Book Review - Creep by Jennifer Hillier

Title: Creep 
Author: Jennifer Hillier
Year: 2011
Page: 357
Genre: Fiction - Murder / Mystery / Thriller / Suspense

FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from goodreads.com): 
Pulsing with the dark obsession of Radiohead’s song “Creep,” this taut thriller—Jennifer Hillier’s superb debut—rockets from its seductive opening to a heartpounding climax not easily forgotten.

If he can’t have her . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behavior. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.

. . . no one else can.

Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death. Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail . . . and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn’t resist—who is now the monster who won’t let her go.

First Sentence: 
1st - Three Months.

My Thoughts:

• I first heard about this book from Charlotte's Web of Books (see her review here). I am always on the look out for new author in the murder / mystery / thriller / suspense genre and I like that the protagonist is a psychology professor (I was a psych major). Besides, my favorite author in this genre, Jeffery Deaver, gave this endorsement: "top-of-the-line thriller writing. you beter call in sick, because you're not going anywhere until you finish reading."

• This is a pretty good debut! Though it was a bit predictable - I did not guess everything, but when the truth was revealed - though it was different and not quite what one would have expected - it wasn't as big of a twist as I thought it would be because there were hints along the way and so my suspicion was confirmed. [PS, now it's been 3.5 months since I'd read this book, and I don't quite remember what happened... this is not atypical of my usual experience with this genre since I read it for fun, but I mostly forget about the plot soon after... it was fun guessing while it lasted. PPS - I read some other reviews, and now remember what happened. So the story didn't have much saying power, but when I was given some clues, I remembered. ]

• I actually did not quite like the protagonist, and some of her issues were not wrapped up [SPOILER] daddy's issue [/SPOILER] so I wonder if it is set up to be a series, especially since the ending is set up to be one.

• Not a bad read, and it'd interesting to see if this turns out to be a series.

Overall Rating:

3 Stars. Decent debut.


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