This story follows five characters in their investigation into who was behind 15 gruesome murders in their small town over three Februaries. Point Roberts is located on a peninsula in Washington State and borders Canada. For twenty seven years, the town of Point Roberts gets completely isolated for the month of February to keep them safe from the killer. Since the lockdowns began, there have been no additional murders but the killer has never been caught. Seventeen year old Liza moves to town to be with her new foster family and she quickly learns about the murders when she finds a book washed up on the shore titled The Fifteen. Liza joins with four other townspeople to investigate the killings and to identify the Point Roberts Slayer after 30 years.
My favorite part of this book was the way the different characters were handled. I assumed we would be in Liza's perspective for the whole book but we actually switch between the five characters - Liza, Theodore, Colette, Grant, and Maude. Five different points of view is a lot for a single book and when I realized how many perspectives we were getting, I was concerned the story would get confusing. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the five POV didn't detract from the story at all. I felt Rigby masterfully balanced the different perspectives and made them all unique enough that I didn't get characters confused. The first five chapters of the book are spent introducing the different characters and their connections to the murders. Then, for the rest of the book, we see them team up together as they investigate. The first chapters laid such a solid groundwork for the characters that I had a clear vision and voice for each of them. Then, later in the book when they are all together, I didn't feel confused or out of balance. Rigby balanced the different perspectives very well and it felt like we had five equal main characters. I loved the different relationships that blossomed between the characters and the way the group dynamic changed depending on how many and who was involved.
Along the same lines, I expected the narrative to get bogged down with info-dumping about the fifteen murders. Fifteen is just a whole lot of details to go through and give the reader the information about. Rigby managed to stay away from the dreaded info-dump and instead wove the different murders into the plot. We didn't need to know about all fifteen at once, we learned about them one at a time as the characters discussed and worked through the evidence. This methodical process allowed the rest of the plot to move forward so the reader could stay engaged. I also found this made the different murders more memorable and while I couldn't list off all 15 by heart, I could keep them separate in my mind so when characters brought up X or Y murder, I knew which one they were talking about.
Where the multiple characters and multiple murders didn't work so well for me was right at the end. The last 15% or so of the book was a big of a slog to get through because of the amount of information just being told to the reader. We get to the end, the group figures out who the Big Bad is and then there's a long story breaking down what happened 30 years ago where we find out the reason behind each of the fifteen murders. It was just a lot of information to take in at once and the reasons were so similar with a lot of them that it felt pretty repetitive at times. There also wasn't much action happening during the last 15% but there was a whole lot of talking so the pacing just dragged for me. Also, at the end, the point of view switched from third person to first person and it was super jarring for me. I think the reason was to give more of a personal perspective on how each of these five people was feeling now that they were close to finding the truth but after reading over 300 pages in third person the sudden shift was not working for me and took me right out of the story that I was super invested in.
I thought the overall mystery was really well crafted and paced. I was impressed with how quickly the reader is sunk into the mystery of Point Roberts and the annual lockdown procedures. I was immediately intrigued by the set up and the cast of characters introduced. I really liked how each of the five main characters brought something to the investigation, it wasn't one person having all the epiphanies or finding all the clues. They felt like a real team working together while also having their own worries or goals for the outcome. The investigation is a bit slow, but after 30 years of no new evidence or much investigation at all, it is understandable that the group would need to go back over old evidence before breaking new ground. I found this to be a very character-driven mystery story so the plot isn't too complicated with lots of red herrings in the investigation. A good part of the story is the characters discovering things about themselves, their relationships, or the goals in life in tandem to the main investigation. I think some readers might be put off by that and find the actual mystery a bit simple but I found the personal growth and connections to add to the mystery investigation. I did guess most of the reveal at the end, but still found it a satisfying reveal and some of the finer details I hadn't worked out for myself.
Overall, this was a really interesting, character-driven mystery. I loved the premise and found the pacing and narrative to be really well crafted through most of the book. The ending dragged pretty noticeably for me, but I still enjoyed it.
416 pages
Thanks to BookSirens for the ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Publication date: February 1, 2021 by Alden, The Allegory Ridge Press
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