Facing the truth can be deadlier than facing the killer: Heavy Are The Stones by J.D. Barker and Christine Daigle #HeavyAreTheStones #NetGalley

Ten days to keep a lie.
Ten plagues if you deny.
Ten ways to watch them die.
Five years ago, when Detective Jena Campbell put the Leviticus Killer behind bars, she locked her darkest secret away with him. Something never meant to surface. Something better left to rot with the madman who had destroyed so many lives.
When a strange man calling himself Azrael appears on social media with threats to unleash ten plagues, ten deaths, in ten days, unless Leviticus is released, Jena is forced to reopen that door and face her past.
Unable to share what she knows, she turns to the only man who can help her find Azrael before he kills again, the man she condemned. Jena quickly learns the only thing more terrifying than facing him, is facing herself.

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Hi and welcome to my review of Heavy Are The Stones!

I was 100% prepared to adore this one, but alas, I did not… I’m a J.D. Barker fan, which is why I hit that Read Now button, I didn’t want to wait until publication day to read it, but I dunno, I think there might be more Daigle than Barker to this book.

To be clear, Heavy Are The Stones is by no means a bad book, and if I had gone in with other expectations, I might have enjoyed it more than I did. I didn’t not enjoy it, there were just a couple of things that didn’t quite work for me. Bear with me…

I never really warmed to Jena, the main character, our detective trying to catch the bad guy. I’m not even sure why, but I didn’t. And that’s probably one of the reasons I never really became invested in the story. I never really cared all that much. Moreover, all the fuss about her having a deep, dark secret got on my nerves. Sometimes I appreciate a dangling carrot, sometimes I really really don’t. Moreover, the secret turned out to be a big deal, but also not? I dunno, I guess with all the fuss that came before the reveal, I’d expected something bigger and bolder. And especially, tangible proof of it. Anyone can tell you they know your darkest secret, but knowing (and being able to prove) something is very different from suspecting something.

Heavy Are The Stones packs not one, but two serial killer storylines. I love a mean serial killer thriller as much as the next gal, but that was a little OTT even for me. I’m pretty sure I would have liked it better if the focus had been on one of the killers, with the other one more of a side character. It’s not a seamless blend of the two storylines, but it’s not a dual timeline either, it’s just spouting of information that, honestly, I didn’t really need or care about.

The same goes for the Smart Board data peppering the story. I rather liked it at first, it reminded me of Lincoln Rhyme, but really, there is not that much information to retain, in terms of victims, targets and leads, and little need to repeat it every other chapter.

And yet another aspect that got old fast was the religious aspect. I’m not religious and I have zero patience for religious nuts like Silas. 

The premise is ace, the murders are dark and gruesome and quite inventive, and the final part is fast-faced and action-packed. Still, there were too many elements that didn’t gel with me and it never became more than an okay read for me. 

Heavy Are The Stones is out in digital formats, hardcover and audio on 26 November.

Thanks to Hampton Creek Press and NetGalley for the DRC. All opinions are my own.