Dark Thrill Reviews: The Night Shift by Alex Finlay


 Remember when everybody was needlessly anxious about Y2K? Well, something genuinely terrifying transpires in The Nigh Shift—three employees of a Block Buster were murdered. One girl, Ella, survives. And 15 years later, as Ella is working with trauma victims, she is called in because it happened again. This time at an ice cream shop. And the girl who survived exclusively wants to talk to her. 

Alex Finlay is a master at entangling truly unnerving and profound suspense novels. As in Every Last Fear, he employs several characters to tell the story of a rampage, then and now. 
Often with books with a multiple POV narration, there are some weak links. Here, the pregnant FBI Agent Sarah Keller is undoubtedly a standout, but so are the others; like Chris, the brother of the presumed killer, and Ella and Jesse, both survivors, they steal every scene they are in. Having a narrative that switches periods and POVs is tricky, but these individuals are so unforgettable that the reader relishes every switch. 
Finlay knows how to deliver a sucker punch; his characters experience unimaginable pain and terror; he tells the story of a probable copy cat, and makes it fresh, focusing on the investigators and victims with so much humanity and warmth; it is what makes his book so captivating; he creates characters like no other, and then puts them through the wringer torturing the reader in the progress. It is sinister but never cynical. And he knows his way around an intricate, elaborate, and satisfying plot; he is one of the best thrillers writers around right now.