This book could have been a 4-star book, maybe even verging on 5. The story was compelling and interesting and the author is clearly a talented writer. However, what ruined it for me was the fact that it was clear that the author relied on spellcheckers rather than editors. In just one casual read-though I noticed over thirty errors, in the form of bad punctuation (apostrophes before and after the s in possessives), anachronisms (cops talking about DNA fingerprint evidence 4 years before it was developed), factual errors (implying that a weasel is a rodent, saying that O negative blood accounts for 3% of the population - two minutes on Google shows that it is closer to 7%, quoting the 23rd Psalm and calling it The Lord's Prayer), and especially using the wrong form of homonyms or the wrong word entirely (bye/by, wit/with, deaf/dead, bee/been, counsel/Council, puss/pus, you're/your, brassier/brassiere, taught/taut, non/none, throes/throws, were/we're, breath/breathe).
I would encourage Robert White to keep writing. The story was good and generally well-written. But next time, hire a copy editor instead of relying on yourself or some family member. These kinds of errors take the reader out of the story and give a general impression of amateur writing.