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ncrabb's review against another edition
If you’re on the hunt for mysteries that include a lovably caustic heroine whose dialogue is snappy and crisp, you need to acquaint yourself with Keye Street. This is the second of what appears to be a three-book series so far.
Keye is of Asian descent, adopted by white parents, and raised in Atlanta. She’s a former FBI profiler who had to abandon the job when the booze got in her way. These days, she attends AA meetings, runs a small private investigation agency, and tolerates her pot-smoking computer whiz kid partner, Neil. Her boyfriend, Aaron, is an Atlanta cop, and that explains how the couple’s Independence Day plans were pretty much destroyed. Aaron got a call that a 13-year-old kid had been strangled, and not long after that, Keye gets word from her drug-addict cousin that someone is stocking her and breaking into her house. No one will take her seriously, so the cousin calls on Keye to help.
Is the stocker a serial killer dubbed “The Birthday Killer” by the Atlanta press? If this seems too dark for you, read on. It seems there’s a crematorium in north Georgia that is mixing chicken feed and cement with the ashes in the urns of the deceased. It’s up to Keye to pull off a late-night break-in to figure out what’s with the chicken feed.
You won’t see the end coming, and Keye Street’s snappy comebacks will make you shake your head and smile frequently. Williams makes Atlanta live in what I assume are some pretty realistic ways. Incidentally, I read the first book in this series earlier this year, but it was during the turbulent and difficult spring, and I was just too disjointed to review it at the time.
Keye is of Asian descent, adopted by white parents, and raised in Atlanta. She’s a former FBI profiler who had to abandon the job when the booze got in her way. These days, she attends AA meetings, runs a small private investigation agency, and tolerates her pot-smoking computer whiz kid partner, Neil. Her boyfriend, Aaron, is an Atlanta cop, and that explains how the couple’s Independence Day plans were pretty much destroyed. Aaron got a call that a 13-year-old kid had been strangled, and not long after that, Keye gets word from her drug-addict cousin that someone is stocking her and breaking into her house. No one will take her seriously, so the cousin calls on Keye to help.
Is the stocker a serial killer dubbed “The Birthday Killer” by the Atlanta press? If this seems too dark for you, read on. It seems there’s a crematorium in north Georgia that is mixing chicken feed and cement with the ashes in the urns of the deceased. It’s up to Keye to pull off a late-night break-in to figure out what’s with the chicken feed.
You won’t see the end coming, and Keye Street’s snappy comebacks will make you shake your head and smile frequently. Williams makes Atlanta live in what I assume are some pretty realistic ways. Incidentally, I read the first book in this series earlier this year, but it was during the turbulent and difficult spring, and I was just too disjointed to review it at the time.
blood_rose_books's review against another edition
3.0
This is the second book in Amanda Kyle Williams' Keye Street series. I think that you could read this as a standalone novel as there is not much related back to the first book, some of the relationships that Keye has and some of the previous events are mentioned but overall they do not affect the plot. However, I really enjoyed the first book The Stranger You Seek, so you may just want to pick it up for a good read. Williams picks up a few months after The Stranger You Seek, and Keye is still trying to comprehend and deal with what has happened to her, but she has bills to pay and White Trash needs to eat so she takes on more cases than she really should.
Everyone thinks that Miki is just off her Meds again and is seeing things, hearing noises; I mean Miki is an alcoholic and a drug user so why should anyone believe what she has to say. Good think that Miki has a fairly famous cousin, well famous for many of the wrong reason and Keye Street has been taught that she cannot say no to family. Miki is convinced that she is being stalked and wants Keye to figure out who especially when she claims there was someone in her house. APD Lieutenant Aaron Rauser also needs Keye's help when a thirteen year old boy is found strangle and he needs Keye's help with the profile. However, Keye also needs to pay the bills, so she has accepted a paying job investigating the contamination of cremated ashes, even though it sounds like the missing cow from the year before, but it pays the rent. With all of this going on Keye needs to keep her focus on all the cases if she has a hope of getting everyone out alive.
It took me awhile to get into this book. I am unsure why as I enjoyed the first novel, but for some reason this book was unable to grab my attention right off. I'm not sure if it was the flow, or the book picked up a little too far after the first (I believe it is a few months later) but the first few chapters in the book were unable to really grab onto me. However, once I got past this funk in the beginning I realized once again why I enjoyed the first book, Keye Street. Keye is a great character who is strong, cynical, witty and flawed, and well very real. Her struggle with addiction, her adoption and her relationships are what draws the reader in, and then watching her work on cases, while attempting to quell her need for a drink is fantastic.
Williams knows how to write characters, there is depth in all the characters that she has created, but the main focus is on Keye. I appreciate that Williams does not let Keye forget that she was an alcoholic, there is always that need for a drink and with job that Keye does there is a need and temptation constantly. I liked that Williams took the time to show more of how Keye struggled with her relationship with her mother and south and what it was like growing up as a Chinese child in the American South (and really shows how some people minds have not changes). I felt that the reader gets to know a lot more about Keye in this novel that the first novel, especially with the introduction to Keye's cousin Miki, who is a lot like Keye, even if she does not want to think that, but Miki is also things that Keye thinks that she could never achieve.
I like that Williams has the intersection of two different lifestyles with Keye, the one where she helps Rauser out and the one where she does different types of private investigator work, in this case cement mix in urns instead of a family members ashes. Of course this is taking place in a small town and Keye in a small town you know that there are going to be some funny moments. I like that Williams uses the small town setting to add the humor and give the reader some relief from the intensity of her other cases. Some people may find the intersection of the two different cases to be a negative because it takes away for a while from the main plot, which is Miki’s stalker but what people do not realize, is that this is what most investigations are like. An officer, detective or private investigator will have multiple cases they are working on, and at times cases are put aside to work other. So yes, the main plot does take the back seat to the ashes investigation, but this just makes it more true to life. I personally liked the funeral investigation, more than the case that involved Keye's cousin Miki. I found that the funeral investigation was more interesting and involved more of Keye's detective work, than Miki's case, until later in the book. Additionally, the ashes investigation had everything that a reader is looking for, a mystery, some thrills and humor, it is just a nice change from the ordinary, and as I stated above, a nice change from the seriousness of the other cases.
Although I do not think that this book is as good as the first it is Keye as a character that will keep me coming back to Williams for more. As long as Williams keeps Keye as authentic and true to her character as possible I will always be back for more. If you are looking for a new up and coming thriller author to read, Amanda Kyle Williams is the author for you, as her books have everything you could want in a thriller read; Mystery, strong and interesting lead character and of course some thrills.
Enjoy!!!!
Everyone thinks that Miki is just off her Meds again and is seeing things, hearing noises; I mean Miki is an alcoholic and a drug user so why should anyone believe what she has to say. Good think that Miki has a fairly famous cousin, well famous for many of the wrong reason and Keye Street has been taught that she cannot say no to family. Miki is convinced that she is being stalked and wants Keye to figure out who especially when she claims there was someone in her house. APD Lieutenant Aaron Rauser also needs Keye's help when a thirteen year old boy is found strangle and he needs Keye's help with the profile. However, Keye also needs to pay the bills, so she has accepted a paying job investigating the contamination of cremated ashes, even though it sounds like the missing cow from the year before, but it pays the rent. With all of this going on Keye needs to keep her focus on all the cases if she has a hope of getting everyone out alive.
It took me awhile to get into this book. I am unsure why as I enjoyed the first novel, but for some reason this book was unable to grab my attention right off. I'm not sure if it was the flow, or the book picked up a little too far after the first (I believe it is a few months later) but the first few chapters in the book were unable to really grab onto me. However, once I got past this funk in the beginning I realized once again why I enjoyed the first book, Keye Street. Keye is a great character who is strong, cynical, witty and flawed, and well very real. Her struggle with addiction, her adoption and her relationships are what draws the reader in, and then watching her work on cases, while attempting to quell her need for a drink is fantastic.
Williams knows how to write characters, there is depth in all the characters that she has created, but the main focus is on Keye. I appreciate that Williams does not let Keye forget that she was an alcoholic, there is always that need for a drink and with job that Keye does there is a need and temptation constantly. I liked that Williams took the time to show more of how Keye struggled with her relationship with her mother and south and what it was like growing up as a Chinese child in the American South (and really shows how some people minds have not changes). I felt that the reader gets to know a lot more about Keye in this novel that the first novel, especially with the introduction to Keye's cousin Miki, who is a lot like Keye, even if she does not want to think that, but Miki is also things that Keye thinks that she could never achieve.
I like that Williams has the intersection of two different lifestyles with Keye, the one where she helps Rauser out and the one where she does different types of private investigator work, in this case cement mix in urns instead of a family members ashes. Of course this is taking place in a small town and Keye in a small town you know that there are going to be some funny moments. I like that Williams uses the small town setting to add the humor and give the reader some relief from the intensity of her other cases. Some people may find the intersection of the two different cases to be a negative because it takes away for a while from the main plot, which is Miki’s stalker but what people do not realize, is that this is what most investigations are like. An officer, detective or private investigator will have multiple cases they are working on, and at times cases are put aside to work other. So yes, the main plot does take the back seat to the ashes investigation, but this just makes it more true to life. I personally liked the funeral investigation, more than the case that involved Keye's cousin Miki. I found that the funeral investigation was more interesting and involved more of Keye's detective work, than Miki's case, until later in the book. Additionally, the ashes investigation had everything that a reader is looking for, a mystery, some thrills and humor, it is just a nice change from the ordinary, and as I stated above, a nice change from the seriousness of the other cases.
Although I do not think that this book is as good as the first it is Keye as a character that will keep me coming back to Williams for more. As long as Williams keeps Keye as authentic and true to her character as possible I will always be back for more. If you are looking for a new up and coming thriller author to read, Amanda Kyle Williams is the author for you, as her books have everything you could want in a thriller read; Mystery, strong and interesting lead character and of course some thrills.
Enjoy!!!!
elvang's review
4.0
A pleasure to read. I think Stranger in the Room is even better than The Stranger you Seek. Keye Street once again aids Lt. Rauser and the APD with her profiler skills as they hunt a killer but this time it's more personal for Street when her cousin becomes a target.
Keye's real job as a PI gets front and center page time when she is asked to investigate why cement and bird seed are found instead of cremains in a customers urn. Her case is so well written it almost eclipses the murder investigation. Creepy, graphic and so easy to visualize. I love it when a writer describes a scene so well that I am there with the MC. Great stuff.
It was nice to watch Street and Rauser's relationship continue to grow. These are not perfect people and Williams writes their imperfections into many scenes. Every time Rauser pops another Nicorette gum through the tinfoil wrapper or Keye wishes for a drink we see two ordinary people trying to get through life and past the demons that chase them.
The book lost a star when I figured out who the killer was as soon as they appeared on the page @ 75% of the way through, but otherwise a great read.
Looking forward to reading more Keye Street in the future.
Keye's real job as a PI gets front and center page time when she is asked to investigate why cement and bird seed are found instead of cremains in a customers urn. Her case is so well written it almost eclipses the murder investigation. Creepy, graphic and so easy to visualize. I love it when a writer describes a scene so well that I am there with the MC. Great stuff.
It was nice to watch Street and Rauser's relationship continue to grow. These are not perfect people and Williams writes their imperfections into many scenes. Every time Rauser pops another Nicorette gum through the tinfoil wrapper or Keye wishes for a drink we see two ordinary people trying to get through life and past the demons that chase them.
The book lost a star when I figured out who the killer was as soon as they appeared on the page @ 75% of the way through, but otherwise a great read.
Looking forward to reading more Keye Street in the future.
matthew_p's review against another edition
3.0
The protagonist's character development seems a little weak, but otherwise spot on.
audiobookingwithleah's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
➙ 3½⭐
➙ Narration 😀 = Good
➙ Narrated by 🎙️Ann Marie Lee
➙ Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
➙ Private 👁️🗨️Investigator
➙ Serial Killer🔪vibes
This second book in the Keye Street series didn’t grab me as the first one did. Each of these books has the main story that Keye is investigating and then a side investigation is thrown into the middle of the main one.
The side mystery this time around really left a vile taste in my mouth and I’m left wondering if something like that could even happen in this day and age...I really, really hope not. The main mystery took forever to go anywhere, which was in part due to the side mystery, I’m sure. Overall it was a lackluster addition to the series and it’s possible I won’t be continuing with the series...but only time will tell.
🅒🅐🅦🅟🅘🅛🅔 6.86/❿
🅒haracters ￫ 7
🅐tmosphere ￫ 6.5
🅦riting ￫ 6.5
🅟lot ￫ 7
🅘ntrigue ￫ 7.5
🅛ogic ￫ 7.5
🅔njoyment ￫ 6
➙ Narration 😀 = Good
➙ Narrated by 🎙️Ann Marie Lee
➙ Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
➙ Private 👁️🗨️Investigator
➙ Serial Killer🔪vibes
This second book in the Keye Street series didn’t grab me as the first one did. Each of these books has the main story that Keye is investigating and then a side investigation is thrown into the middle of the main one.
The side mystery this time around really left a vile taste in my mouth and I’m left wondering if something like that could even happen in this day and age...I really, really hope not. The main mystery took forever to go anywhere, which was in part due to the side mystery, I’m sure. Overall it was a lackluster addition to the series and it’s possible I won’t be continuing with the series...but only time will tell.
🅒🅐🅦🅟🅘🅛🅔 6.86/❿
🅒haracters ￫ 7
🅐tmosphere ￫ 6.5
🅦riting ￫ 6.5
🅟lot ￫ 7
🅘ntrigue ￫ 7.5
🅛ogic ￫ 7.5
🅔njoyment ￫ 6
devrose's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of those books that isn't amazing but makes you want to jump right into the next one.
amshofner's review against another edition
3.0
I can tell it's been a while since I've read mysteries because it was like an entirely different experience than reading romances, which are heavy on the emotion. This wasn't, so it was easy to put down and pick up and put down again.
The writing style is staccato with similar sentence structure. Which I think is fine for a mystery, but, again, it made it easy to put down. It just didn't engage me the same.
(Which is a little ironic, because I think my own writing style is similar, sentence structure wise, but there you go. Stranger in the Room also erred on the repetitive side, especially on character details, and that was also a contributing factor for my less than excitement.)
Interesting mystery, though, and definitely didn't figure out who was behind it all until it was revealed. Solid. But I think I'll stick with my romances for now.
The writing style is staccato with similar sentence structure. Which I think is fine for a mystery, but, again, it made it easy to put down. It just didn't engage me the same.
(Which is a little ironic, because I think my own writing style is similar, sentence structure wise, but there you go. Stranger in the Room also erred on the repetitive side, especially on character details, and that was also a contributing factor for my less than excitement.)
Interesting mystery, though, and definitely didn't figure out who was behind it all until it was revealed. Solid. But I think I'll stick with my romances for now.
crazy4reading's review against another edition
4.0
Stranger in the Room started out slow. We meet Keye Street again in this book. I have not read the other book that starred Keye Street. She is a recovering alcoholic that use to work for the FBI BAU until her alcoholism shattered that career. Now Keye is a private investigator.
She has a co-worker name Neil who I loved from the start. He was smart ass and entertaining. He is a tech geek that helps Keye on some cases. Keye does bail bond jumpers, investigates for a lawyer and also consults with the Atlanta PD where her boyfriend Aaron works in major crimes.
A Stranger in the Room centers around Keye and her cousin Miki. She has a stalker and a history of cutting and addiction problems. When the Atlanta PD are working on a murder case Keye feels that her cousin's stalker and the murders are related.
The story got interesting my Chapter 20. I found myself bored with a lot of the writing about Keye's alcohol addiction and Miki's problems. Always reading about how the alcohol tastes to an alcoholic got on my nerves when it came to the 3rd time reading it. That was the only thing that annoyed me the most.
She has a co-worker name Neil who I loved from the start. He was smart ass and entertaining. He is a tech geek that helps Keye on some cases. Keye does bail bond jumpers, investigates for a lawyer and also consults with the Atlanta PD where her boyfriend Aaron works in major crimes.
A Stranger in the Room centers around Keye and her cousin Miki. She has a stalker and a history of cutting and addiction problems. When the Atlanta PD are working on a murder case Keye feels that her cousin's stalker and the murders are related.
The story got interesting my Chapter 20. I found myself bored with a lot of the writing about Keye's alcohol addiction and Miki's problems. Always reading about how the alcohol tastes to an alcoholic got on my nerves when it came to the 3rd time reading it. That was the only thing that annoyed me the most.