Annabel Lee

     Maybe it's the reference to English Literature - to the poems of Edgar Allen Poe - or maybe the creative perspective of an eleven year old girl reacting under dire circumstances. Maybe it's the mixture of science and fiction, crime and creativity, history and speculation. All of these things somehow band together to form a stunning presentation of intensity, suspense, and gripping storytelling.

     Annabel Lee is my favourite suspense-novel of the month. Similar to Erin Healy's Hiding Places, Mike Nappa's novel explores the possibilities of history, a range of several character perspectives, and a great deal of suspense. His primary narrator is an eleven year old girl (which is refreshingly similar to Healy's book that I enjoyed so much, but not so similar that it seems repetitive) with a tendency for a good Alabama accent and a talent for language learning. As a language lover myself, her passion hits home. She's particularly learned in German and, as she sees fit to constantly remind the reader, she is an educated girl.

     Tangled in CIA conspiracies and old war stories, Annabel is locked in an underground bunker by her Uncle Truck, with nothing but a terrifying German Shepard for company, and food to last her all too long. She is not to open the door to anyone - not even her uncle himself, unless he utters the safe word. And Nappa conveys the distress of her day to day life - of her ragged, ravaging emotions and her fear - with terrifying conviction. Annabel's voice is all too real.

     Nappa also introduces Trudy Coffey to the narration - Private Investigator, Coffey & Hill Investigations. Hill is the name of her ex-husband, co-founder of the business and ultimate-liar-extraordinaire. In a series of events spurred by Annabel's imprisonment they are forced back into one another's company in order to solve an outcropping of mysteries that all tie back to Uncle Truck. Including murderous mercenaries in black and a very suspicious doctor named Smith, the intensity of this book never stops. Three words: suspense, intense, riveting. And never a dull moment. I for one will anxiously await the next book in the Coffey & Hill Series - Fall of 2016.

     --Elise--

For more information on Abbabel Lee by Mike Nappa, visit our website here.