#allthebookreviews: The Fifth to Die by J.D. Barker @HMHCo
The Fifth to Die
by J.D. Barker
Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for these copies!
Jessica and I were absolutely FLOORED by The Fourth Monkey and were ecstatic to receive copies of book two in the 4MK Thriller series.
See below for our thoughts!
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publish Date: July 10, 2018
Hardcover
544 Pages
Series: 4MK Thriller #2
Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
In the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.
Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days.
While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.
Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.
Look, I LOVED The Fourth Monkey. LOVED! This particular book felt like a filler. Lots of characters. Lots of ad guys. Lots of lots of lots and while there were moments I just wanted to put this one down and not finish it, I also still needed to know what was going to happen. However, this left me wanting... badly. I'm kinda pissed about this big ass tome that felt like it got me nowhere. I'm hoping it's that middle part where the next book will be the big pay off... that's what I'm counting on anyways. You absolutely need to read The Fourth Monkey (which I HIGHLY recommend) in order to even have a semblance of enjoying this one. I almost felt like three stars was generous but I'm banking on the next one being as brilliant as the first one. I've seen this happen and then am grateful for books like these. C'mon Barker - I'm counting on you!
Told through multiple POVs, I will say that you are never confused on where you are within the story. My favorite parts were with the girls and the bad guy. The rest was very procedural/investigative, which was the majority of the storyline.
I'm definitely going to continue on because I am extremely curious on where Barker will take us next. I have big faith it's all going to be extremely worth it.
3/5 stars
Jessica's Review:
Last year THE FOURTH MONKEY was a book that everyone buzzed about. The lovers of thrillers and serial killers all loved this one and couldn't get enough of it. The #allthebookreviews duo read it and LOVED it. So when book two, THE FIFTH TO DIE, was coming out, it was a must-read.
This is one, since you need to read book one first, that I don't want to give away too much about the plot because I don't want to spoil anything. There is a new killer on the loose in Chicago, but Detective Porter still can't get his focus off of Anton Bishop, also known as the Fourth Monkey Killer. His obsession in tracking him down leads him to following Bishop's mother. You thought the mind of a serial killer was crazy, try going into the mind of his mother.
This one is a mammoth and it did have it's moments where the pacing slowed down, which kind of took me out of it when compared to book one. It still kept me intrigued and I had to know what was going to happen. I've noticed this can happen a lot with different series like this - the second or third books end up turning into a kind of filler to help build the next books in the series. Always worth it in the end to continue on to the next book - which I need now because of that ending!
Overall, definitely a series worth getting into! Book one will have you hooked and book two will keep you longing for book three to come.
I give this 4/5 stars!
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