Review: Paradise, WV by Rob Rufus

by Joli
Paradise, WV Book Review

Looking for a good thriller? You might want to nab this one! Read on for my review of Paradise, WV.

Summary

In a poor West Virginia town decimated by the opioid epidemic, teenagers Henry and Jane have it worse than most. Their father is Hollis Lusher, a convicted serial killer known as โ€œthe Blind Spot Slasher.โ€ Despite being bullied and ostracized, the siblings maintain their fatherโ€™s innocence. But now, a popular true-crime podcast is coming to town, and their presence turns all eyes to the Blind Spot Slasherโ€™s caseโ€ฆand Henry and Jane.

Meanwhile, an eager young officer, Lieutenant Elena Garcia, is put on the case of a missing girl. Despite warnings from her superiors, Garcia begins to dig deeper into the case and realizes there may be other mysteries buried in the flood of opioid-related crimes. With many deaths quickly labeled as overdoses, or โ€œNo Human Involved,โ€ she fears the drug epidemic has created the perfect storm for a Blind Spot Slasher copycat to thrive. Unless that is, they never caught the real Blind Spot Slasher.

An amateur private investigator is also on the case: Henryโ€™s new friend, Otis. A home-schooled genius with his own family issues and a suspicion their father might be innocent, Otis makes it his mission to help Henry and Jane find the real killer. As the three probe into the evidence, they discover a possible connection between the killings and a doomsday, snake-handling cultโ€•propelling them all down the dark backroads of Appalachia to find justice for Hollis and themselves.

My Review

Paradise, WV was very outside of my normal genre, but I was feeling brave 😂. I had very mixed feelings at some points, but when I was done, I had to rate it highly because of how it stuck with me.

This book gave me some Stranger Things vibes with the kid protagonists. I think the whole narrated by kids thing tricked me into thinking this suspense would be not too slasher-y (even though the killer has “slasher” in the name…duh Joli), but I was somewhat wrong.

So I really liked the kid characters. They were funny, they had deep feelings and problems and their lives, and they were just really compelling. I especially enjoyed Otis, because he’s kind of comic relief.

Things do get pretty tense as you get toward the end of the book, but man, I was guessing up until the end and had a hard time putting the book down as things started to build. I will say that things got a little bit overly horror-ish for me near the end, but I can’t take any stars off for just the reason of me being a sensitive person 😂.

Did I mention there’s a nutso cult? Cults are always creepy, and this one is definitely no exception. It was a big part of the storyline and mystery.

Just one thing I have to note – trigger warning: stillbirth.

Alright, so my overall rating was 4.5 stars, which I’m rounding up to 5 for this fun thriller. If you enjoy something dark and twisty with some gory details, I’m recommending it.

Joli

Related Posts

Leave a Comment