Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Butcher

Like many others, I loved this book until the last 6 pages. I was fully ready to read more by this author and then the ending was the most unsatisfying piece I've read in a long time. I won't be reading more.

First, the good:

You know who the murderer is from the get-go. You're just watching people figure it out. The mixing of POVs and timelines is very well done. The writing is pretty good (a lot of spoonfeeding unfortunately). You come to hate Chief and Matt in an absolutely delicious way. I've never been so fascinated by such human pieces of garbage. Watching the Chief and how evil he is, and how Matt, who has had everything handed to him and blames everyone for his problems, is absolutely fascinating.

And then there's the bad:

Unfortunately, Sam, who is supposed to be their foil, is just kinda bumbling around and everything is spoonfed to her. She has absolutely no agency in any way in this story. But the Chief and Matt do. In fact, they do terrible things to Sam with their agency. And Sam just takes it. Honestly, she could have been gone from the book and been replaced with someone random and you wouldn't notice.

And then there's the unsatisfying (TW on SA)

Matt rapes Sam. And she still wants to visit him in prison. She literally says it. I understand relationships are complicated, but she now has a not shitty boyfriend but she wanrs to "be there" for the exboyfriend who is a murderer, covered for a murderer, and raped her?? Please.

And the Chief dies, suicide by cop. It was how he wanted to go. He gets everything he wants in this book. The one thing he didn't want, the one thing that actually upset him, was the idea of going to prison. He knew how bad it would be. And he got it. Sure "the monster" was gone. And reader satisfaction with it. He got his way right up to the end.

This book was disappointing because every bad person never truly had to deal with their consequences. The reason I ever read about bad characters is the schadenfreude I get from them getting their just desserts. But this didn't just end, it belly flopped into an epilogue.

Content Warnings

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Yes! Yes! Yes! I haven't read a read standard thriller in a bit (I don't count legal thrillers cuz I've been reading a few of those). I missed the feeling of what thriller gave me but I've been afraid to branch out with new authors in fear of disappointment. So, I went to an ol' reliable. I'm slowly getting through JH's backlist because she's become one of my favorites if not my favorite thriller author. Sucks I'm about to be done with her backlist. I only have "Creep" and "Freak" left to go before I'm done. I'm really sad about that. I hope she releases something new soon.

But anyway onto the actual book. Ms. JH did NOT disappoint. For context, I like my thrillers on the darker side and Jennifer never seems to fail on the dark and twisted details in her novels which I appreciate. If you'd read the other review you'd know that in this book we find out who the killer is very early on which was no surprise to me. In fact, nothing in this book really surprised me. I don't read JH's books for her "insane plot twists".

It didn't surprise me that Edward was the killer (so weird just calling him Edward considering he is such a depraved human being). That was my first guess. And it didn't surprise me that he killed his wife and raped his daughter either. That was hinted early on in the book that he had a thing for teen girls. In addition, because I guess those details, it also didn't come as a shock to me that Edward was Matt's father. Nothing shocking, but entertaining to follow nonetheless.

I just like going along with the stories she tells because she never fails to entertain me with her storytelling and this book was no different. I'm not gonna lie cuz we found out the identity of the killer so early on, I wasn't sure how the story was gonna go. I thought it was gonna be an old detective looking back at his case and uncovering new secrets type of situation, but that obviously wasn't the case. 😅It was very entertaining going along with every POV we got in this story. I don't expect to fall in love with characters in thriller books so likeability isn't a determining factor of my enjoyment when it comes to them so I completely understand if one disliked this book cuz the characters were insufferable. But I just found them all to be entertaining.

However, one thing that did bother me throughout the book was the amount of crude language that's in it, especially from Edward Shank. Like his filthy mouth got on my nerves. He's a racist. A sexist. Objectifies women regularly. And aside from his serial killer antics, I'd never want to be around a guy like that. An old timer that feels like it's his way or no way. There is some other crude language throughout the book too and I'm going to coax that up to being a part of the characterization and atmosphere of the book because none of that is in her other books.

I'm so glad it was acknowledged and expanded upon that Matt wasn't a good boyfriend to Sam cuz I called early on when it was mentioned that he wouldn't commit to her. Speaking of their relationship, but not really, although I wasn't a big fan of most of the characters in this book, I really loved Jason. This is not the first time Jennifer has swayed me over with her men (Sav from Little Secrets, I'm looking at you). I just LOVED the way he stood up for Sam and put her first and was very firm with what he wanted. Love him (even though we didn't get much from him)! Some may find them unnecessary, but I love the romantic subplots Jennifer adds in her thriller books (as a romance girly myself). I genuinely wish she'd write romance or even a dark romance considering she's a thriller author. I'd read it even if it was a little novella I'd read it cuz I just can't get enough of her and her romance subplots. They're sooooo good!

I know I'm gushing about this book and how entertaining it was, so why isn't it a five-star? Well, there are a few things. Although I liked the ending, I do feel like many loose ends weren't tied up the way I wanted them.

Sam, literally gets raped by Matt and that's acknowledged but it's never expanded upon after that. Edward kills a few people at the retirement home and we never get anything out of that at all. It's not even mentioned that he's being investigated for it. We just never hear from that plot thread again. Also, I wish he got more of Edward getting his comeuppance. Like he gets to murder who he wants and goes out how he wants. Wish he got some more monologue confession time from him. As well as some info on how the public reacted to finding out he was "The Butcher" since he was so beloved by the town for so many years. And I wanted to see the consequences Matt got from his actions aside from him going to jail. Just a lot of threads not being closed out the way I wish they were.

This was entertaining, but not perfect. Kinda needed to be a bit longer and wish it was darker (weirdly enough; I know, I just enjoy a really dark thriller, sue me). Overall, a great read nonetheless as always from Jennifer. Cant's wait to read "Creep" and "Freak".

Spice Rating:🌶️/5

Content Warnings

xoxo__adr's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Jennifer Hillier never disappoints! This is my fourth book by this author and I have loved every single one. The way this woman can tell a story is unparalleled. It all unfolds so perfectly. Loved it! Highly, HIGHLY recommend!

Content Warnings

fbzreadswhatever's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Content Warnings

dalmavatai's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I love stories about serial killers and this one really gripped me in the beginning, especially as we're following 3 perspectives who have various (and complicated) relationships with one another and who know and don't know different things in the story. However, in the middle the book dragged a lot for me, I felt like it got pretty repetitive and all we did was follow this awful, sadistic, misogynistic piece of shit and for some people that might be fine but I just wanted less of that and more of an actual mystery. The twist at the end was pretty shocking even though I think you could see it coming but I didn't and it was pretty satisfying!

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