70%

 

*Spoilers in updates

“The cat—it’s not in the profile. The Butcher does not have close attachments. He’s isolated and cares exclusively for his own pleasures. If the Butcher had a pet, it would be dominated, most likely caged. Such an animal would instinctively fight to escape.”

A clue but when the cat is brought in again later in the story, I hope it turns out to be even bigger clue (like the police officer who brought the cat to the cottage Kate is staying at better be the Butcher, because why? otherwise)

“Sometimes I think I’m chasing two people."

I thought knowing the identity of the killer by 30% was too easy, I've been keeping a hawk eye on secondary characters. That's one thing this story is doing well, the redherrings don't feel forced and the number is kept around only five to make it fun for you to keep them straight and guess. 

There on the end of his fishing line wasn’t a fish to beat Neil Parker’s mackinaw record. It was a human foot.

When I would go on walks with my dog into more out of the way wooded areas, I'd always tell him, "Let's not find a dead body today". I read too much and watch too many horror movies and true crime, my mind just goes there. 

Jason is dead.

Not incredibly shocking because I think the build-up was there, I'm just curious as to how all the dots are going to be connected. 

Witnesses keep mentioning a woman, which I think is supposed to make you think Robyn the colleague rival is involved but I think the povs from the killer make it seem like it's definitely a he and he just dresses up as a woman. 

 Obedient and subservient to a fault, Jason attacked Kate three years ago, but he did it on someone else’s orders—the Butcher’s. Jason, who genuinely cared for Kate, hated himself for the attack, and he couldn’t stand to see himself after he stabbed her, so he broke the mirrors. He also folded her hands to try to make peace.

This passage makes me think Beth (Jason's possible girlfriend, who slipped up when identifying the body) is involved somehow because who else would Jason listen to?

(There is a wild theory in the back of my mind that Kate's father is the Butcher)

“You’d run, Kate Johnson, if you knew what I wanted to do with you.” The air between them arced as if a storm had rolled in. 

“Maybe I wouldn’t.”

There's more of the romantic part in this romantic suspense in this part. I actually like how it hasn't been front and center because of the fact Hayden is doing a job and Kate is the victim/witness he is supposed to be protecting. Hayden does open up more in this section too but he still feels a little shadowed to me. I like Kate's character a bit more but I feel like I'm missing something from each that gets drawn out more when the two characters spend sometime together; their personalities get flushed out more while the procedural part takes a rest.  

“We’re chasing one person. Not two. A master of disguise.”

I thought so!

So, the first half operated under the assumption that the Butcher was Jason and it was more trying to catch up to him, this second half is all about going back and taking a look at secondary characters. Like I said, my wild call is Kate's dad, but the author did have Hayden say, they've probably talked and/or shook hands with the killer, which  to me, is the author telling us readers have seen the killer. 

The whole killer's thing about masturbating with the victim's blood is so messed up in a way that I'm not sure it fits in a romantic suspense genre book. 

There's been one sex scene and it was pretty much fade to black but again, I think the romance part of this fits better to the side.