Summary:
Life has a way of coming undone. One single moment can set the undoing in motion, unraveling our neat, tiny stitch of life. For young art professor Delaney Jones, the treacherous spiral begins when she makes one unforgivable mistake - she sleeps with her student. Her silent Wisconsin winter turns deadly after she witnesses the brutal murder of a man she had fought hard to forget. As Delaney battles to deal with the undoing of her tight-stitched life, the small liberal arts university is devastated by the discovery of a bloody crime scene on campus. A mysterious text entangles her in the violent scandal, and Delaney must follow the rules of the anonymous messenger to stop the perpetuating descent toward death. But the line between good and evil is blurry. And maybe, just maybe, there is no line at all.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 324 pages (Papaerback)
Source: Review Copy
Available Formats: Print/E-book
Publication Date: June 23rd 2013 by Raen Smith Publishing
When I was first approached to review this novel for the author I knew it was going to be a book I really enjoyed and I was 100% correct. House of Steel was one of those books that just blew me away with the writing and since I loved it so much I am going to be intentionally vague and avoid any spoilers in my review.
House of Steel is a wonderful thriller, and I'm glad to see a woman writing in a genre that while it has some great stand out female authors it is still dominated by men. Raen Smith is a prime example of how well female authors can pen excellent, heart pounding gorey thrillers.
Anyway, when I read the novel it had been ages since I read a thriller so when I picked this one (and the one that follows it) up to read I was jonesing for a read that would have me on the edge of my seat and this one totally did. I loved how the author was able to weave so many different things into the plot of the book and make everything come together so cohesively that I couldn't help but love it.
The characters, were actually a lot more well developed than I thought they would be. I thought this would be more of a plot driven thriller but the plot as well as the characters equally made the book as good as it was. I liked that the characters actually had some very good development to them and I ended up rooting for Delaney a lot more in the end than I would have thought when I first started the book.
Overall, I thought that Raen Smith put forth a fantastic debut novel with complex characters and a fascinating, engaging plot that kept me guessing and kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning. I loved the violence and the gore and I thought that it was great to see a female author writing in the genre.
I would recommend House of Steel to fans of darker thrillers who want to show their support for a fantastic indie author.
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.
I read this book for the following reading challenges:
2013 150+ Reading Challenge
Loved It!
★★★★★
★★★★★
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Oh that's awesome. I haven't read too many thrillers and it's been a good long while since I read those. Glad you enjoyed it so much. It's always so fun finding a new author like that that really knocks you out :)
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