Piece it all Back Together by Feind Gottes

 

Greetings Stack Worms! 

First I want to acknowledge that I got an ecopy of this book in exchange for a review, from Hellbound Books. I'm extremely honored and was ecstatic when I was asked to do so. Here is their website please go visit: http://www.hellboundbookspublishing.com/index.html. I love being able to support indie publishers. 

I'd like to state that I did indeed enjoy this book. Despite some of the problems, I had with it. I gave it a 4 star on Goodreads, I'd say more like a 3.7 star, but Goodreads can't do decimals. Though I do think my complaints are minor, also it was a review copy that I received. I have no idea if some of the issues have been resolved in the final draft. Though I wish I could have put my two cents in. lol. 

Let's get the nitty-gritty out of the way. TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR: 

- Child abuse

- CSA

- Rape 

- Insects

- Animal abuse/ death

- Racism

-  Death or Dying

- Excessive or gratuitous violence 

- Blood 

- Self-Harm (alcoholism) 

Plus, some tropes I spotted: 

- Defective Detective

- Even evil has Standards 

- Secret Identity 

- Sociopathic Hero

- Multiple Narrative Modes

Now to the hard part. Y'all know I'm awful with summaries, but here we go. Also, Spoilers abound from this point on. Ye be warned. 

Jamie Windstein, a Private Investigator, is hired by millionaire Thomas Combs to find his long-lost friend, Jimmy. Thomas explains that they were in an orphanage together and ever since he'd been adopted he hasn't been able to find him. Jamie at first is curious as to why Thomas must find this old friend so urgently now. He explains that he is dying (I call bs) also that Jimmy saved his life. 

Jamie asks why he picked her when there are hundreds of other PIs with much better reputations and better resources. Thomas vaguely explains that she was referred to him. Instantly, she is suspicious, but she really likes the idea of this mystery so takes him up on the job. 

Once she begins investigating, things take a dark turn. She starts to find body parts in her home with cryptic messages left for her. Jamie suspects that her secret admirer and Thomas are in cahoots with each other. That even her secret admirer might be said missing Jimmy. But if so why hire her? 

As she tries to find the answers to these questions and the ones about the orphanage, she unravels a history of child trafficking and abuse. So she vows torture about the Headmistress of the Orphanage, Eva DeLong, and her two goons Counselors Tony and Bob. See there is one thing, a dark-twisted thing, that people do not know about Jamie Windstein. She is a serial killer and keeps her victim's heads as trophies in a hidden room connected to her garage. 

Don't worry though. Jamie only kills those that deserve it. Such as abusers, cheaters, etc. In fact, she's been killing for so long that she even has a nickname, the Xecutioner. But she's unofficial since most of the cases go cold. 

She goes head to head with her secret admirer to find out that not only was she right in thinking that Thomas and Jimmy were working together and that Jimmy was her secret admirer, but also Jimmy is her older brother. Jimmy, or James Keenan, tells her about their past and how they got split up. Their father had snitched on a mob boss and so their parents were murdered in front of them. 

Jamie is stunned and sad. She can't let the people who decided to fuck with her, live. So, she slits both Thomas's and Jimmy's throats. In the end, Jamie gets a hold of Eva DeLong, thanks to one of Jimmy's friends, Kirk, and gets ready to take the Headmistress' head. After some torture that is. 

Here is what I like about the story: 

- The fact that a private investigator was a serial killer is the hook that had me agreeing to read the book in the first place. 

- The head collecting? I've mainly heard of tiny trophies. Something that isn't easily detected. But Jamie has the balls to take heads!! Haha. That's fantastic. 

- Jimmy and Jamie being siblings 

- The plot and mystery (even though I had called both around Chapter 7). 

- Some of the characters are pretty cool. Jamie, Kirk, Thomas, Jimmy. 

- The nod to some horror creators. Dr. Clive Ketchum, Detective Stephen Barker, Police officer Eddie Washington (I believe that's Ed Wood). Thomas Combs...come on that's gotta be the famous Jeffrey Combs. 

- I really liked the hint of the relationship between Kirk and Jamie 

- I'd really really like and hope that there is a second book, please? 

What I didn't like: 

- So much filler. The repetition of a few things could have been cut down a great deal. I read a 531-page book, but on Goodreads it's like 370. I'm hoping that's because it was cut down a little 

- STOP FUCKING WINKING!!! IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THEIR GODS DAMN EYES?! This was literally in my notes for Chapter 8. I'd had it of the freaking winking by this time.

- I did figure out the story pretty quickly. But that's basically what I do in my free time. This definitely was no "Murder, She Wrote" on the difficulty of mystery. 

- Lots of overused phrases.

- Too much banter sometimes

- DeLong and the Goon Squad were so evil I really felt like it had been pushed too far. But hey I do love me some camp

- Jimmy died like a bitch. The dude was hyped to be this dark, evil, twisted, ruthless, and cruel character. But fucker has no way of getting himself untied? 

- Also, poor, Thomas. I mean Jamie killed the man that was paying her. Do not kill the man that's paying you, no matter what game he's playing with you, just demand a higher price. He didn't even know why Jimmy wanted her in on their vengeance plan. Not cool. 

- I was hoping for a little serial killer family w/ Jamie, Thomas, and Jamie. That would have been cute. 

- There are cops here. And he should have died. But I understand why Jamie couldn't let that happen. 

Now here are some questions I had: 

- Was Thomas really dying? That isn't answered. 

- Why is Jamie an alcoholic? I felt like it didn't play into the story that much. 

- I'm still not clear on why Jimmy just didn't tell Jamie about himself. Like he didn't have to tell her about their parents he could have slowly guided her to the memory without him fucking with her. 

Again, I enjoyed this book. I kept thinking about Dexter while reading it and I definitely think it influences the story. If you like Dexter give this a read I believe you'd like it too. Now, I hope I can get a final copy in paperback. Reading on my laptop was a complete pain in the ass. It took me much longer than it should have to do so. I need the second book right now. There was a setup for it. DON'T FAIL ME!!!