Book Review: The Boy by Tami Hoag

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons!

  2019 has been a good year for reading thus far. With six books already added to my monthly count for January, I decided to pick up Tami Hoag's latest novel. Hoag has been a favorite of mine for decades. My reviews for her works have been mostly five star reads. She has a way with writing that plants the reader firmly in the thick of the tale. With closely researched police procedural and vast knowledge of crime, Tami Hoag delivers realism and suspense that I cannot get enough of.

    The Boy is Tami Hoag's latest release from Dutton Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. In it we return to the French Triangle of Louisiana and the lives of married detectives Annie Broussard and Nick Fourcade. The two have a young son, named Justin, who is the light of their lives. Although police work occasionally gets in the way of their relationship, they work hard to maintain their love for one another. One evening the couple is called to handle a recent murder. What they discover makes them determined to find the killer at any cost.

  Lying dead in his bedroom is seven year old KJ Gauthier. A victim of a viscous stabbing, the child is left in a state that tugs at Broussard and Fourcade as not only detectives, but parents.  KJ's murder is senseless and devastating. His mother escaped the killer, fleeing to a nearby house for help. After sustaining injuries she was rushed to the hospital. Upon her interview Annie and Nick notice that Genevieve Gauthier's story seems to change ever so slightly with each interview. Broussard and Fourcade are convinced that either she is lying or her prescription drug and alcohol use may have impaired her perception of the events. But who could have killed a child and why? As the detective duo uncover more evidence, they are confronted with an unspeakable answer.

  The Boy was a mystery that had me going in many directions trying to solve the murder of KJ Gauthier. Hoag delivered many clues to the killer's identity, but she also added in many twists that changed my mind a few times. There are a few triggers in this book involving domestic violence and violence towards children. Hoag did not hold back from these topics, and it made the story even more chilling. Her description of one character abusing his family was difficult to read, but integral to the book's final outcome. Her characters were fleshed out, and felt as if I had crossed paths with them once or twice in my life. Annie and Nick were the perfect detective couple to solve this case. With their own son at the forefront of their minds, I found that they were written with a realism that I do not always find in crime novels. Hoag's villains were dangerous and her protagonists were characters that I rooted for. And after all was said and done I was left with a finale that surprised me a few times.   

  I read this book in part with the amazing narration of actress Hillary Huber. Her grasp of accents and her dramatic presentation of the Boy elevated this tale's suspense. Huber has never disappointed me with her voice work, and the Boy was no different. I look forward to more audio books read by her.


  The Boy is another five star read for me. As with her other novels I was given a juicy tale of murder and motive that ended in a shocking finale. There a few other books by Hoag involving these characters and the French Triangle of Louisiana that they live in. I will definitely be checking them out soon. If you need a gritty crime novel that delivers a smart and chilling finale, the Boy is your book. This a cuddle-under-covers-and-sacrifice-sleep kind of book. Enjoy!

 Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what are some of your favorite thrillers.

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  Because there is always time to read,
   Xepherus3 



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