Hanover House

Only thing I did not like is there was no closure to this segment and have to purchase next copy and maybe even next. I usually support authors of books I really like and purchase another book. However book is well written and original

Great story.Hard to put down .

Dr. Evelyn Talbot is a determined young woman. She is haunted by her past, and she is driven to open a the first facility to house some of the worst criminals in the country. Her passion is uncovering the inner workings of psychotic killers. Not everyone in the small town is thrilled with the building of the facility. Especially not the handsome Officer Amorak, he tried to convince the decision makers from allowing the facility to open. Once the facility opens strong sparks begin to fly between the doctor and Amorak.

Hanover House by Brenda Novak is the prequel to The Evelyn Talbot series. I am new to Brenda Novak’s work, and I must say I had a good time with this book. It fueled my desire to pick up the next book in the series. Filled with nail biting suspense and a little creepiness, Hanover House kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Ms. Novak impressed me with the way she delved into the mind of both the victim and the villain, allowing readers to understand their thought processes.

The protagonist Dr. Evelyn Talbot was a victim of a psychopath when she was a teen. Now an established psychiatrist, she has made it her mission in life to figure out what make psychopaths tick. To aid her in endeavours, she created Hanover House where she can study these serial killers.

Persons close to her wanted her to give up her dream because of the danger it posed,, but she refused to allow her fears to control her. The trauma of the event never left her, which drove her desire to delve deeper into the mind of a psychopath. She struggled with socialisation and as a result, persons perceived her to be an ice queen. Sergeant Amarok will discover that this was not the case the more he got to know her.

Amarok had not been keen on the establishment of Hanover House in his district, but he resigned himself to accepting it. In the process, he found himself falling for Evelyn and would do anything to protect her. I enjoyed their interaction, which was steamy and humorous. I loved his patience with Evelyn.

The story featured two psychopaths, the creepiest one being Jasper, Evelyn’s ex. He definitely had a sick mind. His obsession with Evelyn was his primary driving force and it fed his lust for killing. I enjoyed getting the POV of the villain as it gave me a bird’s-eye view of his mental capacity.

I enjoyed the pacing of the story. The romance and suspense were well balanced, which I found refreshing.

Narration
Being fairly new to audio books, I have been introduced to a variety of narrators. This is my first time listening to Therese Plummer. I believed she did a good job with the voices.

Conclusion/Recommendation
Despite this being a short story I enjoyed every moment. Fans of romantic suspense will enjoy this prequel to what appears to be an exciting and chilling series. I am looking forward to reading Her Darkest Nightmare.

I really liked this book never heard of this author until I got a email from book bub so I decided to try it.. I have read all of them except 2 which is the one that was just released an the one before it..

This is a good quick read, full of suspense and tragedy. Don’t look for Evelyn to find closure in this book. You’ll have to read Her Darkest Nightmare to see if Jasper gets what he deserves.

Psychopathy

Hanover House was an excellent kickoff to the Evelyn Talbot Chronicles. It reminded me of an episode of Criminal Minds. Reading from the psychopath’s mind gave me the creeps. I loved how Evelyn was so determined and strong after surviving such a horrific incident. And who couldn’t help but root for Amarok and Evelyn to make it as a couple. Amarok was sharp, observant, empathetic, protective, and he has a lovable dog. I can’t wait to continue this “sleep with the lights on” series.

For something different to read I decided to give Hanover House a go. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The premise was fascinating but the book was very predictable. I don’t see myself reading anymore of this series or recommending it to anyone.

So, while I liked this book overall, especially Evelyn and Amarok, I found the story around Jasper kind of unrealistic. First and foremost, he’s supposedly this really smart criminal who’s evaded capture for more than 20yrs and yet he’s really stupid!!! I’m sure that’s how he’s going to eventually get caught – the sooner the better because he’s the least interesting part of the storyline.

I know this is just a prequil and that it’s just an incentive to read the series, which I will, I think some of it could have be omitted without affecting the story all that much and the rest of it could have been included into book 1. JMHO.

If I could have given it 3.5stars, I would have.

I had some pretty high hopes for Ms. Novak’s book, I wish they had been partially fulfilled. As a book store proprietor, I had seen a lot of her romance novels leave my store in the hands of readers anxious to get into another; so I assumed her writing must be pretty good. I found I was wrong in that assumption. The greatest positive I can offer is that the book reads pretty quickly, so there isn’t a lot of time wasted. It is obviously an introduction to characters and back-stories for other books in the series – as the author puts it, it is a prequel to the Evelyn Talbot series. I don’t care for serial books, in general, and this was exactly that, only a prequel. So I won’t be reading any more of the series. I found far too many errors and contradictions in the writing for any of it to be believable to me, and the characters all seemed too superficial and one dimensional to be of interest. But if you are only reading for salaciousness (and there is nothing wrong with that), those things probably won’t get in your way.