Ask For Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli, a book review

Ask for Andrea came up on my Kindle and I was really tempted by the premise of a crime thriller told from the perspective of the dead victims.

Ask For Andrea

The Blurb

Meghan, Brecia and Skye have just one thing in common. They were all murdered by the same man.

He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman – a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.

He’s got away with murder three times now.

The only thing that could keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.

Meghan, Brecia and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him.

The haunt is on.

My Review of Ask For Andrea

This book reminded me a little of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, a book that stayed with me a long time. I’ve seen the film (not so good) and I’ve seen the play (very good.) But only because the story is told by the ghosts of the murderer. (The Lovely Bones has only one victim.)

The book is split into the three women who were murdered by the same man. Each chapter is devoted to each one in turn. The murders took place at different times and places and can feel a little confusing at first, until you get to know the characters better. You don’t really need to believe in ghosts, because the have very little interaction with people in the story, apart from a little light flickering and similar.

Each woman wants the man that murdered them to be caught. They all go about it differently. One stays with her body for ages, then follows a police officer who finally finds her remains. The other stays with the murderer and tries desperately to stop him from killing again, eventually giving up and staying with his wife and children. The other, the youngest and most freshly murdered, goes home to mum. The stories are all heart breaking.

The story takes a final twist when the police are finally on to him and think they have their man, only to have him disappear. I won’t say anymore because of spoilers, but it does get very tense towards the end.

I literally couldn’t stop reading this book, the chapters were short and captivating. I was so invested in these women’s stories even though they were already dead. I so wanted the murderer to be caught but he kept slipping through all the time and the living were trying to piece together the truth. It was frustrating at times, like the women’s ghosts you just wanted to scream at the living.

I’ll definitely look for more by this author.