Review: The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
By: Deborah Cruz
I started off 2024 with a nice thriller, The Night Shift by Alex Finlay.
During New Year's Eve, in 1999, a brutal attack to the night shift staff of a Blockbuster Video leaves three dead and one injured. Police quickly detain a suspect, Vince Whitaker, who makes bail and promptly flees, never to be seen again.
Fifteen years later, in the same town, four teenage employees working late at an ice cream shop are attacked in the same style. Again, there is one survivor. Both surviving victims recall the killer muttering the exact words to them after being attacked. The story focuses on the lives of three individuals whose paths intersect: Ella, now a therapist and the survivor of the original Blockbuster massacre who's forced to relive her tragedy as she is brought in as an informal expert; Chris Whittaker, an attorney and Vince’s brother, the only person who maintains his brother’s innocence while actively searching for him; and Sarah Keller, an FBI agent, determined to solve both cases.
This book is told in a three person perspective, and while it took some time to really get into it once the characters were established the story flowed smoothly. One of the major things that stuck out to me was the character development 1) The unraveling of Chris Whittaker’s character and struggle in dealing with his brother’s disappearance and fierce attempt on finding him ***SPOILER ALERT*** only to come to the devastating realization that Vince had been killed. The plot twist shocked me and left me empathizing with Chris. 2) Finlay’s ability to create a character like Ella, a woman who seemingly has her life put together, but lives with survivor’s guilt and exercises self-destructive patterns. While she tries to make changes in her life, her trauma always catches up with her. 3) Agent Keller’s working relationship with Agent Atticus and her astute thinking that helped her uncover the true killer.
My least favorite character in the story was Jess, the only survivor of the second massacre. I viewed her a bit as a know-it-all and annoying at times. Her character development seemed rushed and not thoroughly thought out. It was hard to empathize with her throughout the entire story. Regardless, it did not take away from the suspense of the book.
I recommend this book to anyone who is into thrillers and suspense novels, the ending was worth it.
8/10 🌟
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