Thrill Week Review: Freak by Jennifer Hillier

Welcome to my Thrill Week Review Post!

Marcia @ Tea Time With Marce gives us the chance to post anything we really want to post, just so long as it is about the mystery genre. I was very excited to be a part of it again! Last year I chose to feature a debut author, Jennifer Hillier. She has brand new to me and I love to discover new authors!

This year I am going to write about that same author and her follow up book, Freak.

I was sent a copy of Creep just as whim and really, really enjoyed it! I actually requested this follow up, Freak, from the publisher (something I rarely do these days). I was just really excited to see she had a sequel. 

Here is the description from Goodreads:
Suspense magazine chose Jennifer Hillier’s “truly frightening” debut,Creep, as one of 2011’s best novels, while #1 bestselling author Jeffery Deaver cautioned “you better call in sick—you’re not going anywhere until you finish reading.” Now, Hillier returns to the Pacific Northwest college town where one killer’s stranglehold has ebbed . . . but another sick mind has waited for the perfect moment to pick up where the terror left off. Sitting alone in a maximum-security prison cell, Abby Maddox is a celebrity. Her claim to fame is the envy of every freak on the outside: she’s the former lover of Ethan Wolfe, the killer who left more than a dozen dead women in his wake and nearly added Puget Sound State professor Sheila Tao to the tally. Now Abby, serving a nine-year sentence for slashing a police officer’s throat in a moment of rage, has little human contact—save for the letters that pour in from demented fans, lunatics, and creeps. But a new wave of murders has given Abby a possible chance for a plea bargain—because this killer has been sending her love letters, and carving a message on the bodies of the victims: Free Abby Maddox.

Jerry Isaac will never forget the attack—or his attacker. The hideous scarring and tortured speech are daily reminders that the one-time Seattle PD officer, now a private investigator, is just lucky to be alive. Abby Maddox deserves to rot in jail—forever, as far as Jerry’s concerned. But she alone may possess crucial evidence—letters from this newest killer—that could crack open the disturbing case. With the help of Professor Sheila Tao, seasoned police detective Mike Torrance, and intuitive criminology student Danny Mercy, Jerry must coax the shattering truth from isolated, dangerous Abby Maddox. Can he put the pieces together before Abby’s number one fan takes another life in the name of a killer’s perverted idea of justice?


This series is totally up the alley for any reader who likes Chelsea Cain or Jeff Lindsay's Dexter books. It's a little different, in the sense that it focuses on a female killer. It has all of the psychological elements that I love; the unexpected, the drama, the suspense.

This is a fast read. If you haven't read Creep, pick that one up first. It definitely is a story you have to know before you dive into Freak.

I really look forward to Hillier's next book. If you want suspenseful, sharp reading that will keep you turning the pages, check her out. Support those newer authors!

Title: Freak
Author: Jennifer Hillier
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Gallery Books

Make sure you stop by Marcia's blog to check out the other bloggers who are posting this week. Support the Mystery/Thriller Genre!!!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child