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A review by ellelainey
The Body Keeper by Anne Frasier
5.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
The Body Keeper: Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, 03
by Anne Frasier
★★★★★
300 Pages
3rd person, multi character POV; mainly dual character POV
Content Warning: mentions of prior captivity and rape; detailed car accident; mentions of child abandonment, abuse (healed fractures, broken bones, scars, cigarette burns, attempted drowning); mentions of childhood leukaemia, cancer, hair loss, brain tumour; mentions of alcohol abuse; mentions of sex trafficking ring, child sexual abuse, forced child drug use (rohypnol); descriptions of carbon monoxide poisoning, concussion, hypothermia, violence; mentions of suicide watch, historical miscarriage
The Body Keeper is an incredible closing novel to the Jude Fontaine series. Not only is it a great standalone – it recaps the important events in a way that allows you to read it as a standalone, though you would gain a better appreciation for the characters and their pasts by reading them in order – while also being a brilliant end to the series.
A year after Jude escaped captivity, we see a mysterious female POV with four dead bodies in the back of their car. Their car breaks down, and they have no choice but to ditch the bodies into the river under the bridge, before someone stumbles across her broken down car.
A month later, series regular, Elliot is skating at the local ice rink when he falls and discovers a face staring back at him through the ice. A dead child's face. He immediately calls Jude, to come investigate.
Thus begins an intriguing investigation into a 20-year-old missing persons case, and potential trafficking ring, as a second body is pulled from the lake.
Meanwhile, a blizzard hits town, making it impossible to travel far. A woman called Nana has been paid to watch a young boy since he was two weeks old, but after four years, the money has stopped and she doesn't want the responsibility or hassle any longer. She drops the boy outside an apartment building, telling him to go inside and wait for her to return, well aware she never will. But, when her alternative is to kill him, she decides to let him live.
As Jude is walking home, she discovers the young boy outside her apartment building, freezing in the low temperatures. Barely four years old, he can communicate, but doesn't have a name, doesn't know where he lives, and Jude soon discovers a history of abuse across his body.
Now, there are two investigations – one into the poor young boys who have been fished from the lake, and one into the boy's history, to find his family and who abused him. The revelations from both investigations, and the repercussions will shock both Jude and Uriah.
While all this goes on, Jude is battling her own issues, and finally opens the letter that will reveal who her half-sibling is, who has applied for access to their father's estate. Uriah's personal struggle is two-fold, with the second anniversary of his wife's suicide approaching, and his own medical issues taking an unexpected turn.
~
Once again, there are multiple POV's that show various characters with a huge impact on the story. As well as Jude and Uriah giving their dual POV, as they investigation, you also have:
Elliot – Jude's half-brother, who is also her downstairs neighbour and an investigative journalist
Nan/Nana – the woman who has taken care of Boy since he was two weeks old, and who has now abandoned him. Only, it seems her biggest mistake was letting him live, and accidentally dropping him into Jude's lap.
Alan Reed – a small time crook from Oklahoma, he sees the public appeal on TV, asking for information about the boys pulled from the lake.
Gail Ford – a mother whose son disappeared 20 years ago
Lori – a foster mother who temporarily takes Boy, for Social Services
Jenny Hill – a social worker, who is young, innocent, and eager to help Boy return to his family, if they can be proven safe to live with.
All of these POV's are needed, due to the events that take place. Some – Lori, Gail, Alan, and Jenny – are single event POV's, while the rest are recurring. I'm not normally a fan of multi-POV stories, but Frasier knows how to use them sparingly, and only when absolutely necessary to the plot events. This way, you get to see all the events going on in the story, so that you can put the pieces together to form your own theories, while Jude investigates. It makes the story a bit more interesting, because you as the reader get to know things that Jude is unaware of, for a brief time, and it adds to the anticipation of how she's going to discover this information and when.
~
As with the other books, I won't discuss the plot in detail. There's so many intricacies and twists that it would be impossible to explain some parts without spoilers.
There are a couple of flashbacks, which really allow you to see events in a new light compared to just the bare facts of an investigation or conversation might provide. The oldest goes back 20 years, while there are also flashbacks from 5 and 4 years ago. These really provide context and intrigue to the story, as it develops.
I really loved how every book progresses the relationship between Uriah and Jude. I never felt there was a will-there/won't-there thing going on, which I was so relieved by. I never wanted that to happen, as it didn't feel authentic to the characters, so I was happy to see it never happened. Instead, they get so close they can trust each other, rely on each other, lean on each other, and be there in each other's darkest moments. That intensifies in this book, because they're both going through new, unexpected struggles. Jude is there for Uriah, during his medical scare, while Uriah is the emotional support Jude needs, as she begins to bond with Boy, forming her first real human connection in years.
I also loved how Jude began to – grudgingly, at first – come to rely on Elliot. He's been trying to get closer to her for a while, and after all they've been through together, it seemed inevitable that some kind of connection would form, but there was no certainty Jude wouldn't resist it, not wanting to feel reliant or close to someone she'd initially suspected as having ulterior motives. Elliot's job is also a strong sticking point between them.
However, she moved past her reluctance for the sake of Boy. Leaving him in Elliot's care, when she had to work, was a necessity, but I loved how she began to realise it was also a good choice, because Elliot could be trusted with Boy. Which led her to potentially accepting that he could also be trusted, full stop.
~
Overall, I really liked the plot, how it came together, and how the characters remained consistent all throughout the series. I thought the final link between the two cases was clever, and I didn't actually see the final big twist coming, about who was involved. I liked that we got all our unanswered questions from the series answered – Jude finding out about Elliot, the truth about Boy's heritage, a resolution to Octavia's fate, and an end to Uriah's immense grief and his medical issues – without it feeling like a ribbon was tied around the whole thing.
I'm sorry to see the series end, but I understand why. Both Uriah and Jude have resolved the issues that began the series, and come to terms with their future. I can see that it's the right ending for the characters, and yet a new beginning as well.
I will definitely be reading more by Anne Frasier in the future.
~
POTENTIAL SPOILER!
One of my few niggles is about the blurb. Odd, I know.
“But in his unspoken language, Jude reads something horrifying—a connection to the dead boys. Now a four-year-old with no name may be the only key to a twenty-year-old, very cold case.”
However, this is the first time I feel the blurb is misleading, because this statement simply isn't true. For a start, it implies Boy can't speak (or, at least, it did to me) which isn't the case. Then, it says Jude reads a connection to the dead boys, which also isn't true, because she never even guesses the two cases she's investigating are connected. It's Uriah who gets digital evidence back that links the two cases, right at the end of the novel. And, that also makes the claim that Boy is the only key to a very cold case untrue, because they actually have a key witness, and multiple pieces of evidence, to link the two cases, and that witness was involved in the cases, and willing to talk. Which means that Boy really isn't needed to solve the case, at all.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed about that, only because that's what the blurb promised, and I was expecting something along those lines, that never came about.
Copy received through Netgalley
~
The Body Keeper: Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries, 03
by Anne Frasier
★★★★★
300 Pages
3rd person, multi character POV; mainly dual character POV
Content Warning: mentions of prior captivity and rape; detailed car accident; mentions of child abandonment, abuse (healed fractures, broken bones, scars, cigarette burns, attempted drowning); mentions of childhood leukaemia, cancer, hair loss, brain tumour; mentions of alcohol abuse; mentions of sex trafficking ring, child sexual abuse, forced child drug use (rohypnol); descriptions of carbon monoxide poisoning, concussion, hypothermia, violence; mentions of suicide watch, historical miscarriage
The Body Keeper is an incredible closing novel to the Jude Fontaine series. Not only is it a great standalone – it recaps the important events in a way that allows you to read it as a standalone, though you would gain a better appreciation for the characters and their pasts by reading them in order – while also being a brilliant end to the series.
A year after Jude escaped captivity, we see a mysterious female POV with four dead bodies in the back of their car. Their car breaks down, and they have no choice but to ditch the bodies into the river under the bridge, before someone stumbles across her broken down car.
A month later, series regular, Elliot is skating at the local ice rink when he falls and discovers a face staring back at him through the ice. A dead child's face. He immediately calls Jude, to come investigate.
Thus begins an intriguing investigation into a 20-year-old missing persons case, and potential trafficking ring, as a second body is pulled from the lake.
Meanwhile, a blizzard hits town, making it impossible to travel far. A woman called Nana has been paid to watch a young boy since he was two weeks old, but after four years, the money has stopped and she doesn't want the responsibility or hassle any longer. She drops the boy outside an apartment building, telling him to go inside and wait for her to return, well aware she never will. But, when her alternative is to kill him, she decides to let him live.
As Jude is walking home, she discovers the young boy outside her apartment building, freezing in the low temperatures. Barely four years old, he can communicate, but doesn't have a name, doesn't know where he lives, and Jude soon discovers a history of abuse across his body.
Now, there are two investigations – one into the poor young boys who have been fished from the lake, and one into the boy's history, to find his family and who abused him. The revelations from both investigations, and the repercussions will shock both Jude and Uriah.
While all this goes on, Jude is battling her own issues, and finally opens the letter that will reveal who her half-sibling is, who has applied for access to their father's estate. Uriah's personal struggle is two-fold, with the second anniversary of his wife's suicide approaching, and his own medical issues taking an unexpected turn.
~
Once again, there are multiple POV's that show various characters with a huge impact on the story. As well as Jude and Uriah giving their dual POV, as they investigation, you also have:
Elliot – Jude's half-brother, who is also her downstairs neighbour and an investigative journalist
Nan/Nana – the woman who has taken care of Boy since he was two weeks old, and who has now abandoned him. Only, it seems her biggest mistake was letting him live, and accidentally dropping him into Jude's lap.
Alan Reed – a small time crook from Oklahoma, he sees the public appeal on TV, asking for information about the boys pulled from the lake.
Gail Ford – a mother whose son disappeared 20 years ago
Lori – a foster mother who temporarily takes Boy, for Social Services
Jenny Hill – a social worker, who is young, innocent, and eager to help Boy return to his family, if they can be proven safe to live with.
All of these POV's are needed, due to the events that take place. Some – Lori, Gail, Alan, and Jenny – are single event POV's, while the rest are recurring. I'm not normally a fan of multi-POV stories, but Frasier knows how to use them sparingly, and only when absolutely necessary to the plot events. This way, you get to see all the events going on in the story, so that you can put the pieces together to form your own theories, while Jude investigates. It makes the story a bit more interesting, because you as the reader get to know things that Jude is unaware of, for a brief time, and it adds to the anticipation of how she's going to discover this information and when.
~
As with the other books, I won't discuss the plot in detail. There's so many intricacies and twists that it would be impossible to explain some parts without spoilers.
There are a couple of flashbacks, which really allow you to see events in a new light compared to just the bare facts of an investigation or conversation might provide. The oldest goes back 20 years, while there are also flashbacks from 5 and 4 years ago. These really provide context and intrigue to the story, as it develops.
I really loved how every book progresses the relationship between Uriah and Jude. I never felt there was a will-there/won't-there thing going on, which I was so relieved by. I never wanted that to happen, as it didn't feel authentic to the characters, so I was happy to see it never happened. Instead, they get so close they can trust each other, rely on each other, lean on each other, and be there in each other's darkest moments. That intensifies in this book, because they're both going through new, unexpected struggles. Jude is there for Uriah, during his medical scare, while Uriah is the emotional support Jude needs, as she begins to bond with Boy, forming her first real human connection in years.
I also loved how Jude began to – grudgingly, at first – come to rely on Elliot. He's been trying to get closer to her for a while, and after all they've been through together, it seemed inevitable that some kind of connection would form, but there was no certainty Jude wouldn't resist it, not wanting to feel reliant or close to someone she'd initially suspected as having ulterior motives. Elliot's job is also a strong sticking point between them.
However, she moved past her reluctance for the sake of Boy. Leaving him in Elliot's care, when she had to work, was a necessity, but I loved how she began to realise it was also a good choice, because Elliot could be trusted with Boy. Which led her to potentially accepting that he could also be trusted, full stop.
~
Overall, I really liked the plot, how it came together, and how the characters remained consistent all throughout the series. I thought the final link between the two cases was clever, and I didn't actually see the final big twist coming, about who was involved. I liked that we got all our unanswered questions from the series answered – Jude finding out about Elliot, the truth about Boy's heritage, a resolution to Octavia's fate, and an end to Uriah's immense grief and his medical issues – without it feeling like a ribbon was tied around the whole thing.
I'm sorry to see the series end, but I understand why. Both Uriah and Jude have resolved the issues that began the series, and come to terms with their future. I can see that it's the right ending for the characters, and yet a new beginning as well.
I will definitely be reading more by Anne Frasier in the future.
~
POTENTIAL SPOILER!
One of my few niggles is about the blurb. Odd, I know.
Spoiler
The blurb states:“But in his unspoken language, Jude reads something horrifying—a connection to the dead boys. Now a four-year-old with no name may be the only key to a twenty-year-old, very cold case.”
However, this is the first time I feel the blurb is misleading, because this statement simply isn't true. For a start, it implies Boy can't speak (or, at least, it did to me) which isn't the case. Then, it says Jude reads a connection to the dead boys, which also isn't true, because she never even guesses the two cases she's investigating are connected. It's Uriah who gets digital evidence back that links the two cases, right at the end of the novel. And, that also makes the claim that Boy is the only key to a very cold case untrue, because they actually have a key witness, and multiple pieces of evidence, to link the two cases, and that witness was involved in the cases, and willing to talk. Which means that Boy really isn't needed to solve the case, at all.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed about that, only because that's what the blurb promised, and I was expecting something along those lines, that never came about.