ARC REVIEW: Hunting Annabelle – by Wendy Heard

Title: Hunting Annabelle
Author: Wendy Heard
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
First published: December 18th 2018
Publisher: MIRA
Finished reading: November 24th 2018
Pages: 336

“Every day I feel like I’ve lost another grain of myself, like I’m a mist settling over the ground and getting burned off by it.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and MIRA in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

Hunting Annabelle is one of those titles I have been looking forward to for quite some time now. The blurb sounded fantastic, with a mental health angle and a potentially dangerous and unreliable main character. And there is no doubt that Hunter Annabelle isn’t your ordinary thriller read. While I do think the story read more YA than adult despite the twenty-something characters, this doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it any less. And the fact that the story is set in 1986 instead of the present is an interesting touch, because although not as present in the plot as a whole, it does show in the little details (mostly referring to the developments in mental health and police investigation). All in all it definitely wasn’t the story I was expecting, but mostly in a good way. The writing on its own is engaging and the use of the unreliable narrator method well developed. The main character Sean is the perfect unreliable narrator candidate and him being both the good and bad guy at once is refreshing. While I did have some issues with the credibility and some of the plot twists, I do think that overall it was quite an interesting and original read. I wasn’t sure about the final twists and chapters though… It seemed a bit farfetched and too big of change for me. But all in all I can still recommend Hunting Annabelle to any mystery/thriller fan looking for something different and refreshing.

Sean Suh had to spend three years in a psychiatric prison, and now he is released he is determined to never go back. He wants to stay away from temptation, still punishing himself for what happened in the past… But he can’t resist Annabelle, who is both beautiful and the only person who can see past the monster he feels he is. Then Annabelle is kidnapped, something that happened right before Sean’s own eyes. But is he a reliable witness? Why doesn’t anyone seem to believe him? Sean is determined to find Annabelle no matter what it costs…

If you are looking for an interesting thriller read with an original touch, Hunting Annabelle is a good option. Set in 1986, this story doesn’t follow the typical thriller structure and plot and with the help of unreliable narrator Sean you will find yourself spinning in circles while you try to figure out what is happening. The final twists were a bit too farfetched and over the top to be credible for me, but it definitely isn’t something you will see coming… Dark, intriguing, a healthy dose of blood and serial killer and a very interesting mental health angle: Hunting Annabelle has it all.