Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Year of the Rat

SERIES: Dom Reilly Mysteries #1

AUTHOR: Marshall Thornton

PUBLISHER: Kenmore Books

LENGTH: 231 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 28, 2021

BLURB:

Long Beach, California 1996. Despite having little obvious experience, bartender Dom Reilly is hired as an investigator for the Freedom Agenda, a not-for-profit justice project. His first case involves a twelve-year-old homicide, in which a teenage girl was viciously murdered. The boy in prison for her murder, Danny Osborne, the imprisoned young man convicted of her murder, is seemingly exonerated by DNA evidence but the authorities refuse to accept it as proof.

Dom and his boss, Lydia Gonzales, slowly put together an iron-clad case, one the district attorney can’t ignore. As they do so, each puts themselves at risk—threatening not only their personal reputations, but their lives. 

REVIEW:

OH. MY. GAH. I DESPERATELY want to tell so much about this book and I can’t!!! Man what a book!! What a surprise ending. I KNEW something was up, I KNEW it. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect this. Dang, Marshall Thornton…..what a way to throw a wrench in the works. I am still in shock.

I have to tell you, this story broke my heart for Danny. As Dom and Lydia are trying to figure this case out, more and more pieces are falling together and Dom knows it stinks right up to the top. The sad part is why. And in order to protect that why, things are happening to Dom and Lydia both, that aren’t too ‘friendly’. Both being threatened in different ways, but because of it, both are more determined to get to the bottom of things. I just know my heart broke for Danny. And for Dom and others in this story.

This story is about mysteries, secrets, lies and coverups from every angle. Some are obvious, some are not. In any angle, you can’t put the book down because you desperately need to figure out who has done what and why they did it. The motive. The plot. And boy does it have a plot. I so want to share so many things but it will just give too much away.

The point is this. Marshall Thornton has another hit with this and if it’s as good as his other series’, I’m going to be in love. Especially with the bombshell that got dropped. It’s a mystery you can’t put down. You’ve got the good, the bad, the ugly and the innocent all trying to fight for different reasons. Most are bad and some good. And it’s a page turner. You never know what’s lurking around the next corner, who’s in cahoots with who, and how it’s going to end. The perfect mystery. I can’t wait for book 2. I know already this is going to be one heck of a series.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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