Book Review: REWIND by Catherine Ryan Howard

Title: REWIND 

Author: Catherine Ryan Howard
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Read: September 2019

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

PLAY
Andrew, the manager of Shanamore Holiday Cottages, watches his only guest via a hidden camera in her room. One night the unthinkable happens: a shadowy figure emerges onscreen, kills her and destroys the camera. But who is the murderer? How did they know about the camera? And how will Andrew live with himself?

PAUSE
Natalie wishes she'd stayed at home as soon as she arrives in the wintry isolation of Shanamore. There's something creepy about the manager. She wants to leave, but she can't - not until she's found what she's looking for...

REWIND
This is an explosive story about a murder caught on camera. You've already missed the start. To get the full picture you must rewind the tape and play it through to the end, no matter how shocking...

My musings:

Ever since reading DISTRESS SIGNALS, the name Catherine Ryan Howard has been on my radar as an author I will seek out when looking for a good thriller with that different element that makes it stand out from the rest – and this one was no exception.

Play: the brutal murder of a young woman caught on camera.

Pause: who is the victim, and how did she get to be there?

Rewind:  to understand what has happened you will have to retrace the victim’s steps to the beginning.

Have you ever read a book that plays out like a film clip? To me, the format of this story was quite unique and I had visions of sitting in front of my TV and playing, fast forwarding and rewinding the movie until I finally understood what was happening here.  Seeing that the story features a murder caught on film, the way the author chose to tell the story was not only clever but also very fitting, and really helped to set the scene in what could have been a run-of-the-mill whodunit.

But the author doesn’t just stop there. Add an atmospheric setting, a couple of truly creepy characters, a bit of social media to make it all contemporary and an enigmatic and plucky amateur sleuth, and you have a story that was both suspenseful as well as addictive. I admit that it took me a little while to work out the timeline, partly because I started to read the book when I had very little time on my hands to devote to it. In hindsight it is one of those stories you will want to set time aside for to devour it over a couple of sittings to get the most out of it. It’s definitely not a book to read when you are tired and in the mood for “just a couple of pages before I turn out the light”. I am glad that I had a long car journey to devour the second half of the book in one big chunk because by then I was so firmly hooked that I had to find out answers!

I am not going to say any more. Like most mysteries, this one relies on its surprise factor and I don’t want to spoil anything for other readers. 

Summary:

In summary, REWIND was a suspenseful mystery told in a unique, clever way by an author who is now firmly on my radar when I am looking for something that is both original as well as utterly addictive. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to lovers of the genre who are looking for something a bit out of the ordinary. And thanks a lot, Catherine Ryan Howard, for making me too terrified to ever stay in an Airbnb again!

Thank you to Edelweiss and Blackstone Publishing for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.