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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What an interesting and unique thriller! I was hooked from the beginning. I usually don't like when amateurs solve crimes (they're too cozy mystery like) but Theo"s logic is based mostly on science not convenient coincidence. I have no idea if the science based on real science but it felt real. I'm not sure I've read a book where an ex-paramedic biologist solves a crime. I found it fascinating..
It's perfectly paced and I actually felt anxious at the end. It didn't drag out and kept you turning the pages. I'll definitely be reading more in this series.
It's perfectly paced and I actually felt anxious at the end. It didn't drag out and kept you turning the pages. I'll definitely be reading more in this series.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is so outlandish and absurd... it started out really wonderfully, clever, and intelligent, but then it began leaping from one thing to the next with no logical explanation, so I stuck on, hoping it would work itself out. It has plenty of redeemable qualities, which is why I gave it 2 stars. But, it all comes unravelling at the end in the most ludicrous final third act and an ending is literally straight out of, like, a Marvel movie with guns and some giant armoured monster iron man and a car crash and a shootout that is literally written “BOOM BOOM BOOM! BANG BANG BANG!” (I’m not even kidding) and the protagonist suddenly has all these one-liners and like seriously wtf is even going on anymore. I though this would be a smart seductive thriller and despite its initial likability it just derails entirely into farce. [SPOILERS] He keeps showing up with dead bodies and nobody questions him. He kidnaps a fucking corpse and stages his own death and people are like “oh Theo you’re so crazy” 🤷🏼♂️ Plot holes. Lack of logic. A million characters that never return. Things happen so conveniently (really in an ENTIRE forest he’s able too constantly keep digging up dead bodies by little more than guessing?) ... the whole thing becomes too absurd for words. This guy would have been arrested on countless occasions as well. It’s a stupid book that pretends it’s so clever. I’m kinda annoyed I finished it. I’m just annoyed.
This review contains major spoilers. So if you don't want spoilers then STOP READING NOW.
At first I kind of liked this book but the farther I got into it the more unbelievable it became. By the time I got near the end I just wanted it to be over.
There were too many plot holes. For example:
1. In the beginning chapters Detective Glenn says hikers found Juniper's body that morning. Then a few chapters later Theo says it's late afternoon of the same day when a deputy drops him back at his motel room. That means someone found Juniper's body, police processed the scene, determined it was a murder, found out that Juniper had Theo's book and some research on her iPad, discovered Theo was working in the area, questioned the mechanic, questioned Theo, examined Juniper's body and found bear fur in her wounds, had an expert from Fish and Wildlife confirm that the wounds were consistent with a bear mauling, and still had everything wrapped up before dinnertime. I don't think there's any universe where a police department can work that fast. And let's not forget that they brought Theo in for questioning shortly after he woke up in the morning because apparently police departments in Montana can find suspects that fast. Which brings me to my second point.
2. The police department sends half a dozen police cars and an armored van to break down the door to Theo's hotel room. Not to arrest him mind you but simply to bring him in for questioning. Right. Cause that's obviously how police departments work.
3. The area where Juniper was working was in/near Filmount county. According to Theo at the end of chapter 25 it's 4 hours to Hudson's Creek from the motel where he was staying. The motel was only 1/4 mile from the edge of Filmount county. Yet near the end of the book when Theo tells the police that the killer is a tow truck driver both Detective Glenn and Whitmyer immediately know the guy he's talking about because apparently there's only one tow truck business that covers that part of Montana. I've never been to or lived in Montana but it seems very unrealistic that one tow truck business would cover at least 200 hundred miles. I looked at the town in Montana where my cousin lives (which is 2 hours from the nearest Walmart) and they have at least 6 different towing businesses within 2 hours of there.
4. So the killer framed Juniper's and Rhea's murders to look like bear attacks because he was interrupted and couldn't bury them. Yet he had time to plant hairs from a bear at both scenes and collect some of their blood to plant on bears. Rhea was even still alive when she was found by the edge of a road because he hadn't had time to kill her. So what does he do? Attack women and disable them, gather some blood and plant bear hair just in case, and then finish killing them? It makes no sense.
5. Theo finds Summer's body and takes it with him to the police station so wolves won't eat it. He tells the police chief that he's that the guy who also found the body in Hudson Creek. Apparently that doesn't strike the chief as suspicious at all. Instead he takes a statement and has Theo show them where he found the body and then lets him go. Then Theo finds 3 more bodies and calls their grave locations into the police as anonymous tips. Yet law enforcement completely ignores him (except for one lone FBI agent) and just lets him go on digging up bodies. The FBI agent doesn't even question him. He apparently just secretly follows him around. Yeah. That's realistic.
6. What happened to Gus? Seward tells Theo that Gus is inside Jillian's house. Once they go inside though there's no mention of Gus. When they leave to go to Glenn's station and get run off the road by the killer there's still no mention of Gus. Maybe Seward was lying to Theo to get him to shut up but if that was the case wouldn't Theo have thought to ask where Gus actually was once he saw that he wasn't in the house?
7. Glen said they were taking his car, the ambulance and a 2nd car (Seward's?) to his office. When they get run off the road by the tow truck though there's just Glenn's truck and the ambulance. Then they want to run from the killer but Glenn's truck and the ambulance are wrecked and so they plan to run on foot. The killer was in the forest shooting at them and I'm pretty sure he wasn't carrying his tow truck with them. Sure maybe he didn't leave the keys in the ignition but he probably had a bunch of weapons in there they could have at least used to defend themselves. Instead when Sergeant Bryant shows up they want to use his car to get out of there. Which doesn't work of course because the killer shoots it full of holes.
I have no idea how accurate the science stuff was because I know next to nothing about that but the plot holes above were what bugged me the most. I definitely won't be reading the 2nd and 3rd books.
At first I kind of liked this book but the farther I got into it the more unbelievable it became. By the time I got near the end I just wanted it to be over.
There were too many plot holes. For example:
1. In the beginning chapters Detective Glenn says hikers found Juniper's body that morning. Then a few chapters later Theo says it's late afternoon of the same day when a deputy drops him back at his motel room. That means someone found Juniper's body, police processed the scene, determined it was a murder, found out that Juniper had Theo's book and some research on her iPad, discovered Theo was working in the area, questioned the mechanic, questioned Theo, examined Juniper's body and found bear fur in her wounds, had an expert from Fish and Wildlife confirm that the wounds were consistent with a bear mauling, and still had everything wrapped up before dinnertime. I don't think there's any universe where a police department can work that fast. And let's not forget that they brought Theo in for questioning shortly after he woke up in the morning because apparently police departments in Montana can find suspects that fast. Which brings me to my second point.
2. The police department sends half a dozen police cars and an armored van to break down the door to Theo's hotel room. Not to arrest him mind you but simply to bring him in for questioning. Right. Cause that's obviously how police departments work.
3. The area where Juniper was working was in/near Filmount county. According to Theo at the end of chapter 25 it's 4 hours to Hudson's Creek from the motel where he was staying. The motel was only 1/4 mile from the edge of Filmount county. Yet near the end of the book when Theo tells the police that the killer is a tow truck driver both Detective Glenn and Whitmyer immediately know the guy he's talking about because apparently there's only one tow truck business that covers that part of Montana. I've never been to or lived in Montana but it seems very unrealistic that one tow truck business would cover at least 200 hundred miles. I looked at the town in Montana where my cousin lives (which is 2 hours from the nearest Walmart) and they have at least 6 different towing businesses within 2 hours of there.
4. So the killer framed Juniper's and Rhea's murders to look like bear attacks because he was interrupted and couldn't bury them. Yet he had time to plant hairs from a bear at both scenes and collect some of their blood to plant on bears. Rhea was even still alive when she was found by the edge of a road because he hadn't had time to kill her. So what does he do? Attack women and disable them, gather some blood and plant bear hair just in case, and then finish killing them? It makes no sense.
5. Theo finds Summer's body and takes it with him to the police station so wolves won't eat it. He tells the police chief that he's that the guy who also found the body in Hudson Creek. Apparently that doesn't strike the chief as suspicious at all. Instead he takes a statement and has Theo show them where he found the body and then lets him go. Then Theo finds 3 more bodies and calls their grave locations into the police as anonymous tips. Yet law enforcement completely ignores him (except for one lone FBI agent) and just lets him go on digging up bodies. The FBI agent doesn't even question him. He apparently just secretly follows him around. Yeah. That's realistic.
6. What happened to Gus? Seward tells Theo that Gus is inside Jillian's house. Once they go inside though there's no mention of Gus. When they leave to go to Glenn's station and get run off the road by the killer there's still no mention of Gus. Maybe Seward was lying to Theo to get him to shut up but if that was the case wouldn't Theo have thought to ask where Gus actually was once he saw that he wasn't in the house?
7. Glen said they were taking his car, the ambulance and a 2nd car (Seward's?) to his office. When they get run off the road by the tow truck though there's just Glenn's truck and the ambulance. Then they want to run from the killer but Glenn's truck and the ambulance are wrecked and so they plan to run on foot. The killer was in the forest shooting at them and I'm pretty sure he wasn't carrying his tow truck with them. Sure maybe he didn't leave the keys in the ignition but he probably had a bunch of weapons in there they could have at least used to defend themselves. Instead when Sergeant Bryant shows up they want to use his car to get out of there. Which doesn't work of course because the killer shoots it full of holes.
I have no idea how accurate the science stuff was because I know next to nothing about that but the plot holes above were what bugged me the most. I definitely won't be reading the 2nd and 3rd books.
This book was smart, fast paced, entertaining and a bit creepy. Theo, our protagonist, is not your usual main character who is smooth and ready to face danger. Instead, we have a brainy scientist who refuses to accept the police's view that a murder was caused by a bear. It was very intriguing (and creepy) to read about all the missing people cases that had ended up in murder, but was assumed to be just someone skipping town. I look forward to reading the next Naturalist book and seeing how Theo handles how this one case affected his life so dramatically (and see what case he tackles next!).
I received this book as part of a giveaway in exchange for an honest review. "The Naturalist" was a slower read than usual for me. I'm a crime/mystery junkie and that's predominantly the genre I seek out. However, this book took many chapters to really capture my attention and have me flipping pages at my usual speed. Professor Theo Cray is a scientist, specifically a biologist that uses computer technology to predict patterns and locate the specific species he is researching. During the break before the new school year begins, he is informed that one of his students has passed away in what appears to be a bear attack to the untrained eye. However, he believes something more sinister is going on. He begins to formulate theories and gather evidence to support his claim that everyone in law enforcement seems to outright dismiss as unrealistic. Despite being brushed aside as a typical crazy scientist, he begins to dig deeper into the disappearances of young women in the woods, seemingly under the guise of other bear attacks. The book was very slow to start in my opinion, maybe because it got a bit tedious for me with the scientific explanations and details. However, towards the end things got a bit more fast-paced and I was hooked.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated