Many years ago the town of Rock Hill was shocked when three teenagers were killed by a stranger wielding an ax in an abandoned mansion, only one girl survived. Now six people receive mysterious letters inviting them back to the mansion and a chance to split a million dollars if they can survive the night. Some of the invitees have ties to the murder, such as Lolly, the sole survivor of the massacre. Also invited was the disgraced police officer who accidently killed an innocent teen when arriving to the scene of the crime. Penelope, once a revered true crime author is also in attendance as is Staci (known as “Stabby Staci” on her true crime podcast where she recently disgraced herself by attempting to falsify “new” evidence in a case). There is Bonnie, mildly psychic but was also convicted of felony drug charges and Cornelius (the strangest character of the bunch), recently disgraced for jerking it in public. What do all of these people have in common? And who is slowly killing them off…one, by one?
The premise of the book was fantastic. I love a good locked room murder mystery and I liked the backdrop of a spooky old mansion in disrepair that was already the scene of a horrific series of murders. The problem with this book is that the characters are little more than stock characters. Cornelius for example says things like, “I’m probably here because I’m an amazing architect” or some other pompous thing that pompous people think but don’t always say at every turn. I will say that the story wraps up pretty neatly, but doesn’t quite stick the landing, that didn’t stop me from reading it straight through in one sitting. 2.5/5 stars.
