Wordhunter by Stella Sands ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

An utterly original and compulsively readable detective story about a woman who uses her uncanny ability to analyze words and speech patterns to help solve crimes.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

August 2024; Harper; 978-0063345300
audio, ebook, print (256 pages); suspense

Maggie is a main character with lots of negative traits -- she's pierced and tattooed, a drinker, and a user of illegal drugs - but the most important trait that Maggie has is her desire to help other people.  She's also a savant with words - able to solve any linguistic puzzle.  She relaxes by diagramming sentences and is the top student in her forensic linguistics class.  Even with all of her flaws, she quickly became a very likable main character.

When a child goes missing in a neighboring town, Maggie is asked by her professor to help the police by analyzing the note that the kidnapper left for the police.  It's a difficult request for her because her best friend had disappeared when they were young and she was still trying to find out what happened to her.  But she knew that the police needed her expertise so she agreed to analyze the note plus texts and emails from people who the police suspected may be the kidnapper.  She wasn't able to prove when someone was guilty but her skills allow her to tell who isn't a suspect.  She becomes close to one of the detectives and even though they are just friends, there is a hint that they may become more than that.  While she's working with the police, her life is also bogged down with charges from a professor that may cause her to be kicked out of school.

Maggie was an interesting main character and I was quite impressed with her abilities with words.  I didn't know anything about forensic linguistics before reading this book and found it very interesting.  I thought the plot was very well written and it kept me interested until the end.  One thing that I didn't like about the book is that I had no idea that it was the first book in a new series until I got to the end of Wordhunter with several major issues left hanging.  Guess I'll have to wait for book 2 to find out how these situations are solved.  Other than that issue, this was a quick easy read with a lot of information about the use and understanding of words in a criminal setting.

Buy Wordhunter at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is two hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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