The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater - Jaime Jo Wright - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Jaime Jo Wright

GENRE: Christian Mystery-thriller.

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: Christian + mystery-thriller – a combo I never thought possible. Slowburn but intriguing. A good story that delivers the chills while staying true to the Christian aspects. (i.e. thrills without blood and gore!)

Story Synopsis:

1915. Kipper's Grove, Wisconsin. A few months ago, Greta Mercy’s elder brother lost his life during the construction of the Barlowe Theatre. Now one of her younger brothers Leo has gone missing after breaking into the same building. Orphaned Greta knows that she can’t afford to invest much time in locating Leo as she has two more young brothers to care for, else they will lose their home and be shifted to the poorhouse. But how can Greta let go of Leo without doing anything?

Present Day. When Kit Boyd agrees to help her best friend Madison have a ghost walk in the Barlowe Theatre for a television show that deals with the supernatural, she never thought that Madison would mysteriously vanish. The show hosts – psychic Heather and sceptic Evan – agree to help Kit discover what happened to Madison. But do they have an ulterior motive behind their support?

With increasingly creepy happenings in both timelines, we see how the two women, though separated by a century, are linked by circumstances and destiny.

The story comes to us in the limited third person perspectives of Kit and Greta.

Bookish Yays:

😍 Honestly, I never thought there could be a ‘Christian’ book that focussed on thrills or the supernatural. The two components are so at odds with each other! But this book surprised me in a wonderful way, making the strange combo come together seamlessly.

😍 As a Christian fiction, the thrills are delivered in a clean manner – no gore or gruesomeness. But this doesn’t reduce the intrigue of the book. Rather, it kept me on my toes with its timely twists, and never made me feel like a dash of blood would have helped enhance the plot. Furthermore, the faith-related aspects are incorporated well into the plot, with the belief system of the characters influencing their thinking rather than merely spouting mere biblical verses. The plot never gets preachy as well. The romances are also clean, with just a couple of kisses mentioned.

😍 While both the timelines have a romantic arc, these are quite subdued and never overpower the main plot. The focus stays on the mystery than on the couples. Love it when romance isn’t pushed to the forefront in a non-romance novel!

😍 For a change, both the timelines are equally gripping. Each has a missing person situation, but this doesn’t create repetition. The investigation follows different paths, and it takes a long while to see how the two tracks come together. If you pay attention to the names of the characters, you can take a few shots at guessing some of the twists, but the author has plenty more surprises in her kitty. I couldn’t figure out the main mystery at all until it was revealed.

😍 There are several mini-cliffhangers in the book, just before swapping to the other timeline. These are well-timed and never seem forced. The author’s firm control over the story was evident throughout.

😍 The writing is wonderfully descriptive. The Barlow theatre and all the other historical locations are sketched in such a vivid way that it is easy to visualise them all. I loved the author’s lyrical style.

😍 Through Kit’s arc, we get an interesting glimpse at abandonment issues in infant adoptees. In her parting note, the author mentions her own struggles with the same, and her honest thoughts added a great touch of authenticity to Kit’s feelings.

😍 It’s always great to see an ending that springs naturally from the narrative instead of being forced into place. I also appreciate how the characters aren’t cast into clear positive or negative roles. This offers a nice lesson on not jumping to judgemental conclusions.

😍 The author’s note also reveal some intriguing facts that motivated this fictional work. These sent me down a rabbit hole of research.

😍 While I mention the author’s note often in my reviews, this is the first time I am mentioning the ‘Acknowledgements’ section. This book has among the most amusing acknowledgements I have ever read. The author’s sincere thanks to Walmart and local coffee shops and cats made me chuckle and won my heart.

Bookish Nays:

😒 The contemporary timeline sometimes spills the beans on the suspense of the historical timeline well in advance. This sullies the fun of discovery. I wish such foreshadowing had been delayed until after the incident came up in the story.

😒 The story is somewhat slow. There’s a lot of build-up in the first quarter. While it is still gripping, I wish the pace had been a bit quicker.

😒 In the initial chapters coming from Kit’s perspective, there is too much of a focus on how good-looking Evan is. I wasn’t reading a romance, ergo I neither expected nor relished so much gushing over a man’s physical appeal when there were important mysteries to resolve.

Despite the tiny niggles, I enjoyed this story as it combined several of my favourite genres while avoiding their pitfalls. Though slow, it proved to be an engrossing entertainer.

Definitely recommended to mystery-thriller fans who would enjoy a touch of the spooks and wouldn’t mind a touch of the faith.

This is my first book by this author. I can’t believe I have never read her works before; her repertoire seems so amazing! Will surely keep an eye out for her future works and grab a few of her past releases.

My thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.