By Michael Stephenson
Amazon Digital
2018
639 pages Thriller
The Shortlist
Michael Stephenson, the author of The Man on the Roof
contacted me and asked me to look at his newest book. Stephenson is the author
of several books across multiple genres. This is a self-published thriller, available
through Amazon.
Here is the synopsis of the book from the author.
“Someone has been creeping
in the dark while the others sleep, and they've done terrible, terrible things.
“There was a man on your roof,” claims curmudgeonly lane-hermit Herbert McKinney. Then, he initiates an unprovoked fight with a local punk. Drama escalates when that punk's dead body is found hanging at mid-street one August morning—a boastful killer messaging their next prey. All fingers point to Herbert as the culprit. Soon, the five couples he calls neighbors come under suspicion, too. When lead detective Cady Lambert divines blackmail as the motive, eyes cross to find who hides the most shameful secret. Husband versus wife, friend versus friend, the shiny suburban veneer of innocence has been forever tarnished. As hidden deviousness boils from their pores, there lurks a thief, a pill addict and a sadist—secrets worth killing for.
Now, as the man on the roof helps guide justice and watches devious neighbors slip in and out of sleepy houses, confusion and questions persist. Who dies next? What have they learned? Who is becoming a monster? Who already is one? And just how many secrets can a small group of multi-ethnic Ohioans have? Only one cemented truth exists: the killer will kill again.
A tension-building psychological mystery-suspense thriller, The Man On The Roof propels the reader through a tangled, volatile and suspenseful thicket of deception, murder and friends, inviting the reader to discover the murderer and who hides which lie.”
“There was a man on your roof,” claims curmudgeonly lane-hermit Herbert McKinney. Then, he initiates an unprovoked fight with a local punk. Drama escalates when that punk's dead body is found hanging at mid-street one August morning—a boastful killer messaging their next prey. All fingers point to Herbert as the culprit. Soon, the five couples he calls neighbors come under suspicion, too. When lead detective Cady Lambert divines blackmail as the motive, eyes cross to find who hides the most shameful secret. Husband versus wife, friend versus friend, the shiny suburban veneer of innocence has been forever tarnished. As hidden deviousness boils from their pores, there lurks a thief, a pill addict and a sadist—secrets worth killing for.
Now, as the man on the roof helps guide justice and watches devious neighbors slip in and out of sleepy houses, confusion and questions persist. Who dies next? What have they learned? Who is becoming a monster? Who already is one? And just how many secrets can a small group of multi-ethnic Ohioans have? Only one cemented truth exists: the killer will kill again.
A tension-building psychological mystery-suspense thriller, The Man On The Roof propels the reader through a tangled, volatile and suspenseful thicket of deception, murder and friends, inviting the reader to discover the murderer and who hides which lie.”
The concept of the book is
intriguing, and the families that live on the suburban Ohio street are varied and
interesting, although each family fills a stereotype role. Where I got bogged down was
in Stephenson’s sentence structure. One Goodreads reviewer called it “clunky.” Additionally,
the author needed a good strong editor to cut it down and tidy it up. Ultimately, it was the grammar mistakes
and mix-ups over characters that caused me to put the book down.
On the other hand, Stephenson is the author of more than 15 books. He has a huge imagination and a tremendous
tenacity. You have to give him credit for that.
The best thing about The Man on the Roof is that it is
free if you are a member of Amazon Prime. If you like to read books primarily
for plot, then this is a good book for you.
This is Michael Stephenson’s website.
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