Wakes on the Alsea

If you’ve been looking for the next great suspense and mystery novel, this is it. Wakes on the Alsea has all of the elements of a great book. This book carries an interesting and complex cast of characters who are easy to keep track of through a plot that keeps the reader motivated to read all the way through to the end. In fact, the style of writing reminds me a lot of one of my favorite suspense novelists, Kerry Wilkinson.

Set in a small town in Oregon along the Alsea River, a young boy named Skid goes to live with his grandparents. He loves living with his grandparents although he is quiet in school and definitely not one of the popular kids. Fast-forward a few years and we meet the main character, Grady Riker. Grady is a sixty-one-year-old man who is a wildlife researcher and writer. He hangs out with his friend Dave who is the local mechanic. One day, Grady stumbles upon a body being eaten by vultures on his neighbor’s property. Unknowingly, Grady gets sucked into the local mystery. The deceased is one of his neighbors and not the first casualty of what seems to be a serial killer.

The author does a great job of separating the two storylines only for the reader to wonder how they are connected. Are Skid and Grady related somehow? Do they meet up and solve the mystery together? As more people turn up dead, Grady becomes fearful of his own life as well as those of his friends and family. The local police have very little to go on and may actually think Grady is the serial killer.

This book has some great twists and turns in it and I’ll admit I did not guess the ending. Grady is a very likable character which was refreshing. Usually, the main character makes dumb decisions putting them in harm’s way. Grady is really level-headed despite all the beer that seemed to float around in this book. His best friend Dave is also a great character and I loved the part where Grady and Dave go to see Dave’s grandma to see if she knows what Skid’s birth name is. They have her use a recording device at a party she is going to to see if any of her friends know who Skid really is and it is adorable how she is ready to help out. Grady’s nephew, Spencer, also plays a great role in the story and the relationship between them is heartwarming. The whole crew in this cast of characters are written like real people. Wakes on the Alsea is a fast-paced whodunnit that will have you reading it in one sitting.