The Nocturnal Devil isn’t just a chase—it’s a meditation on time, the silence of a city at night, and the thin line between vigilance and obsession.

Ticking Clocks and Quiet Streets

At the heart of The Nocturnal Devil is a relentless sense of time. The novel opens with a double disappearance that makes time itself feel like an enemy: each second that passes narrows the chance of rescue, and every routine act—checking a phone, locking a door—becomes weighted with urgency. The recurring line, “Every clock that ticks is another life slipping away,” reverberates through the pages not as a gimmick but as a thematic drumbeat. Time is both a mechanic of the plot and a mirror of Griffin Knight’s inner life.

Isolation in the Crowd

New York City is crowded and anonymous, and that anonymity is a key theme. The novel shows how someone can vanish amid millions without leaving an obvious trail. The city’s noise becomes a kind of static that muffles clues and dulls empathy. Griffin’s investigation reveals how easy it is for lives to be overlooked—faces in commuter packs, late-night shadows on elevated platforms, neighborhoods where strangers pass one another like waves. Hernandez uses the city as a character, one that both hides and reveals truths depending on who is listening.

Trauma, Duty, and the Cost of Knowing

Griffin Knight returns to work before he’s healed. That tension—between a detective’s duty and his personal need to recover—drives much of the emotional weight. He’s haunted by previous cases, and this new hunt forces him to confront whether continuing to seek justice is a form of healing or self-destruction. The novel explores how detectives carry trauma as part of their job; the longer they look, the more they internalize the city’s darkness.

Ethics of Pursuit

Another theme is the ethical boundary between necessary deception and ruinous obsession. Griffin must make choices that blur professional lines—stretching rules to get answers, weighing suspects’ rights against the urgency of the case. These decisions expose the moral complexity of policing in an imperfect system, and the narrative avoids easy answers. Instead, it asks readers to consider what justice looks like when time is slipping away.

Why These Themes Matter

What makes The Nocturnal Devil compelling is how its themes interlock: time fuels urgency, the city enables anonymity, isolation intensifies trauma, and moral ambiguity tests a detective’s resolve. Together, they form a portrait not just of a case to be solved but of a city and a man shaped by the nightly shadows they navigate. For readers who crave thrillers that also linger in the mind afterward, this novel offers suspense and substance in equal measure.

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Do Nothing interrogates the fragile line between justice and vengeance as Detective Griffin Knight pursues a serial avenger in New York City. The novel asks what we owe the dead—and ourselves.

At first glance, Do Nothing is a taut crime thriller: a serial killer resurfaces, a city is on edge, and a detective must piece together a terrifying pattern. But beneath that pulse-pounding premise lies the book’s deeper interrogation of moral complexity. Who gets to decide what justice looks like? When institutional systems fail, does vengeance become a form of truth-seeking? Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr. uses the case as a prism to explore these questions through the eyes of Griffin Knight.

Griffin’s investigation forces him to confront uncomfortable truths—about the victims, the neighborhoods they came from, and the small, overlooked injustices that can lead to explosive consequences. The killer in Do Nothing is not portrayed as a cartoon villain; instead, the avenger is rendered as an idea: someone acting on a skewed moral logic, convinced of their own righteousness. This framing raises uneasy parallels to how society sometimes glorifies retaliatory violence when it appears to deliver easy answers.

Another central theme is the weight of memory and trauma. Griffin carries the scars of past cases and personal losses, and those experiences shape his judgments and instincts. The novella explores how trauma can be both a motivator and a blindfold—motivating a detective’s pursuit of the truth while also coloring what he sees. Readers watch him wrestle with instinctual responses and the hard, slow work of evidence-based investigation.

Urban anonymity and the city itself function almost like another character. New York’s textures—the subway’s roar, rain-slick streets, fluorescent-lit precincts—provide a backdrop that amplifies the story’s moral ambiguities. Hernandez Jr. shows how a metropolis can hide patterns in plain sight: the same bus routes, the same late-night corners, the same bureaucratic blind spots. In such a landscape, the difference between justice and vengeance is not always clear-cut.

Ultimately, Do Nothing delivers on suspense while inviting readers to consider what it means to seek closure in a world that resists tidy answers. It’s a story that will stay with you after the final page, not just for its twists, but for the ethical questions it quietly refuses to resolve.

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Noir thrives on liminal spaces: the rain-drenched streets at midnight, the thin light of a diner, the moral fog that settles over a city. In Soaked, Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr. uses those spaces to examine obsession and identity. Detective Jerry Crowder’s pursuit of a serial killer becomes less about evidence and more about empathy; the book asks a simple, terrifying question: How close do you have to get to someone to really know them?

Obsession is the motor of the story. Jerry’s need to solve the case intensifies as the murders escalate, but the novel refuses to simplify that drive into pure heroism. Instead, it traces the corrosive edges of obsession—how it alters perception, erodes personal boundaries, and can make a person capable of the very acts they’re trying to stop. The tension comes not just from the threat posed by the killer, but from watching Jerry inch toward the moral line he always told himself he’d never cross.

Identity functions on two levels: who the killer is and who Jerry thinks he is. The murders mirror aspects of Jerry’s past and psyche, forcing him to confront memories and choices he’d rather keep buried. This mirroring is classic noir: the detective and the criminal are reflections, two sides of a coin spun until it blurs. By requiring Jerry to ‘become the storm,’ the story investigates whether understanding another’s darkness requires sharing it—and what that does to a person’s sense of self.

The setting amplifies these themes. New York City in Soaked is almost a character—cold, damp, and indifferent. Rain is more than weather; it’s a metaphor for cleansing and suffocation, a constant that both hides and reveals. The city’s noise and anonymity let monstrous acts occur, while its corners and alleys keep secrets close. This backdrop creates the claustrophobic mood that noir depends on and reinforces the novel’s exploration of humanity’s shadowed edges.

Finally, Soaked plays with the moral ambiguity at the heart of detective fiction. Readers who expect a tidy answer may be unsettled; Hernandez prefers complexity over closure. The payoff lies in the psychological realism: the uncomfortable truth that catching a killer often demands human empathy in uncomfortable forms. Soaked is less a puzzle to be solved than a dark mirror held up to our fascination with criminals and the price we pay for getting too close.

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A Cold Day in Hell by Lissa Marie Redmond

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It gets better toward the end.

Expertly written, I kept thinking whether I should give this four or five stars. I went with four stars because I liked it, but I didn’t think it was amazing. However, this is a strong police procedural, and the writing is good. I thought the trial was long, but this novel is realistic. I wonder who would portray the main character, Lauren, if this were adapted as a movie or TV series.

I liked how this story took place in Buffalo because that’s where I’m from. Although some of it was fictional, it was entertaining. I will read the next book in the series, and there is a cliffhanger at the end of A Cold Day in Hell.

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With a Vengeance by Riley Sager

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic.

The book cover is great, the title is fitting, and the story is well written. While I prefer clean reads, there was minimal foul language. While this book isn’t perfect, the story picks up around page 75. Before that, Riley Sager takes the time to world-build and provide backstories for the characters. There is horror, but the mystery and thrills are more prevalent in this story. I hope Riley Sager considers focusing more on mystery and thrills in the future.

This novel reminded me of Murder on the Orient Express, Clue, and movies featuring famous actors in train sequences, like Tom Cruise and Liam Neeson. I would consider re-reading this at around page 75 and on because so many things happened. There were a few surprises that kept me engaged while reading.

This is the second book I’ve read from Riley Sager, and I’ll continue to read more. I want to note I enjoyed this novel much more than Survive the Night. I can see this book being adapted into a movie.

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The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Solid.

The Sun Down Motel has plenty of twists and a solid mystery at its core. The book cover is excellent, and it features a few catchy mentions in this book, such as Psycho. The alternating POVs helped increase my reading engagement, and this story flowed nicely. I didn’t enjoy the blaspheming and profanity, but Simone St. James wasn’t overbearing with it.

Overall, it’s a great ghost story that is worth your time for at least one read-through. I will not reread this novel, but you might.

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The Crescent Scar: A Dark Tale of Detectives and Deadly Games by J.T. Ravenwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A mystery thriller.

The writing is solid, and the story is edited. I enjoyed it and would label this short story as a thriller. The chapter names add another allure to this novella, but it would benefit from giving the characters backstories. For example, more character development would have helped me connect better with the Lieutenant and Carver’s sister, Mia.

The action scenes were crafted well and weren’t rushed. I prefer reading stories without cursing and blaspheming, and while it wasn’t overdone, I saw enough of it where I noticed it bothered me. My reading engagement was high throughout the story. I recommend it and would re-read this story. Hopefully, this will turn out to be a series, chiefly with the conclusion of this story.

The book cover caught my eye; it’s excellent.

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To Build a Fire by Jack London

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Frightening.

You wouldn’t expect a short story thriller about man versus nature to be scary, yet Jack London implemented the fear factor perfectly. I’m impressed with the vivid descriptions and imagery that Jack London could show in this tale. It felt like I was in the Yukon with the man and wolf-dog. Expertly written and memorable. I feel inspired!

I highly recommend To Build a Fire and would re-read it. My reading engagement was high throughout the story, and I’m shocked I didn’t read this sooner. The foreshadowing is superb. I am interested in reading more novels by Jack London.

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A Colossal Injustice

by Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr.

Giveaway ends January 31, 2025.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

It is perfect for James Patterson and Robert Galbraith fans, as it features alternating POVs and a blend of genres.

The Secret Gift by Daniel Hurst

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Exciting.

Pros:

1. It’s short.
2. The book cover is fantastic.
3. Perfect for the holidays if you’re into thrillers.
4. It’s well-written.
5. It’s edited.
6. It’s realistic.

Cons:

1. I won’t re-read this.
2. The police might be smarter in real life than what Daniel Hurst portrays in this book.

I won’t re-read this short story, but I would be open to reading more books from this author.

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Xmas Break: A Christmas Thriller by J.E. Rowney

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It’s better than you think.

Pros:

1. It’s a good read.
2. Several genres are blended into this story, such as romance, thriller, mystery, and horror.
3. The title is fitting, mainly after reading the story.
4. It’s an atmospheric thriller, which I enjoyed.

Cons:

1. I didn’t like the main character, Isla.
2. I don’t like Isla’s name, chiefly when compared to Greg, James, and Clara.
3. I didn’t like some one-liners.
4. Some of the romantic stuff made me cringe.
5. I won’t re-read this.

I’d be open to reading more from this author, but the romantic aspect of this story makes me cringe.

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Carnival of the Dead: Two Paths, One Nightmare: Dual Ending Horror Short Story by Dita Dow

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Excellent.

Pros:

1. Unexpected ending and twists.
2. Dita Dow is a fabulous writer.
3. It’s a short story.
4. Dita Dow edited this book.
5. Despite being a short story, I was content with it.

Cons:

1. None that I can think of.

Dita Dow did a fantastic job with this book. I highly recommend it if you’re into short stories and twists.

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