Hitman: Records of Drivhalt

by E. Vox

Revenge: a dish better served cold or never served at all?

All aboard, all aboard!

The Drivhalt Fall Camp is open to residents and students. The institution has housing, stormy weather, and is secluded from the nearest city. What’s not to love besides the fact some attendees have dark secrets?

But, the twenty-year old protagonist mustn’t let them ruin her mood. She’ll be too busy spending holidays with her new friends and securing a love interest. Yet even with these pleasant pastimes, she can't shake off the feeling that something isn't right. Why do these ravens have a pesky interest in her? Why are former residents of Drivhalt finding her after the program already ended? And how in the world did she develop an enemy vile enough to warrant a hitman taking them out?

Actions have consequences. The protagonist cannot get away with her attempted assassination without entering an otherworldly place, where everything that took place in Drivhalt is revealed to be part of a much bigger ploy. Deeply in need of mentors and answers, the fantasy world offers her just that. She must decide for herself then how justified vengeance really is.

Disclaimers: This book mentions suicide. There is no spice. This is a debut.

511 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 25, 2025

About the author

Drawn to the belief that stories ought to overshine the author, E. Vox writes under a penname where ‘vox’ translates to ‘word’ in Latin. She began writing fantasy and romance the moment she discovered what whimsical narration was and has since released her debut novel on June 25th, 2025 that started as a short story, advanced to a novella, before becoming a full-length novel. A literature graduate, she is now pursuing her masters. Apart from writing, E. Vox enjoys crocheting amigurumi and finding creative ways to turn her bedroom into a fairyland. Most importantly, she adores anything associated with October, cottages, fireplaces, food and faith.


Link to debut: https://www.amazon.com/Hitman-Records...

Reviews

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bully romance so if that’s not your thing this isn’t for you. Also just bullying in general.

It gave me just enough to be curious. At times it felt a little repetitive. For the most part the book was centered around hatred and abuse. Not sure if I would pick up the second book or not.
If the description that was given interests you always give a book a chance.

[Anna Banana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I the only one who rly enjoyed this book lol? I’m pretty sure this is Christian based and those are the type of books I look for, stuff with no cursing or smut. I definitely saw undertones in the themes, like the mustard seed analogy and the last line was a reference to a genesis verse which I thought was neat. My personal rating system is like this:

5-stars: best book I ever read in my life
4-star: really enjoyable book that spoke to me
3-star: a decent book but nothing special
2-star: I didn’t like it
1-stars: I’m mad I even read it

this was a 4 for me cuz there were certain messages I needed to hear. I read this during a tough patch in my life and it made me rethink the way I viewed love and attachment.

The story follows a girl who goes to a fall camp for fun. She notices a weird pair of lights that are stalking her from the woods and her friend is convinced it’s a monster. But for some reason she has this attachment to these lights despite literally everyone telling her to stay away from them. Some other stuff happens (can’t say too much without giving spoilers) but basically there’s this bully called Phrixus who terrozies everyone in the camp and he’s responsible for everything that goes wrong. When the camp ends, she meets this man on the bus who ends up being her boyfriend. Things start off great until he suddenly becomes mean to her and she hires a hitman to kill someone who she thinks is the reasons she’s going insane (did NOT see this plottwist coming). Then she enters the fantasy world where a bunch of people (they are called paladins) tell her everything that happened behind her back and they tell her she was being targeted by a rival group this whole time. You also learn what the lights were but I can’t say more cuz I would spoil the suspense (it reminded me of twilight tho and I love twilight).

I found the main characters enjoyable but the protagonist isn’t ur typical heroine. she’s more cowardly and has anixtey and that’s explicitly said but she does “woman up” towards the end so there’s decent character development. One character that stood out to me was an Employee who was nasty to everyone. He sometimes reminded me of snape and some of the stuff he said got a giggle out of me. Some of the chapter starters were repetitive. They all started with describing the weather which I guess was to set the scene but I would have liked some variation here and there.

There are a LOT of characters in this book but thankfully it wasn’t too hard to keep track of cuz they’re all introduced one by one. You spend time with each new character individually before you see them together in a scene. I think that’s why the book had a slow start. It’s not ur typical romantasy that starts off with lots of action and plot. The first half focuses on getting to know everyone before things start to pick up. At times, I wondered what the point of some chapters were. They kinda read like fillers or pointless prattle. But it wasn’t until I finished the book that I realized how everything connected together and those “pointless” chapters were actually leaving clues. I thought it was brilliant. If I were to reread it again, I would have a completely different understanding of certain scenes knowing what I knew (trying not to give spoilers) and I appreciate books like this.

The magic system isn’t complex. I’d say this is beginner fantasy. There’s no mythical creatures or a kingdom you normally see in romantasys and honestly, it’s more urban fantasy. You start off in the real world and don’t enter the fantasy world until towards the end. The fantasy world is made up of paladins and there is an allegory for God in that world, so a bulk of the Christian themes comes from the fantasy portion.

The writing is very beauitful and even lyrical in some parts. It’s not a quick read and definitely requires you to concentrate, which is a bonus for me cuz I’m tired of reading brainrot with middle school level writing. I feel it’s a disadvantage to me as a reader cuz I feel babied and the writing here talked to me as if I was an adult which was refreshing. But i definitely see why this isn’t for everyone. If you get distracted easily or need instant action, you might get bored or DNF. I don’t like DNF books and I’m glad I stuck through this one cuz the reward was worth it once seeing how everything connected and what the two plot twists were. I don’t see this appealing to male readers tho. There’s a heavy focus on female characters and there’s a sisterhood with the paladins that I imagine male readers would find difficult to relate to.

Some things I’d like to see improvement in:
-less talking about the weather
-shorter chapters (some were long!)
-more appearance from the MLI (the good one, not the bad one. He yearned so bad for her, I wouldn’t mind him being my book bf lol)
-more about the fantasy world (maybe that will be explored in next book?)
-more action in the beginning (hopefully there isn’t another slow start in next one since we know who everyone is now)

Would I finish this series? Absolutely. Would I recommend? Ehh….id be very selective about who I recommend this to cuz this isn’t commerical fiction and not everyone will like it. I feel like when ppl think of romantasy, they think of dragons, mythical creatures, castles, swords, horses, enemies to lovers, spice, faes, courtships….but this book doesn’t rlly have that. I mean, it does have fantasy (low-fantasy) and romance, hence…romantasy, but I feel like a more accurate genre would be literary fiction. It has themes that are supposed make you think about power, manupliation, evil vs. lesser evil, and love in a deeper context and not as tropes if that makes sense. Kind of like R. F. Kuang but less political.

I’d essentially recommend this to a niche group, like readers who like to read about charachter’s day-to-day lives, readers who have the patience to reach the good parts, readers who are Christian and would appreciate seeing undertones, readers who are currently in toxic relationships and need encouragement about how to break away from the hurt (this was me!), readers who want to think about themes in a deeper context and aren’t using a book as a palette cleanser. If you’re not a reader that falls under any of these categories, I don’t think you’ll like it. And this doesn’t make mean it’s a bad book by any means, just not a right match.

This author does seem inexperienced with marketing. They must be new to the publishing world (I beleive this is a debut) and they have done themselves a disservice not finding their target audience. Their readership probably dont even know this book even exists cuz it’s marketed towards the masses which is a horrible way to market. It’s like giving hunger games to a group of senior citizens. If they determined the books success, it would have never been made into a movie and been written off as a “violent fantasy of children killing children.” But YA and NA readers appreciated it cuz they were the target. Hopefully the author does more research before releasing their next book so they don’t run into the same problem cuz this isn’t an issue with the book itself but marketing.

All in all, sincerely enjoyed this story and I can’t wait to finish the series!

🌟🌟🌟🌟/ 5
0 🌶️/ 5

-Anna Banana

[Miss V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I don’t know what I expected blindly going into this book but I did not expect to care about it when I was finished. But I do. It’s lingered in my head for days now. This is a beautiful story about friendship, love, and proof that God helps those who seek Him. Very well written in terms of grammar and style. “This only made them render their nurturing spirit instead of making a fuss about how often I feel victim to fear” — what a lovely way to say the headmistresses didn’t poke fun of her for being scared. The author has a way with words that I enjoy.

What resonated with me most is how her faith that she didn’t even know existed was tested. She was written as a real human. She got scared, happy, angry, hopeful, helpless, and wasn’t boxed into a cardboard personality. The friendship she shared with Tyra and Benjamin was like Heromine, Ron and Harry, mainly because the camp building had a Hogwarts feel. I loved how much they cared for each other. I was however disappointed mid-way through the book when a horrible man became the love interest. He wasn’t good for her. Thank goodness he ended up being the antagonist. I wouldn’t have finished reading if that weren’t the case because I don’t tolerate toxicity. There was great juxtaposition between the horrible antagonist and the real MLI. It brought into perspective what a real man should be. Someone who protects and loves selflessly, not one who uses others for their benefit, which I see all too often being romanticized in modern books. Another line that I loved, this time coming from the MLI was, “I no longer judge others for their shortcomings, for I, a man who prided himself on his morals, was reduced to an outlaw when someone very dear to me was in jeopardy…” Gorgeous! I yearn for dialogue that makes me dwell.

I was skeptical going into this book because the cover was a bit dark. What pushed me to give it a try was the fact it was christian. The themes are somewhat dark, such as how manipulation and rotten attitudes come from a place of hatred. To my relief, there was no actual violence. Everything was psychological. I don’t recall any gruesome deaths or any type of sexual abuse- two very huge, HUGE dealbreakers for me. One thing I appreciated in this book is how my questions were answered. There’s nothing more satisfying than a character saying something that reveals a potential plothole, and someone in the book addresses the questions you had. I can’t stand being confused by the end of a story, so I appreciate all the loose ends that were tied in this book.
I didn’t give it 5 stars because there’s no such thing as a perfect book, or maybe I’m a harsh rater. Im very interested in the next book, which hopefully won’t be too long of a wait.

[Courtney Pityer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually DNF books but I realized this book wasn't for me. i'm still giving it five stars because the author spent a great deal of time working on it. I received it as a goodreads giveaway win.

[Clayton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Received a digital copy through GoodReads giveaway. I was unable to find any interest in this book and did not finish it.

[Author Mike Froom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't quite a fan of how It was written but the story itself was very interesting and I look forward to finding out what happens next.