May 19, 2015 / Leslie

Review: Love Is Red by Sophie Jaff

Love Is Red
by Sophie Jaff

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: May 12, 2015
Format: Hardcover | 384 pages
Rating: 4½ of 5

From the Publisher

This electrifying, addictive, and hypnotically beautiful debut spins suspense and literary fantasy into a stunning epic—the first volume in the Night Song Trilogy—ablaze with fear, mystery, and possibility.

About the Story

A serial killer is terrorizing New York City. Young women are found murdered in their apartments with symbols carved on their bodies. There are no signs of forced entry and very few clues left at the scene. However, these murders are just a warm-up. His real target is Katherine, a young writer that lives in the city. He is no ordinary killer, but a supernatural entity who has returned after several centuries to fulfill a prophecy and will not stop killing until he has achieved his goal. Meanwhile Katherine is unaware but has been having disturbing dreams and visions.

My Thoughts

At first this appears to be a murder mystery, but it’s actually a blend of genres. In addition to being a suspenseful thriller, it also has elements of horror, fantasy, and the supernatural. The story is told using alternating viewpoints with Katherine narrating in the first person and the killer using the second person. Second person narrative can be difficult to pull off, but I thought it worked well as we got a glimpse into the disturbed mind of the killer.

This was one of those books that I knew I was going to like right from the start. It’s creative and different and defies classification. And it’s scary, dark, and a little erotic too. Reading it alone at night gave me the creeps. It’s also a book where the less detail you know going into it, the more interesting it is. The author parcels out bits and pieces of the puzzle to keep the reader guessing about the identity of the killer, although early on it will be pretty obvious to most that it is one of two people. The mystery wasn’t what kept me engaged, it was the suspense.

This is book one of a trilogy, but it works as a stand alone story, although some questions are left unanswered for still-to-come books two and three. If you’re looking for something different, give this one a try.

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Source: Review copy provided by HarperCollins.
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