Where All the Dead Lie by J.T. Ellison

Where All the Dead Lie by J.T. Ellison


400 pages


Mystery/Thriller


September 2011







This is another netGalley book!  Here's the blurb:

"The shot to the head didn’t kill Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson. But it will crack her psyche and take her to the very edge.


In her showdown with the murderous Pretender, a bullet taken at close range severed the connection between Taylor’s thoughts and speech. Effectively mute, there’s no telling if her voice will ever come back. Trapped in silence, she is surrounded by ghosts—of the past, of friendships and trusts lost...of a lost faith in herself and her motives that night.


When Memphis Highsmythe offers Taylor his home in the Scottish Highlands to recuperate, her fiancé can’t refuse her excitement, no matter his distrust of the man. At first, Memphis’s drafty and singularly romantic castle seems the perfect place for healing. But shortly the house itself surrounds her like a menacing presence. As Taylor’s sense of isolation and vulnerability grows, so, too, does her grip on reality.


PTSD. PiLlS. GhOStS. GRuDGES.


Someone or something is coming after Taylor. But is she being haunted by the dead…or hunted by the living? "

This is the seventh book in the Taylor Jackson series.  I was fine reading it as a stand alone novel, but it does reveal the ending of the last book so some people may want to read the series in order.

I'm three for three with netGalley books.  I loved this one as well.  It was another book that kept me reading late into the night.  There is a nice ghost story element to the book that adds to the suspense and tension.  I finished it during a road trip to Gettysburg, PA so I was probably in the mood to go along with the ghostly elements of the story!

I loved Taylor and her relationship with Sam, her best friend.  It's rare that friendships between women seem real, fractured, and repairable in books.  This one felt like all three to me!  I was a little less interested in Taylor's relationship with Baldwin - maybe the author assumed I knew a little more about him than I did.  That would be my only criticism of the book (and it's a minor one!)

There is a great villain, but I don't want to give it away.  I did see it coming, but enjoyed watching the author unfold the story anyway.

Again, another 5 star read!  I may need to go back and read the first six books to see how these characters got to where they are!