WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU

Aimee Hix

Midnight Ink

January 2018

 

The beginning of a new year is a great time to debut new things, like trying a new workout or new attitude towards life. Let’s start 2018 with the first book by a debut author.

Author Aimee Hix introduces readers to Willa Pennington in her new novel, WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU. Willa is a former police officer training to become a private investigator. Her retired neighbors ask her to help their daughter move out of her abusive boyfriend’s house. When she arrives, the boyfriend has been murdered and the daughter is missing. Willa sets her sights on finding who shot the boyfriend. She finds herself entangled with people from her past and racing for her life.

Willa Pennington is a fantastic new female protagonist. She is fierce, and she is fearless. Willa doesn’t have everything figured out, but she’s making it up as she goes along, and she does it with confidence. She has her flaws, like when she ends up in bed with a high school friend, and humanity like that makes her a relatable leading character. Now that the Murder by Month series by Jess Lourey (also published by Midnight Ink) is winding down, Willa is going to be a great leading lady to fill the hole left as Mira James exits stage right. I for one, am thrilled this is the first instalment in a new ongoing series.

For a debut author, Hix shows a lot of restraint in her writing. She doesn’t drop the entire story in the reader’s lap at the start of the book. There isn’t a page of exposition that you can dog ear to refer to later. Hix skillfully teases out the plot throughout the book and adds layers to the story as she goes. The pacing of the book is perfect.

WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU is also a tightly written story that has no wasted scenes. Hix introduces last minute plot twists and turns that you don’t see coming. She does a great job of planting seeds of what’s to come, but they are so subtle that you don’t think anything of an offhanded comment at that time. Hix works misdirection into the book like a pro. Aimee Hix is an up and coming author everyone should watch. Start reading her now and you can say you were one of the cool kids who were reading her before everyone else.

 

Kate Malmon