A Review of Blood Ties by Nicholas Guild

Blood Ties

by Nicholas Guild

This book grabbed me from the first page. It was exciting and horrifying, and I couldn’t put it down. The murders were shocking. They drew you into the story. You wanted Ellen Ridley to do whatever she needed to do to get this psychopath off the street. She had suspicions and maybe went a little out-of-bounds trying to get evidence against her prime suspect, but you didn’t care.

The first half of Blood Ties was bordering on a horror, mystery, thriller. It was so intense that I had to stop reading, because it was getting late and I didn’t want to have nightmares. I was expecting some really horrific twists and surprises; but when I picked up the book the next day, I was disappointed. It had changed from a mystery to a chase. You knew who the bad guy was. All that was left was catching him. That wasn’t easy, but still, that wasn’t what I was expecting.

Mr. Guild really knows how to write a tension filled story. He brings his characters to life. I guess that maybe I’ve read too many thrillers where the tension slowly builds, and then about halfway through the book, all hell breaks loose. I figured that was what was going to happen in Blood Ties. So I was a bit disappointed. I was so impressed with the start of the book, and was hoping for more. Don’t get me wrong, the story was still very good, but I really thought that I was reading a 5 Star book. I had very high expectations.

I give Blood Ties 4 Stars out of 5 and a Thumbs Up. If you like mysteries with an edge to them, that approach horror, but never quite cross the line, I think you should give this book a try.

I received a hardcover copy of this book from the publisher.

Book Description

Homicide detective Ellen Ridley of the SFPD is tracking a serial killer terrorizing young women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ridley is sure she’s cornered her most likely suspect: Stephen Tregear, a hacker and code breaker who works for U.S. Naval Intelligence. But Tregear is not the killer… he’s the killer’s son.

Ridley and Tregear team up to look for Tregear’s father, Walter, in an elaborate game of murderous cat and mouse. As the body count rises, Ridley must race against the clock to stop Walter before he kills any more women–and Tregear must finally confront the father who has been trying to kill him for twenty years. Blood Ties is an elegant and frightening thriller from Nicholas Guild.

Book Details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Forge Books (May 12, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765378450
ISBN-13: 978-0765378453
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds

About the Author

NICHOLAS GUILD was born in Belmont, California and attended Occidental College and the University of California at Berkeley. He taught at Clemson and Ohio State before turning full-time to writing fiction. He has published a dozen novels, several of which were international bestsellers including The Assyrian (1998), Blood Star (1989), and Angel (1995). Guild now lives in Fredrick, Maryland.