I am trying to decide if this book suffers from the second book slump. I don’t know if it’s a trilogy. It leaves itself open for a trilogy, or for a companion series. I loved #Murdertrending so much. It was such a unique story, that this one was constantly asking where to go from here. We see a little bit of the previous characters. As a reader you fell in love with all the deadly characters in book one, so to just see hits and misses of them here was a bit of a let down.

This book introduces new characters Becca and Steff. Steff thinks that Becca’s mother was Molly Mauler (the paniac that liked to use animals to kill her victims). Steff just needs to prove it to be true to earn the reward. Most of this book is the set up of Becca finding out the suspicions about her mother, or trying to prove Steff wrong.

They do this by joining a new production called Who wants to be a Paniac?. The goal of this program is to be a non-lethal reality show ala Survivor to pick who is tough enough to be a serial killer for the public good. But there is way more to this show than most people see scratching the surface.

The plot points between Steff and Becca are pretty predictable the entire way through. The revealing of the Postman’s son I guessed from pretty early on, and the other side of the story about the business partners was just not well explained. Heck even the two groups coming together was pretty predictable.

There are original parts to be sure. I really wish there was more chat forum interaction like there was in the first book. Here it just seems like a ploy to move the plot forward, instead of something integral to the plot.

Some great things about the book: SAGA approved. There are all sorts of representation throughout the book. It’s just there. No need to be explained. And I love that. Most books have to have a reason for being inclusive, and here it doesn't. It also doesn’t act like a major plot point. The book is also a quick read, that is perfect for the Halloween season with out being about Halloween.

Some down falls: the book has it’s slow points, and seems way more predictable than book one. The good fun part (all the bloody murder) is such a small part of this book, when compared to the last one. There is one section with some great murdery images, but they are all grouped together at the end. So much of this is a girl searching for the truth of who her mother was, and could she live with that truth once found. While that is fine, after book 1 that is not what most readers think they will be getting.

This book is so much more character driven than plot driven that it’s hard to say if there will be a trilogy. There could be. After all, like any good thriller, revenge was vowed. But if the author was to go that way, I think it would separate it too much from its parent material. It’s like the difference between the movies Friday the 13th, and Freddy vs. Jason. It’s too wide a bridge to cross to be taken seriously.

Overall I enjoyed this read, but I didn’t love it like I did the first one. I will still recommend book 1 to loads of people, but book 2 not so much. Only for die hard fans.
#BBRC #SAGAapproved