REVIEW: Creep (Creep #1) by Jennifer Hillier

Title: Creep (Creep #1)

Author: Jennifer Hillier

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Release Date: July 5th 2011

Purchase: Amazon (Kindle, Paperback)

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.

I read Creep to prepare myself for a crime fiction writing workshop I’m joining this October. From the blurb alone I knew I was going to enjoy it, and I wasn’t disappointed.

What I liked about the book

• The suspense — Every page is full of action and suspense, I couldn’t bring myself to put it down. I had to know what happened next.
• Sheila Tao — She’s a strong woman despite all the shit she went through. Well, I guess part of it is her fault for having an affair with a grad student. But she couldn’t have known he was a psychopath.
• Ethan Wolfe — I enjoyed getting into his head! It’s always fun to get into the heads of psychopaths. No, that’s not sarcasm.
• Sex Addiction — In this novel Sheila Tao is a recovering sex addict. We don’t hear a lot about it and I love the fact that Hillier tries to shed some light about sex addiction and the people who has it.
• Hillier’s writing style — I love how detailed her style is and she knows a lot about life in prison, psychology, and law enforcement. She has done her research very well and it shows in her writing. I think it’s a huge plus if the author knows what she’s writing about because she would do a better job of taking the readers to this new world she created.

What I didn’t like about the book

• There were some parts that seemed to drag on for too long or minute details that were described extensively but had little to do with the story as a whole. This is just a minor hiccup though.

Conclusion

Except for a minor hiccup I really loved Creep. In fact, I picked up the sequel right after finishing Creep. Hillier knows how to leave the readers wanting without making the readers unsatisfied with the book.