Published: September 13, 2022
Publisher: Berkley
Series: Monster Hunter Mystery #1
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 336 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 3 Stars
Synopsis:
A Wisconsin bookstore owner and cryptozoologist is asked to investigate a series of deaths that just might be proof of a fabled lake monster in this first installment of a new mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Annelise Ryan.
Morgan Carter, owner of the Odds and Ends bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin, has a hobby. When she’s not tending the store, she’s hunting cryptids–creatures whose existence is rumored, but never proven to be real. It’s a hobby that cost her parents their lives, but one she’ll never give up on.
So when a number of bodies turn up on the shores of Lake Michigan with injuries that look like bites from a giant unknown animal, police chief Jon Flanders turns to Morgan for help. A skeptic at heart, Morgan can’t turn down the opportunity to find proof of an entity whose existence she can’t definitively rule out. She and her beloved rescue dog, Newt, journey to the Death’s Door strait to hunt for a homicidal monster in the lake–but if they’re not careful, they just might be its next victims.
I like the concept of this book, which is obviously why I picked it up. What book nerd doesn’t like the idea of a cryptozoologist investigating suspicious drownings, especially when that cryptozoologist also owns a store that sells mystery books and oddities? That had me hook, line, and sinker.
Morgan Carter is called in by a local sheriff to help investigate two suspicious deaths on Lake Michigan. Both men were found with strange crush injuries that look like large bite marks and were found nowhere near where their boats were found. Though she may be a cryptozoologist, she’s a skeptic at heart and will only believe such a lake monster exists with incontrovertible proof. It’s obvious from almost the very beginning that it’s not a lake monster, thanks to an almost immediate break-in at Morgan’s store where a warning note is left alongside a wounded employee.
I wish the supernatural element had been played out more – don’t immediately show me that it’s just some bad guys! It just felt like an episode of Scooby Doo after that and I was just waiting for Morgan to yank the mask off the bad guy and reveal their motives at the end. Then, to add insult to plot-injury, Morgan sees bright yellow ‘eyes’ while boating on the lake and my first thought was “oh, it’s some sort of submersible”. The underwhelming mystery aspect was probably my biggest disappointment.
While the story is predominantly about the lake monster mystery, there are plenty of chapters dedicated to fleshing out Morgan’s life history. She’s born of a wealthy shipping family and has loads of money and grew up hunting cryptids with her parents around the world. It’s interesting, but the amount of detail dedicated to it almost seems a little pointless. If I had to guess, it might be more relevant in future installments of the series though it does explain her hesitancy to get involved with the handsome Sheriff Jon Flanders.
Overall, this won’t go down on a list of favorite books because it was ultimately mediocre and there were quite a few small things I didn’t like that left me feeling uncharitable. The character dialogue is stiff and was compounded by a narrator that sounded like she was voicing a particularly depressing episode of Dateline. There was an incredible amount of info-dump, which would be cool if I were reading the wikipedia page on Lake Michigan or Door county, but not in my fictional mystery story. And, considering Morgan is supposed to be a fairly savvy, skeptical woman, she sure made some fantastically stupid moves. There were positives, like the gorgeous scenery that actually had me looking at flight prices and, as I said, the concept is really cool. I also love a good romance subplot, especially when it takes its time and makes sense with the story. This wasn’t the book for me, but it may appeal to someone else much more!
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