wrongly convicted.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CRIMINAL CAN SEE INTO HER OWN?
When a new ice-pick fatality occurs, it seems Bishop really was wrongly convicted. Except…Evelyn has a personal connection to the victim and that suggests the killer may be someone from her own past: Jasper Moore, her high school boyfriend who tortured her and left her for dead when she was only sixteen. Jasper also murdered three of her friends―and was never caught. Is he trying to send a message with this copycat crime? The only thing Evelyn knows for sure is that if Jasper is on her trail, she might not be able to escape again . . .

Unfortunately, I started into this series with book 2 and, as a result, I wasn’t hooked the entire way through the way I would have liked to have been. I really liked Amarok, and the older woman younger man angle worked for me, but I couldn’t seem to connect with the characters and immerse myself in their story. Every time “the lower 48” was mentioned I felt excluded, like an outsider and, because of that, I was able to put the book down here and there. Mind you, the writing was good and toward the end it became a real page turner.

That was not how I thought it would end!!

What can I say? The ending was cleverly written. Now I’m curious…

4 stars.

Interesting Fact: I considered wheeling the book against the wall after reading the last page. The pages were growing thinner but I wasnt getting the answers I wanted–a sign that by the end I was hooked.

Hit me up in the comments with your favourite thrillers of all time. I’m always looking for different fiction to read.