Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons!
Don't Say a Word introduced me to Allie Callahan, a troubled single mother dealing with the demons of her past. With the trauma from her shocking childhood, Allie did what she could to keep her sanity. I loved her story and was hoping to read more of her life prior to this novel. What I did not realize is that this book was book three in a trilogy. I immediately went online and purchased the e-book versions of books one and two with their matching audio books. Now let us see what Allie went through...
Never Smile at Strangers is written by Jennifer Jaynes and is part one of her Strangers trilogy. It is published by Thomas and Mercer, an Amazon imprint. In it we are brought down to Louisiana to Grand Trespass, a troubled community in a panic after a young woman disappears after arguing with her boyfriend. Her best friend, Haley Landry was the last one to see her and she is worried foul play might be involved. Her co-worker, Erica Duvall, is a budding mystery writer that is using her surroundings to write her tale. But Erica is dealing with a missing person herself; her mother. As the days creep by and the authorities and search parties find no trace of the missing girl, Haley continues to search on her own for clues. But in a community like Grand Trespass there are few bright spots.
Across town the man responsible for the current wave of fear is dealing with a fright of his own: his sister. Fifteen year old Allie is trouble with a capital T, and she is acting out in extreme ways. As he pushes down his impulses to kill her, she is pushing all of his buttons. She is dressing in tiny outfits and using the town's older men to make money. She is out of control and he wants her dead most of the time. But it is his troubled past with his homicidal mother that drives him to kill, and Grand Tresspass is about to be less a few citizens by the end of the Summer.
Never Smile at Strangers was a mixed bag for me. I liked the mystery as to who the killer was, and Jaynes even threw in an extra reveal for good measure. But the book appeared chopped up in the editing department, as if some of the book had been trimmed away for some reason. The audio book was released in 2013, while the e-book is dated 2015. I am unsure why these changes were made, but it seemed to lessen the book's narrative with this simplistic writing. I know Jennifer Jaynes does a much better job crafting her stories and the changes were unnecessary. I did not like Allie at all in this book, however I did see where her life in book three stemmed from. She was a trashy teenager that did nothing right, even down to trying to seduce her brother. Much of this was explained away in the beginning of book two (a sample was at the end of book one) as her acting out so she did not lose her brother. Most of it was definitely because of their psychotic mother who murdered several men. Her brother's incestuous relationship with their mother was also a focal point leading to his madness. Their mother even used him to help her kill her victims. Suffice to say this family was disturbed and I felt I needed a shower after reading about them. The killer's identity was bounced around throughout the novel, making it difficult to tack down who he really was. The final reveal was a surprise to me, which made this read worth while. I did like Haley and Erica and I hope that they return in some aspect in book two. They were the normalcy of this book, which was greatly needed.
I read Never Smile at Strangers in part with the narration of actress, Anne Johnstonbrown. This proved to be hard at times if I were reading the book and listening at the same time. Apparently the audio book is longer than the e-book. It would appear that changes were made to the dialogue and the e-book removed a lot of the original story. I found myself stopping the e-book to listen to the added material. After a while I just listened to the audio. Johstonbrown did a good job reading the story, capturing the Louisiana accents very well. But her voices did seem to sound alike at times where I was unsure who was in the scene. As the chapters went by I noticed a change in her delivery, which helped me identify characters better. Her presentation had an irregular speed to it, which made using 1.25x not always a good choice. All-in-all she managed to drive the book forward regardless.
Never Smile at Strangers was a bit of a mess between the e-book and audio book. The audio book worked well to deliver the story better. After finishing this novel I gave it three stars. It was not as exciting as Don't Say a Word, but it was good to have more insight on Allie. I recommend using the audio book instead of the physical book. You will get more story and better fleshed out scenes. This is not Jaynes' best, but it is a vital piece to Allie Callahan's life. And it shows you how far she has come in book three. It is a quick read and will fill up some Spring reading time.
Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what you are reading this week.
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