A review by campychick001
Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

Hazel Greenlee is a police transcriber in the dangerous, crime-filled city of Black Harbor. Michigan. Her days are spent listening to detectives narrative gruesome details of crimes encountered and dreaming of escaping the city and becoming an author. One eventful night at work ends with her neighbor confessing to a crime - disposing of an overdose victim in a dumpster. This death is linked to a local drug dealer known as the "Candy Man." Hazel teams up with the lead detective, Nikolai Kole, to help solve the crime. As she dives deeper into the investigation, she finds content for the novel she's been writing and grows closer to Nikolai - which throws a major wrench in her marriage.

This was a very good debut novel. The author did an excellent job of creating this dark and dangerous atmosphere. I also really enjoyed the exploration of the role of a police transcriber - I was not surprised to discover the author had experience in that role. I'm not a big fan of cheating in books but her husband was absolutely terrible so it was understandable. Her sister was also an insufferable character. I wavered between my like and dislike of Nikolai throughout the entire book - and I'm still unsure of my feelings on this character. The twists and turns of this book were good and satisfying. I am happy to see there are more books in this series and I am interested to see where those go.