Hello, Transcriber

Black Harbor #1

by Hannah Morrissey

Hannah Morrissey's Hello, Transcriber is a captivating mystery suspense debut featuring a female police transcriber who goes beyond the limits to solve a harrowing case.

Every night, while the street lamps shed the only light on Wisconsin's most crime-ridden city, police transcriber Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives divulge Black Harbor's gruesome secrets. As an aspiring writer, Hazel believes that writing a novel could be her only ticket out of this frozen hellscape. And then her neighbor confesses to hiding the body of an overdose victim in a dumpster.

The suspicious death is linked to Candy Man, a notorious drug dealer. Now Hazel has a first row seat to the investigation and becomes captivated by the lead detective, Nikolai Kole. Intrigued by the prospects of gathering eyewitness intel for her book, Hazel joins Kole in exploring Black Harbor's darkest side. As the investigation unfolds, Hazel will learn just how far she'll go for a good story―even if it means destroying her marriage and luring the killer to her as she plunges deeper into the city she's desperate to claw her way out of.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Suspense

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 2021

About the author

Hannah Morrissey is a USA Today bestselling author of the Black Harbor suspense series and other gripping works of crime fiction (coming soon!). Praised for their hauntingly atmospheric settings and gritty Midwestern realism, her novels have helped define a distinct subgenre: Midwestern Noir.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she studied English and Creative Writing, Hannah now lives near Milwaukee with her husband and their three mischievous pugs.

Reviews

[Regina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ohhhh boy, was I ever the wrong audience for this story.

Hello, Transcriber appealed to me when I saw that it’s about a police transcriber - someone who types up the notes of police reports and conversations. Such an interesting profession! It’s based on the author’s real-life experience in that role, too. I thought it would be interesting to get this fresh perspective on crime fiction.

Alas, what is marketed as a “captivating mystery suspense debut” is in reality a tawdry romantic suspense novel. And an adulterous one at that. Our 26-year-old married transcriber heroine falls into insta love with one of the police detectives, and bulging, biting, and boinking ensues. BLECH!!!

While I will say that the author does a nice job capturing a dreary, melancholic atmosphere, I couldn’t even really find a “mystery” to latch onto. There are plot holes, weird final act twists, and questionable character motives.

I could go on, but I’ll wrap things up by saying I was happy when the book ended. I hate writing unfavorable reviews. :(

Though romantic suspense novels aren't for me, I’m grateful to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copies to review. Hello, Transcriber is now available.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book’s depressing, melancholic tone is effective trigger reminding you of your past resentments, forcing you to confront your inner sadness! Somewhat it also reminded me of dark, intense tone of Liz Moore’s Long Bright River with a remarkable difference: this book’s heroine doesn’t look for missing sister, she’s looking for her lost innocence and something concrete to live for!

Hazel Greenlee is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read. Yes, she’s living in a place with her ecologist husband brings out freshly hunted animal food to their table each day and spends his entire time to hunt more. She’s in pain, everything hurts, even sex with her husband… She’s broken inside but she hides it too well by keeping her long silences, spending days without having meaningful communication with real people.

Her influencer sister already criticized her for wasting her potential. After being stuck between more meaningless jobs, she decides to get the job at Black Harbor’s police transcriber position.

Black Harbor is the haunted place, Wisconsin’s most crime- ridden city. The author gives us vivid, realistic and embellished descriptions help us to see the city as living, breathing, functioning human being. Even the terrifying suicide bridge has its own characteristics, taking all those lives, summoning the souls of the people who are trapped in limbo. Hazel may know about that bridge more than anyone : she has dysfunctional connection with it. Maybe the bridge is the only place, she can come clean with herself. The only place she stops pretending.

Her new job at night shift helps her get away from her home, her marriage, her haunted past. She has magical fingers which types faster than any other transcribers who worked at the department and she has English degree which makes her perfect!

But a gruesome crime she’s transcribed forced her cross paths with charismatic officer Kole Nikolai who has been recently suspended and returned back to his job. And the case is connected to her neighbor Sam who confesses to hide a young kid who is overdosed. There is a dangerous guy out there called Candy Man poisons the little kid with his drug supplies and he needs to be stopped!

As soon as Hazel starts helping Kole about she finds herself involve in darkest secrets of Black Harbor and she also finds herself drawn into this enigmatic man who has more secrets than her.

This book’s writing style is simply perfect! It shakes you to the core, making you feel everything. You feel the deep sadness of the characters who are trapped in their lives and suffocating, finding a way out. The portraits, realistic depictions, intriguing pacing capture your entire attention. You keep guessing the culprit till the end. And that heartbreaking ending was best conclusion for this haunting story!

I’m so happy this book put this amazing author on my radar. I’m looking forward to read more works of her in near future!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly compulsive read! This thriller had ominous, creepy overtones that kept me turning the pages.



The first person narrator is a mixed bag: a young, very pretty, aspiring writer with a college degree who still comes across as a wet behind the ears "podunk" - as she is often fondly referred to by her illicit love interest, Inspector Nikolai Kole.



Hazel's marriage is on the rocks. She married young (at sixteen if I remember correctly!) and her sex life is literally too painful for words (and downright brutal if you ask me!) While I truly could not put this book down, there were elements of this story that needed fleshing out. What was the traumatic incident that created this psychosomatic response in Hazel? Why did her mother leave her father, abandoning her young children in the process? And that MAJOR twist during the last few chapters of the novel literally came out of nowhere (no spoilers here.) The author did manage to add spice and interest to several well-worn tropes, but I was often left wanting more backstory or details.



If this author tires of writing thrillers, she would do well in the romance line: Nikolai Kole is your typical drop-dead gorgeous loner SIU cop who is unattainable - that is, until he meets young Hazel. Their encounters usually had me holding my breath - they were sizzling hot!



At a few points in the novel I feared for Hazel's sanity. Her character became incredibly paranoid and even doubted Kole's identity/existence. Hazel admits to her sister Elle that she is not a very nice person, and yet the author creates several scenarios where the reader is induced to feel sorry for poor, put-upon Hazel. The ending had some major "about-faces" that again had me doubting Hazel's sanity or the intended direction of this story. I wondered if these out of the blue reversals or sudden character wheel-arounds could be attributed to an abandoned plot line or last minute editing? There are quite a few holes in this story that still have me puzzled. Firstly, if Tommy was an aquatic ecologist, he had to have a Bachelors Degree in that field as well as have done some post-graduate work, and yet he is portrayed as an uncouth, inconsiderate oaf who has very little regard for the animal kingdom. And if Tommy was so tightfisted, who paid for Hazel's years in college while she earned her degree in English? I also have to say that the last third of the novel was not as emotionally compelling as the first two-thirds, but those final, graphic action scenes kept my attention riveted up to the very last page.



Did I guess the culprit? Hard not to: there were so few suspects left alive at the end of this story. This is the author's second novel. She writes well, but she shares the same affliction that many young authors suffer from: a love affair with their dictionaries. I can throw no stones because I love a new, intriguing word and I used to memorize a new word every day in my teens. The problem with including these intriguing new words in a novel is that you interrupt the flow of the narrative and risk alienating your reader. I stopped looking up the many "tantalizing new words" towards the middle: they really didn't add to the story and I just got plain tired of having to reread the paragraph to put the unknown word in context. Hannah Morrissey hopes to impress and entertain her readers. For the most part, she certainly did that, but throwing in those numerous "fifty-cent words" - as I like to call them - lost her a rating point with me.



I suspect that this author's next book will be even better than this one: she certainly knows how to grab the readers' attention and keep it! (Characterization and plotting still need a fair bit of work, but I am rating this four out of five well-deserved stars for great story-telling. She just needs to get out of her own way and do what she does very well: tell a gripping story. I highly recommend this one for sheer entertainment value. I'm rating this a 3.7 rounded up to a 4, because despite all the flaws, I did not want to put this one down.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Triggers: Suicide Ideation; descriptions of extreme violence; infidelity

Catch this and many other reviews on my partnered blog: https://crossingthepond.reviews/2021/...

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hazel Greenlee, an aspiring writer, begins her new job as Transcriber at the local Black Harbor Police Department. Her night shifts are going well, the police are happy with her work, and she’s getting along with her coworkers. That all changes one night when Hazel looks out the window and sees her neighbour outside writing a terrifying message on the glass. This message reignites the hunt for the Candy Man, a drug dealer who has been selling to kids for years.

Soon after, Hazel becomes entangled in the case. She also becomes extremely infatuated with Investigator Nikolai Kole, the man leading the search for this notorious drug dealer.

I would have liked this novel more if Hazel and Kole had kept things professional. Her crush on Kole was very eye-roll-inducing. Although, it’s not hard to understand why Hazel would turn to Kole with the state of her marriage.

I found the writing style to be whimsical, maybe even slightly overwritten at times. Hazel wants to be a writer, so it makes sense, I suppose. There were some twists that I did not see coming. However, in my opinion, the cringe romance overshadowed the case.

But, overall, this book was very atmospheric. I could feel the cold, lonely nights and days through the (ebook) pages. I also think the author did a great job depicting depression and how hard it can be to break the cycle of abuse.

There are many early rave reviews of this book, so I’d encourage you to read those as well.

Thank you to Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s Press for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...I am broken, like a doll missing an eye...A computer that won't turn on...Weeks ago, in the in-between time of me leaving the bookstore and landing this new job...I would have tried...Living with Tommy is like playing a board game with someone who makes up the rules as we play...He'll accuse me of being a bad wife...never happy no matter what...". Tommy was an aquatic ecologist hired by the city of Black Harbor, Wisconsin. The lake was devouring the shoreline. Land was becoming submerged and disappearing. As an outdoorsman, Tommy fished and hunted when not working and filled the fridge with filleted fish and meats. Hazel was never a priority, just an afterthought.

Nothing good ever happened in crime infested Black Harbor where Hazel and Tommy had lived for two years. "Black Harbor...attracts criminals and seedy characters who need a place to hide...Forge Bridge called...like a siren...the water six feet deep...the river beckoning me to come closer...Jump whispers the river. It's voice is a chorus...calling souls like [Hazel] to join them...".

Everyone was talking about the new transcriber, Hazel Greenlee. Hazel had secured a job as night shift transcriber for the Black Harbor Police Department. "...she types at the speed of light and doesn't make a mistake...corrects punctuation...a new transcriber who happens to have an English degree." "In writing, rules are meant to be broken. But this isn't writing...I type everything...verbatim...it's interesting work...". With a confidentiality agreement signed and dated, Hazel transcribed a "supplemental report pursuant to a search warrant...regarding a suspicious death" of a young victim. Why would a nine year old die from a drug overdose? By transcribing Investigator Nikolai Kole's report and subsequent reports, Hazel learned about the Candy Man. Who is this supplier of "blue pills"? Soon, a drug overdose claimed another victim. This job was "a strange juxtaposition of urgency and routine."

It's been a long time since Hazel had conversed with anyone except Tommy and her sister, Elle. Through this new job, she started to get over her fear of entering conversations with others. "I hadn't realized just how close [Nik and I] were until now...a stranger-someone who isn't Tommy." So many secrets and lies. Why had Nik been placed on leave for a prior incident? Where is Hazel's duplex apartment located?

Hazel, our narrator, felt she was being watched...invisible arms seemed to pull her to Forge Bridge. She had withheld information that might impact the investigation of the drug overdoses. Her confusion, naivety and search for acceptance led her to make surprising choices. Hazel was a complex character this reader was rooting for.

"Hello, Transcriber" by Hannah Morrissey was a tense thriller with many unexpected twists and turns. The unmasking of the Candy Man was a surprising revelation. The ending of the tome seemed fitting. Highly recommended.

I received a free ARC of Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Net Galley.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded down
This is a dark, atmospheric, melancholy book. The writing is good and the concept is intriguing, but there aren't any real surprises.

Hazel Greenlee and her husband Tommy have moved to the small town of Black Harbor, Wisconsin. Hazel gets a job as a police transcriber, typing up the dictated reports of the officers. Soon after she begins, a man appears outside of the windows of her office and says he has hidden a body. It's her neighbor Sam, and Hazel discovers that the body is of a nine-year-old boy killed by a drug overdose. Investigating the crime is Nikolai Kole, who Hazel feels a connection with almost immediately. As she becomes equally invested in the investigation and with Kole, what will that mean in this small town with very few secrets?

Like I said, there weren't really any surprises. It's a straightforward story without any real mystery, it's more of a small town drama with a LOT of relationship stuff thrown in. The investigation/mystery about the overdoses and drug dealers just seemed to get solved without any actual investigating occurring on the page. I'm also not a big fan of infidelity stories, so that colored my opinion. I also never really got a sense of Hazel and what really drove and motivated her. She's basically depressed, in a rotten marriage that for some reason she stays in (even though the sex is awful and painful and is pretty much rape), I just didn't get why she stayed.

There's a huge amount of description of the setting, and the bleakness of the town itself along with Hazel's nighttime job gives a dark, foreboding feel to the book. I just wanted more about Hazel's job and maybe the secrets that she learns from that, because the author did have experience with this career, but it seemed to just be a side note to Hazel's relationship with Kole.

I will read another book by this author, because I do think she has talent, especially for creating atmosphere. I hope there will be much more to the mystery aspects in future books though, if that's the direction she wants to go.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

Intense and Dark -this is how I would describe Hannah Morrissey's Hello, Transcriber.

The scene is set in Black Harbor, a crime infested small town, where "nothing good happens anywhere". The central character Hazel is a newly recruited transcriber in BHPD . Her marriage to a gun crazy husband, an aquatic ecologist, with a penchant for hunting and his own set of 'rules' that govern their marriage is not a happy one .

A transcriber by night and aspiring writer by day, Hazel's life is complicated further when her next door neighbor confesses to hiding the body of a child who died from a drug overdose. She is drawn into a web of murder, lies and deceipt and with her growing involvement with a colleague in the PD, the line between professional and personal seems to fade.

I loved how the author describes the role of a trancriber in the PD. It makes for really interesting reading. Each of the main characters of this book are flawed individuals and the author explores these flaws with great ease.

"Because life isn't like it's portrayed in books. Most of us aren't heroes of our own story. not villains, either .Worse, we're ancillary characters of our own lives, who stand by and watch it crumble with with zero power to change what happens on the next page."

Violent and vicious at times, yet gripping and intense, this is an impressive debut novel with suspense that keeps you hooked till the very end. At times the writing seems choppy but that only heightens the overall tense tone of the novel. I look forward to reading more of Hannah Morrissey's work in the future.

I won an advance review copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Thanks to Goodreads, the author and the publisher Minotaur Books for the ARC of this book. This review reflects my unbiased and honest opinion.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This melancholic, dark mystery got my attention right away. Hazel Greenlee has just taken a job as a transcriber on the nighttime shift for the Black Harbor police department. Black Harbor has the distinction of being the most crime ridden small town in Wisconsin. Her home life was about as far from mine as I could imagine. Her husband seems to have a gun fetish, placing them everywhere throughout the house, including keeping one on the dining room table as he eats. The house is filled with critters and birds the man shot and stuffed. And let’s just say he’s lacking when it comes to consideration for his wife’s feelings. But I bonded with her immediately. She sees herself as a writer and adores the English language. She starts to fantasize about one investigator, loving his use of the words squalid and deplorable. “Is it wrong to be turned on by the fact that his commas are in all the right places?” Soon, her fantasies turn real and she is involved with him on multiple levels.
I loved Morrissey’s writing style. Including the police transcriptions was brilliant as it made me feel I was literally in Hazel’s shoes. Her descriptions of the town enabled me to see it vividly, from the suicide bridge to her decrepit duplex, “that sinking, worm-colored eyesore”.
There’s a great sense of underlying tension to the story. Exactly who was the Candy Man? I loved that Morrissey didn’t fall into a fairy tale ending. The ending perfectly fit the story.
I recommend this to all who like their mysteries dark and gritty.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

[Heather Adores Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐
Genre ~ police procedural
Series ~ Black Harbor #1
Setting ~ Wisconsin
Publication date ~ November 30, 2021
Est Page Count ~ 301 (30 chapters)
Audio length ~ 9 hours 6 minutes
Narrator ~ Angela Dawe
POV ~ single 1st
Featuring ~ debut, infidelity, dark elements

Hazel is the new overnight shift transcriber for the Black Harbor PD. She loves this shift because it means she doesn’t have to see much of her awful husband.

Hazel starts transcribing for Detective Nikolai Kole and they grow close. She helps him investigate The Candyman case and then they're falling for each other.

The infidelity is bad enough, but to text I love you to your husband 16 seconds before you whomp it up with someone else is on another whole level of sleeziness. Is the hub a douche himself? Sure is, but still doesn’t make it okay.

Anyway, I suppose there were some nice twists, but overall I wasn’t a big fan. I really only read it because I had agreed to read the second in the series before I knew this was part of one, and I hate to read out of order.

Narration notes:
While her overall performance was fine it was a bit rough listening to the recordings that she was transcribing because she said the words comma and period over and over and over again. But she did a good job differentiating her tone for each character, even the males.

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[Theresa Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a mystery/suspense novel that isn’t cookie-cutter genre fiction. The storytelling is original, and the author enabled me to feel like my concern for the protagonist, Hazel, is something I discovered on my own rather than the author manipulating my feelings.

Hazel has followed her husband to Black Harbor, Wisconsin, because of his job detailing the environmental effects of the industry that devastated the physical environment as well as the citizens—when it shut down, most jobs ceased to exist along with it—except for careers connected to law enforcement, where there are jobs aplenty since when people don’t have access to a decent way to earn a living, they sometimes turn to drug sales and/or use.

Hazel gets a job working nights as a transcriber for the police department. She’s an aspiring author, and when she transcribes a case of a nine-year-old boy who may be the victim of the Candy Man, she starts writing again. It doesn’t hurt that the case is being led by the impossibly handsome officer Nik Kole.

This is a slightly dark novel. Unhappy marriages, towns ravaged because of economics and environmental destruction, a person’s own inability to break out of unhealthy cycles, it’s not a happy tale, but I couldn’t wait to get back to reading it when I had to stop for other reasons, which is one of the nicest compliments I can give a book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, which RELEASES NOVEMBER 30, 2021.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Hannah Morrissey, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Hannah Morrissey impresses in this powerful novel, where a woman in a new position within a small police force takes on a significant role in a baffling set of murders. Thrust into the middle of it all, Hazel Greenlee moves from simply documenting the reports the police detectives make to being a key part of solving the case, all while getting herself into a great deal of personal trouble. With well-crafted plot lines and impressive narrative momentum, Hannah Morrissey ensures that readers take note of her style.

It’s never easy being new in town, even less so when everyone seems to know one another. Such is the case for Hazel Greenlee, who has recently moved to Black Harbor, Wisconsin. When she takes a job as a police transcriber, she presumes it will be all work and that she will have to sit on the secrets that flow into her ears, but it ends up being much more than that.

The death of a young boy from an overdose is bad enough to hear through the transcription machine, but when Hazel connects with one of the detectives, it take on a new horror. How someone could have coaxed a young boy to take pills and then later tossed him into a Dumpster is unreal, though it is all too true.

As the days progress, Hazel finds herself drawn to one of the detectives on the case, with secrets of his own. Risking everything, Hazel puts herself in the middle of the case, seeking to know more than is revealed to her in investigative reports. Soon, she finds herself having crossed many lines, some of which she cannot erase, which is sure to cause issues both at work and home. As a killer remains on the lam, it will take Hazel’s intuition and perhaps a little luck to stay out of the crosshairs, though she is already in a great deal of trouble away from the precinct. A great story that kept me wondering until the final chapter, proving that Hannah Morrissey is another author to keep on my radar.

I love police procedurals, as many who have seen a number of my reviews will know. However, many of these novels seem to use the same format, so I look for unique takes in order to really make them worth my while. Hannah Morrissey delivers with an angle I would have not thought could work, that of a transcriptionist who is seeing and hearing of the crimes and fallout through recordings she must put into typed words. Morrissey does well to add depth and flavour to the story throughout, keeping the reader guessing as to how things will go and where the plot twist will take things. I am eager to see where things go from this debut.

Hazel Greenlee is a great character that connects easily with the reader. She’s got some issues through which she must work, but is also keen to make her mark. With some backstory tossed in amongst a great deal of character development, Hazel works her way into the middle of the Black Harbor community with ease. There is still much about Hazel that has not been revealed, so I can only hope Morrissey has more to come before too long.

Unique takes on crime thrillers is a sure way to distinguish one’s self in a genre that is supersaturated. Hannah Morrissey does well to show that she’s not only here to make her mark, but be memorable in doing so. There is much to praise within this novel, not the least of which is a strong narrative that keeps pushing ahead. Morrissey develops great characters, some likeable while others are truly sinister, without getting too wrapped up in them so as to hinder the story. The transcriptionist angle was genius and adds depth to the plot, as long as the reader can stomach reading some actual dialogue that includes dictated sentences (complete with verbalised punctuation). This was a great novel that kept me wondering and I can only hope that Hannah Morrissey has more to come before long.

Kudos, Madam Morrissey, for a fabulous debut. I am eager to see where you go with this premise in the coming years.

Be sure to check for my review, first posted on Mystery and Suspense, as well as a number of other insightful comments by other reviewers.
https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/he...

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel duped; this is neither suspenseful nor a mystery nor concerned with crime solving, but instead a melodramatic romance involving police transcriber Hazel Greenlee and a hot detective whose reports she writes up, written in present tense for no good reason except to add insult to injury. A body is found and the investigation takes a back seat to a lot of flirting between Hazel and the hot detective, then there's a nonsensical revelation concerning the hot detective's family, the crime is reintroduced 20 pages before the end of the book, and everything is wrapped up with the laziest of all crime novel endings - the officer-involved shooting. Hazel, whose better future is at some point "ground into molecules finer than dust" and who loves the hot detective "irrevocably" has been "almost decimated" by the city of Black Harbor (let me tell you I've read World War Z without telling you by how defensive I get when people don't know what decimate means); unfortunately for a book that wants to be about how Hazel is a writer who loves words and is thrilled with correct comma usage, Morrissey's editor really sold her short because this is riddled with weird editing errors and proofreading mistakes.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this is one of the craziest weeks I’ve ever had in my working career, so much so that I took a mental health day. Turning those blues into something more relaxing. Like… reading a book about woman who’s job sounds more chaotic than mine! 😂 ⁣
⁣
HELLO, TRANSCRIBER sounds soooo dark and juicy—the perfect elements to any thriller I like to read. The story focuses on a court room transcriber who ends up embroiled into one of the cases she’s assigned. This book is the perfect cocktail of Karin Slaughter, Meg Gardiner, and Chris Whitaker. I am in complete shock that this is a debut—this book cements Hannah Morrissey into the thriller genre and I can’t wait to see what else she will come up with. You definitely need to check this one out, especially if you want a fast paced, original thriller.

[cvtherin · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF p.104

Good NIGHT, this was terrible.

Such an interesting premise, which is such a pity that this alleged mystery/thriller turned out to be a wankfest pity party about quirky introvert with mad typing skillz, Hazel, and her new job working as a police transcriber.

I thought it was cringe with the little ways in which Hazel showed her QuIrKiNeSs, such as transcribing words in an interview under the table on her lap. Because, yanno, she's an aspiring writer! Or that she knew that the honorific, "Mrs." was derived from "mistress". Wow! And that she just can't help but cringe when people say, "irregardless" in a sentence.

For a brief moment, I thought I was just being bitchy. But no, Hazel really is a passive aggressive dick. This was best exemplified when Hazel is out to lunch with her sister, Elle, who's taking pictures of her wedding planner for the gram(!) and planning out her (second) wedding:

"I don't understnad what's to congratulate. Anyone can get married. It's not really an accomplishment.

Not like typing 111 wpm with 98 percent accuracy."

Omg.

Ahaha. OMG. This story is less thriller in which a police transcriber helps solve a case with a hot detective with steamy romance ensuing, and more about Hazel's passive aggressive pity party in which everything in her life is BAD. And you should feel SORRY for her. Meanwhile, instead of actually doing anything about it, she's content to let things happen to her.

Even her marriage to her NRA survivalist wannabe husband, clearly meant to make us feel sorry for dear Hazel, could be solved if she took a page out of her sister's book and just left his ass. Instead, Hazel seems to prefer to wait (and hope) for him to escalate things into an argument, and that she "would rather he just hit her and get it over with."

I just.

Look, on some level I do feel for Hazel. No one should be "expected" to give sex like they're a fucking vending machine. But she won't talk to him, tell him it hurts, tell him to stop, tell him to do anything to make it good for her. She won't leave the marriage she's clearly unhappy in, she won't do anything. Instead, she's hoping that he will "give her a reason" to end things. Bitch, it's the bad sex that leaves in you in major pain after!

I suppose all of the scenes with her mans are just setup for when she inevitably steps out on her marriage; it will make us root for her.

Like, go Hazel! Get that good dicking down like you deserve from hot detective Kole!! Flirt with him at some crack apartment that you volunteered to scope out so he wouldn't get his cover blown - only for you to promptly spaz out resulting in him running to your rescue so you could later make out on the kitchen sink! Yasss, queen.

And who cares if you don't get along with most of the women in your life? They're clearly just jealous, like coworker Liv who must have been the one to file that complaint against you for wearing that skirt. Even though you have no *real* confirmation on that. She's just spiteful and mean cause Hazel is the new fish and everyone is talking about the new transcriber who types at the speed of light (111 wpm!), makes no mistakes (98 percent accuracy), corrects punctuation, and is gonna make the DA "think we're all taking English classes".

Instead, be quick to judge green-with-envy Liv and be sad by her actions (there's a special place in hell for women who don't support women, after all). And then turn around and be disappointed in the one (1) female coworker you actually do get along with when she makes a, "gross, if true" comment when there's speculation that hottie Kole is fucking his CI. Be "disappointed in her quickness to judge"!

✨ Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss! ✨

[Frank Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was definitely unexpected!

This was definitely a slow burn suspense that ultimately didn't do a whole lot for me. In a nutshell, this is a book about an aspiring novelist named Hazel who is unhappily married, and new to town and takes a job as a police transcriber.
Almost immediately, she begins an affair with an officer from the PD she works at, named Nikolai Kole. To add complications to the taboo affair, a young boy suddenly dies of an overdose, and shortly thereafter an officer's CI is brutally murdered. When the prime suspect is shockingly murdered Hazel begins to suspect none other than Nikolai to be the culprit! Could it be her very own lover is in fact a serial killer? Or is her imagination getting the best of her?
The mystery element in itself was all right, don't get me wrong. There was a very present sense of foreboding throughout, and just as Hazel did, I did occasionally notice the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as though someone were watching me, creeping closer and closer. There was even a scene towards the end in Hazel's apartment that actually made me physically shudder! So the atmosphere element was definitely on point!
The problem I had was with our protagonist herself. I'm not a fan of infidelity, so I couldn't help but dislike Hazel throughout. Instead of sitting down with her spouse and communicating, she actively cheated on her him, actually going out of her way to do so most times, which presented problems for me as I read on. Additionally, I did feel the pacing to be rather slow at times and noticed there was a large amount of internal monologue going on, which WORE ME OUT. Eventually by the time everything came to a head I was just ready for it to be over. I wasn't exactly shocked by the reveal, but that's not surprising anymore. I did feel the final wedding scene was somewhat uneventful, but it could just be on me. This could very well be a case of this just not being the right book for the mood that I was in this week so if you are intrigued do not let my opinions keep you from giving this one a shot! While certain aspects of this novel were incredibly problematic for me, I do see potential in this author and I'm definitely going to give her follow-up novel a shot!

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the concept of Hello, Transcriber and the atmosphere is incredibly dark. I think it becomes a little bit too formulaic at the end but I was grabbed from page one.

[Cristiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A police transcriber working on a case regarding a potential kid killing drug dealing serial killer known as the Candy Man????? What could possibly go wrong? Well, I’ll tell you – a stooooooopid freaking “romance” (affair) that had absolutely zero reason for even being included in the plot, let alone being the majority of the focus of its pages.

Nope.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Sandra Hoover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello Transcriber is the dark, highly atmospheric story of one woman's introspective scrutiny of her life at a time when she's at a crossroads, facing a monumental decision about the direction she will choose. It's an unsettling story featuring tormented souls treading water, fighting an undercurrent of darkness threatening to pull them under. It's the story of one woman's journey from her lowest point to taking charge of and owning her own life.

Black Harbor, Wisconsin is a seedy, crime infested town with dark alleys and shadowy streets where nothing good ever happens. Hazel Greenlee and husband Tommy moved there in search of work - he as an Aquatic Ecologist and she as an aspiring writer who finds work as the night shift Police Transcriber. Hazel sees her job as an escape from a troubled marriage and as fodder for her unwritten stories. Two major events occur during one of her earliest night shifts - she hears a hypnotic police officer's voice coming through her transcription headphones stirring long forgotten feelings within her, and a man writes a mysterious message on her frosted office window . . . with someone else's frozen finger. Hazel recognizes the man as one of two residing in the rundown duplex beside her and her husband, and she soon learns the hypnotic voice coming through her headphones is the mysterious Det. Nikolai Kole who recorded his case notes from the overdose death of a nine year old boy. Nik suspects the drugs were purchased from a drug dealer aka The Candyman who continues eluding police. Hazel is intrigued with both the man and the case and soon becomes swept up in the murder investigation . . . and eventually in the complicated life of Det. Kole. Both prove to have profound effects on her life as she joins the detective in morally and ethically questionable actions. And by holding back one vital piece of information, Hazel may have signed her own death warrant.

Hello Transcriber is a dark and somber edge-of-your-seat thriller. The story unfolds through Hazel's unreliable point of view allowing readers inside her scrambled brain as she deals with feelings of entrapment. The murder investigation she becomes enthralled with becomes a bright spot in her otherwise dreary life. Hazel's a depressed and dysfunctional character on her best days . . . and on bad days? She's borderline suicidal often finding herself standing on Forge Bridge, the site of several local suicides, staring into the murky water. She hears the roar of the river demanding little tributes - a bracelet, scarf or better yet . . . a lost soul, and Hazel knows it's summoning her as she sinks deeper into depression, deeper into the investigation and deeper into the life of Det. Kole.

Hello Transcriber is a story strongly driven by place with fallible characters trying to fight their way out of the darkness. The author's vivid descriptions are vital in maintaining the dark, ominous tone throughout the story as the grimy, drug-ridden city becomes a character that permeates odors as rancid as it looks. As the story unfolds, the pace escalates in time with the rising paranoia in Hazel along with the rhythm of the water rushing under the bridge demanding more sacrifices. Readers are charged with following a twisted, convoluted plot line and unreliable characters all the way to the shocking conclusion. Dismal and somber from beginning to end, Hello Transcriber will feed the need for fans of dark suspense thrillers. Highly recommended.
*Special thanks to Minotaur Books for an arc of this book.
**Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine
***Reviewed at Cross My Heart Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Fargo.” That’s what Mona, the other transcriber calls Hazel, the new girl. To the cops of Black Harbor, Wisconsin, she’s the person who transcribes their reports. “Hello, Transcriber,” is how she’s addressed. And that’s the name of Hanna Morrissey’s book; Hello, Transcriber is due out in late November. Thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and the author for providing me with this novel as an ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Hello, Transcriber takes place in the fictional town of Black Harbor, which sounds like about as depressing a town as there could be. At least, Hazel certainly does not want to be there. Whenever she is asked what brought her to Black Harbor, she replies that it’s because of her husband’s job. Now she is starting a job on the night shift as a transcriptionist for the Black Harbor Police Department. Apparently, the river has been known to be an accomplice in many deaths by suicide, as Hannah soon discovers.

The town is dismal, and the tone of the book takes on a somber feeling as well. A couple things did make me chuckle, however. First, the aforementioned “Fargo.” Being from “Up North” near Duluth, Minnesota, when I first got to college in Bemidji (which is also Up North), I was occasionally asked if I was from Canada. Huh? I guess back then I said, “aboot” for “about.” So does Hazel. I didn’t realize that folks in Wisconsin had that Fargo kind of stigma too. (My college days, however, were well before the Fargo movie came out.) Secondly, Hazel is the fastest and most accurate typist these cops have ever known, and she even corrects their punctuation – yes, they dictate periods and commas. Really? I did a wee bit of medical transcription during my secretarial training, and I don’t think even one physician did that. I’m told that some do, however, so I’m not questioning that. But what struck me as funny and a bit hypocritical is that Ms. English major Hazel refers to some “half-drank” soft drinks. O-kay. I guess a gal can’t be too high and mighty.

The book is narrated in first person from Hazel’s perspective. She hates Black Harbor – BH for short. She also doesn’t have a lot of love, honor, and respect for her husband Tommy. Tommy claims to love her with all of his heart, but in reality, no, he doesn’t. He’s a male chauvinist – fill-in-the-blank. It’s really no surprise that Hazel finds distractions elsewhere. Male cops with sexy voices on tape who face dangerous situations. It certainly awoke me from the doldrums that this book seemed to be headed for!

Hazel finally dares to shed the skin of boredom, pain, and hopelessness that is her marriage, her wanna-be novelist career, her transcription job, and her family relationships and takes a giant leap toward something daring, unique, individual. Will it lead to happiness? Success? Freedom? Or will it all crumble around her in ruins? Maybe it’s not an either-or situation. Life seldom is like that. It can turn out to be a huge gamble, and if she’s lucky, someone will be there to help her.

The characters in this book, especially Hazel, all felt like real people to me. There are gossips, back-stabbers, low-lifes, drug dealers, good cops, crooked cops, and maybe one or two people who will be there for you no matter what, and some who are just regular folks. There is mystery and danger, with people caught up in situations they frantically need to control. The same goes for the relationships – hormones and emotions get tangled with imagination and suspicion gone wild. Can it end well for Hazel?

This book is sad. It’s suspenseful. It has some twists along the way. It’s sweet, even romantic at times. It’s wordy. If you can get through long descriptions to take in the whole scene and the feeling it evokes, you can really like this book. Let the Black River carry you along as you read, and enjoy the journey.

4 stars

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, intense, and gritty are just a few words I’d use to describe this book that kept me at the edge of my comfort zone for the majority of the story.

I began to see Hazel Greenlee, the female main character (The Transcriber) as Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother or Stumptown) in my mind’s eye and instantly connected to her because I loved PI Dex Parios’s character. Hazel was unpredictable and fascinating and her character held the story despite my discomfort with the TMI regarding her marriage situation, the infidelity, overdoses and drug dealers … not to mention the reason why a transcriber was needed in the first place! My heart was pounding and I kept looking at my FitBit 💓 readings!!!

I wouldn’t say I enjoyed my time in Black Harbor, WI, but let’s say that my curiosity was piqued and I was entranced by the vivid descriptions of the atmospheric thriller.

I was gifted Morrisey’s sequel and I was curious enough to investigate book 1.

Did anyone else think Hazel’s ‘romance’ was cringe-worthy?!

What about the window writer? Freaky, right?!

[Elle]

Our Mystery Book Club pick for November!!! Very excited even if Shelly is co-hosting 🙄


*Thanks to Minotaur Books for an advance review copy!

[Rachel the Page-Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had this on my “to read” list for a couple months now, so when I was able to get an advanced reader copy, I wanted to dive right in! This was a different concept and a break from formulaic thrillers - I really enjoyed it and would definitely check out any books this author may write in the future.

Hazel Greenlee usually flits from job to job as she is trying to get her writing career off the ground, and her husband’s work has taken her to Black Harbor, Wisconsin. She finds a job as a police transcriber, typing up the verbal reports that officers make. She’s privy to all the hot information in town, and right now they’re dealing with some big things: an opioid crisis that is killing children, and suicides at a local bridge.

There is one officer’s reports she really likes, and not just because he’s heading up the intriguing opioid cases. She’s never seen him, but she absolutely loves his voice (one minor annoyance in the book is Hazel’s obsession with words and how they roll off people’s tongues). Then one day, she meets him in person and while she is a (very unhappily) married woman, she is immediately smitten.

Soon, she is pretty much working alongside him in solving the case, all while trying to keep a big secret from him. She’s also keeping secrets from her husband, her coworkers and her family. That and the strain of the job are getting to her, and she knows she has big choices to make.

Hazel was a really cool character. I liked her love of language, her desire to be a writer and her vulnerability. She’s trapped in a twisted marriage, really invested in her new job and her writing ambitions and overall just a likeable character despite of (or maybe because of) her faults.

This book gets a 4.5 from me, rounded down because the first half was a bit slow and the writing was a bit verbose (I’m a hypocrite for even saying that). The last half of the book was fantastic though, and I really enjoyed the ending. A great mystery/suspense book, and a touch of romance without getting cheesy, this book definitely has my recommendation.

(I’d like to thank Minotaur Books, Hannah Morrissey and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

[Rainz ❤️rainnbooks❤️(on a break) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello Transcriber, Hannah Morrissey’s suspense debut is a highly compelling atmospheric novel and by atmospheric I do not mean the sense of the place alone but the darkness and misery of its characters that bleed into the story. The writing by Hannah Morrissey gets under your skin, she excellently conveys the suffocation Hazel feels trapped in her marriage and being in the Black Harbor.

Even though her job as a transcriber sounds exciting, like sharing a piece of cop action without facing the actual dangers of the job, Hazel has to dig deep into her psyche to listen to the dictations by the police officers. But when her neighbor lands slamdunk in the middle of a child’s murder, Hazel becomes more than a passive observer of the crime. Involving herself with Detective Nikolai Kole personally and professionally gives her an unobstructed view of the drug-infused crimes that rattle their small town.

Hello, Transcriber is, I would say wrongly classified in the mystery genre. It is a romantic suspense novel with Kole and Hazel embarking on an illicit affair and the crime providing the background for their relationship that develops. The author’s portrayal of Hazel is heartbreaking, the loneliness that consumes her marriage with Tommy and the sheer terror of having sex with him is painful to read. I would have loved it if the author had provided the reason for the trauma that Hazel seems to suffer but this plot is left open-ended and Hazel herself comes across as immature at certain points in the story. Kole was a drool-worthy character and a hero to root for and honestly wished for a different hopeful ending even though for the grim overtone of the story, I know it was the perfect climax.

The depressive streak that underlays each and every interaction in the story has been crafted amazingly by the author as the Forge Bridge known as the suicide point becomes the symbol of everything wrong that runs as black sludge in the crime-infested place. Hazel as the unreliable narrator of the story increases the tension of this haunting crime fiction that reeks of sadness as it races to a twisty end.

This review is published in my blog Rain'n'Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Book Bub, ##Medium.com, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.

[Carole (Carole's Random Life) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review can also be found at https://carolesrandomlife.com/

I liked this book! I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the idea of a mystery novel featuring a police transcriber. I am always looking for something that is a little different and I think that this one fits that description. I was hooked by the story early on and I couldn’t wait to see how things would work out in the end. I thought that this was a fantastic debut novel.

Hazel is starting a new job as a police transcriber. She is an incredibly fast typist so it seems like it is the perfect fit and it might even help her with some ideas for the book she wants to write. While she is still in training, she sees a man confess to hiding a body at her workplace window while holding a child’s finger. That man happens to live on the other side of the duplex she lives in with her husband. Before long, she is drawn into the investigation and grows closer to the lead detective. Nikolai Kole. Before long, the case gets more complicated than she ever imagines and her life has been turned upside down.

I can’t say that I ever really liked Hazel but there was never a moment that I wasn’t eager to see what she would do next. Some of her decisions made me cringe and I knew that regardless of the outcome of the case, her life would never be the same. The mystery was complex enough to keep me guessing until the very end. This story is rather dark and I felt like things could go wrong at any moment. I found this book to be incredibly well written and I was glued to the pages until I reached the end of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a very well-done dark and melancholic mystery. I will definitely be looking out for future works by this talented author.

I received an advanced review copy of this book from Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press).

Initial Thoughts
I liked this one! I thought that it was very well-written and while I didn't fall in love with Hazel, I always wanted to see what she would do next. Hazel makes a lot of bad decisions in this book but I couldn't wait to see how things would come out in the end.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been eyeing Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey for a while trying to decide if I should read it, and thanks to a friend's recommendation I finally decided to pick it up. I am really glad she ended up giving me the push I needed because I am now a huge fan of both Morrissey and this novel! I have never read from the viewpoint of a police transcriber, and it is a plotline that I truly loved and want more of. I really liked Hazel's character because of how dimensional and flawed she is which is good since she is the only POV in the story. I still can't decide how I feel about her as a person in general, but she came with an interesting storyline, and I was here for it. This is a pretty dark read and had a great atmospheric quality that I loved. There were also many a twist that I didn't see coming.

Hello, Transcriber is a slower burn that is basically asking to be listened to on audiobook. Angela Dawe is one of my favorite narrators and I was happy to find out she narrated this book. She did such an excellent job being the voice of Hazel and she really heightened the emotional parts as well. There are a few action scenes and suspenseful moments, and she did each one perfectly while also making me feel like I was there. Highly recommend this on audio and Dawe as a narrator in general. I do wish there had been a bit more about the actual transcriber position because I was itching to learn more, and I could have done without some of the scenes between Hazel and Kole. Otherwise, I completely loved this novel, and I am for sure going to be reading more from this author!

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What a debut!! This was a wild ride!

The writing had me hooked immediately. Gritty, dark and so atmospheric. I was connected to the main character, Hazel Greenlee and was invested in how her story played out. And what a story it was! The job of a police transcriber is certainly an interesting one. This was such a unique premise. I can't wait to see what Hannah writes next!!

[Tim Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Tell me something confidential..."

This book was an utter delight! Part dark gripping mystery-thriller, part tormented soul-searching, from the very start it drew me into the atmospheric world Morrissey has created in Black Harbor.

From the very start you can see that the main character, Hazel, is very different from your mainstream protagonist... think more Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole than your typical Holmes, Poirot or Gamache... but the decisions she makes and the way she views her world really informs her character so that even in this debut, you see tremendous character growth.

Written in a beautiful lyrical way, I can easily see this taking genre readers by storm upon its publication. And there is certainly more room for growth of this incredible lead! I am really looking forward to learning more about Hazel and her stormy background as the series continues!

So READ it!

You'll love it...

Pinky swear.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives divulge Black Harbor's gruesome secrets. She is a police department transcriber on third shift. She is new to this community. She quickly gets involved with not only a Special Investigations Detective, but also his case. However she has a conflict of interest - in both. With the Detective because she is married and in his case because she lives in a duplex and her husband is friends with the neighboring supposed criminals.

I really enjoyed this book. It is the first book of the Black Harbor series. There are three books in publication right now. I cannot say that I really liked how this book ended, but I am hoping that the next book will turn things back around. Book number two is The Widowmaker and I plan to soon be reading that one.

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️