Book Review of Girl, Alone by Blake Pierce
This book is subtitled an Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller. It’s one of dozens of books written by Blake Pierce. I’ll give it the nod on justice. After all, it’s about an FBI agent, so there must be justice, right? And there is. This book got a lot of attention and has sold a lot. It has over 9,000 reviews on Amazon averaging 4.5 out of 5. I give it a 3. Compared to the big-name crime fiction writers, this one falls way short in story, writing, and definitely editing (more on that later). I’m not sure why it’s so popular. The reviews are all over, from 1 to 5. And I agree with the lower rating comments as to why they gave the rating. One reviewer said it reads like a first book in a series. I thought it read like a first book of the author and yet it’s clearly not, if Blake Pierce is a real person. I’m skeptical on that and here’s why. In November 2018, Pierce’s first Jessie Hunt book came out. Since then there have been 24 Jessie Hunt books and 11 Ella Dark books. Also, 9 Laura Frost books. How can one person churn out that many books in 3+ years? Or can they? I’ll leave this mystery for the reader to solve.
Another reviewer wrote, “As I read, I had a niggling feeling that I’d encountered the plot before,”. Can you say, Silence of the Lambs? Too close for my comfort and not nearly as good. Ella Dark is a young FBI agent. Not a rookie, like Clarice Starling. Ella has a photographic memory and since childhood has been fascinated by serial killers, so possesses an encyclopedic memory of their cases. She works in intelligence, doing analysis, dreaming of being a field agent. I thought we got a little too much of Ella’s fantasies and dreams, but maybe that’s me. Anyway, she’s summoned by a director to go on her first field case of a particularly gruesome murder. If I remember, I think the sheriff asked for FBI help, otherwise, I’m not sure why the FBI would have been involved. At this point, there is no “serial killer” just this one murder. And it just happens that this first murder Ella works is a copycat of Ed Gein, resembling the murders in Silence of the Lambs. Later, we even get the scene where she faces the killer alone (twice actually and one in a setting very similar to Lamb). That’s the plot I kept returning to reading this book.
The story had several good twists. I thought I knew who the killer was and turned out wrong. There’s a bit of an unfair technique used here that I don’t want to expound on as it would reveal too much. Let’s just say, the book is not billed as a mystery, but a suspense thriller, so what Pierce does here is okay. It would not have been okay if the book was billed as a mystery.
Unfortunately, this book lacks good editing. There were two major gaffs and several minor gaffs. The two major ones were at the end of the book. You can read the other reviews to see the other gaffs that I don’t list.
The setting is a small town in Louisiana. Not even thirty minutes from one end to the other. Ella Dark is partnered with a veteran FBI agent from the Behavioral Unit. They are both in the Sheriff’s office when they get a tip that the suspect was spotted at the hospital. Ripley, the veteran, goes that way and Ella Dark goes to a woman’s shelter, still in the same town. When Ripley is driving the sun is setting and the streetlights are coming on. Let’s say 5pm or so. The author then switches to the point of view of the killer waiting outside the woman’s shelter and it’s almost 1 am and Ella Dark is not there yet. No way it took her five plus hours to get there. And even if we allow that maybe Ella has been there for five hours, Ripley wraps up her business at the hospital in less than an hour, so why hadn’t she and the sheriff joined Ella, like they said they would?
The second gaff during the big show down between Ella and the killer is that Ella gets the bead on the killer and tells him to get on his knees, which he does. Then a few paragraphs later, he’s leaning against the wall. Of course, the plot needs him standing.
I did find it interesting that Ella makes a lot of mistakes, which I would expect of a young agent first time in the field.
As for content. No sex. The violence is not over the top, though some is gruesome. There is a spattering of profanity, including several F-bombs, none of which add anything to the story. Overall, a good, but not great read. Not sure I’ll continue on with the series. Too many other books to read.
As for ranking, I’ll put this one after Murder Board.
Book Rankings for 2022
- Win by Harlen Coben
- Murder Board by Brian Shea
- Girl, Alone by Blake Pierce
- One Night in Sedona by Carrie Latimer.
- Coffin Cove by Jackie Elliott
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