The Dismemberer's Handbook

by Kimberly Love

Plagued by nightmares after her partner's death, Officer Harley Wolfhart heads to the beaches of Thailand for some much-needed R & R. The islands hold a great mystery, and a sadistic killer named The Butcher knows them by heart. As her friends go missing one by one, Harley is pulled into a dangerous game that could cost her life or her limbs. Torn between trying to help her friends and afraid that she will fail to save them, just as she failed her partner. When the killer turns his attention on her, the clock starts ticking, and Harley becomes the killer's most coveted prize.

Is she hunting the killer, or is he stalking her?

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery Thriller

372 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2022

Reviews

[Tish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe it took me so long to read this book! I'm kicking myself for waiting because it was amazing!!

I'm a sucker for serial killer anything so this book was perfect for me.

I loved that it kept me guessing from beginning to end. There was never a dull moment which made it impossible to put down.

I've been recommending this one to anyone that will listen. So looking forward to the next one

[Julie Lack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean was the author trying to reach a word count??? How many times on one page can we say the word “hotel” or talk about the butchers mommy issues or how she loved Chris? Overall could’ve been a really good story, but I just hated how many times stories were repeated. And COME ON you didn’t for one second even suspect Rayland????? The moment she met him I knew it was him.

[Jen Moon · Rating 2 out of 5]

enough to keep me reading

This book definitely had it’s moments of drawing me in but overall felt like there was a lot of extra words, stories, repetition. It appears the author created the story from watching true crime shows, and as an avid watcher myself, I frequently knew where she was going with her story line. Probably won’t read any others but it kept me busy for a bit.

[S.C. Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Dismemberer's Handbook" is by Kimberly Love is a suspenseful crime thriller.

What starts off with beat-cop hopeful detective, Harley Wolfhart, reeling from the tragic loss of her partner on the job, becomes a murder mystery when Harley takes a sabbatical from the job to clear her mind. She meets several new friends, starts to relax, relishing her new environment. Things start to take a dramatic and tragic turn when self-proclaimed "Butcher" takes a demented interest in Harley and her new-found friends.

The novel was fast paced, suspenseful and thrilling. I literally could NOT put it down (read in 5 hours).

I believe the author has truly found her niche in crime novels!

[Rebekah Mapel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my. Once the plot finally made its way out I thought I had it all figured out but I was sadly mistaken.. so insane through every page. There’s gotta be a second one right?!

[Corryn Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give this book negative stars, I would. You know how your mom thinks everything you do is perfect? I feel like this author’s mom was her editor. Sentences were repeated. A paragraph was repeated at one point. Terrible sentence structure. This book was all over the place. No character development. Ugh. TERRIBLE!

[Katie Maddas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. As someone recently joining the industry of crime and violence this was an interesting read. I bought this book due to taking a serial killer class in college and boy this was one that everyone should consider reading. You can definitely tell the combination between the three killers the author picked. But the way you see Harley fall for the bad boys. I will be recommending this book to so many people!!!

[Brittney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was horrible. There was just so much promise, but it fell flat with horrible writing, repetitiveness, and unnecessary plots. There were things mentioned early in the book, that were unnecessarily repeated many times, like I didn’t forget early on why the antagonist chose his victims the way he did, but it seemed the author assumed we weren’t smart. There were too many moments where it was her going into memory and it didn’t even impact the plot in any way. I literally skipped after the second memory. Harley seemed childish, and the only interesting character was the butcher. Oh, and let’s not forget that it was spoiled early in the book who the killer was, so for those of you were like “OMG I DIDNT KNOW WHO THE KILLER WOULD BE” erm… did you really read the book? The POVs from Butcher tells you WHO HE REALLY IS. SPOILERS. It’s RAYLAND. It was obvious when he first lays eyes on Harley that it wasn’t Craig or Daven. If you guys didn’t realize then, I’m convinced none of you read this book. All the hype I was reading and it fell short, and flat on its face. Then the murders were very Dexter-esque. Harley just taking drugs while SHES A COP and was trying originally stop a drug ring. Like??? Let’s just have her do something SO out of character. I don’t care if she was on vacation, I don’t care. Keep her in character for her profession, how she viewed her mother for doing drugs. This character break made no sense. She also had “spider senses” to know when something was wrong, yet couldn’t tell that the guy she loved was a bad cop? Couldn’t tell that Rayland was bad news? Why give her this ability if it wasn’t helpful at all. I would have liked for things to be more culturally appropriate, too. For someone who was in Thailand, it seemed everyone knew English? In reality, you go to a foreign country, and not everyone will speak English, and if they do it may be broken, verses fluent. To write a serial killer book, it would have probably been better to not write dual POV either. It gave a way a lot of the suspense that was suppose to be there. Also, who let this get published? It really needed more proofing before getting published. Because there were so many grammatical errors, and so many points where I began thinking Harley was bipolar. I’m so upset I bought this book, and I want a refund SO BAD. This story is a no from me.

[Dorsi P · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a wild ride...
I love a great twist and don't even mind if I see it coming, as long as it's not blatantly obvious or uninteresting. The twist in this book was so obvious that I felt like I got smacked in the face with it. I was hoping it would be anything else but NOPE, that was it. The only people dumber than the main character are apparently the police force in Thailand. The plot points in this book were just so far fetched it was comical. And don't even get me started on Harley making her own chest tube out of straws and then running off into the forest after The Butcher. I had to shut the book and take a second!

I also agree with previous reviewers about the writing. I found several grammatical errors (which whatever) but seriously, was this thing even edited? I'm not sure that "dismemberer" is even a word. The repetitive writing and reexplaining of certain aspects of the story was tiring. Reading about 2.5 pages about the physiology of a lung collapse got me.

With all that being said, this book entertained me enough to finish it. It has given me, my sister and several friends a good laugh. This is apparently the 1st of a 3 book series and I will definitely be reading the other two. I will probably regret it, but I have to see what's next for Harley, The Butcher and maybe even his Mother.

[NikNak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lot of mistakes in this book!!

I read it on my kindle so don't know if the repeats are just on there or actually in the book as well but it got a bit annoying after a while.

1 minute they are walking thinking about going for an omelette, then she's having a bite of one having not actually ordered one, they they are still walking down the beach thinking where to go to eat. then it's never mentioned again.... had to read it like 5 times to make it make any sense.

A lot of repeating the same sentence over and over in a paragraph.

And the spelling and punctuation was atrocious. Don't know who proof read it but they did not do a good job at all.

Ignoring all of that, the story was good, nice quick pace, keeps you interested from the beginning, if you can just ignore the 100s of times your told shes in love with Chris. and at some point I will brave the second book because I can't leave things unfinished.

[Brooke Jefferies · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really could have been an amazing book as it was a unique storyline and setting. The characters could’ve been developed more, but they were likable and believable to an extent, but what I didn’t like about this book is frankly the writing. It almost felt like someone in middle school was writing it as it just had no depth. The writing was very lacking and surprisingly bland. If it weren’t for the interesting storyline, it would be a DNF for me.

[Gracie Kamper · Rating 1 out of 5]

“She was certain that the killer had to be a man,as there was just too much heavy lifting involved for it to be a woman. The victims body parts had been carted from one island to another, so that made her believe it was a strong man behind this” girl what?? This book is so badly written, I looked past most of it until almost 200 pages in, that was the last straw. I’m DNFing and counting it towards my reading goal because I lost brain cells.

[Sarah Mair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall enjoyed the story.

There was just a couple of hiccups in maybe editing that I couldn't shake, which is just a me thing. There was a couple of exact lines repeated. Also something with at one point she was thinking about going in to order an omelet, then she took a bite, but then she was still out walking on the beach....

[Sierra Schaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good, but I guessed who it was immediately - and I’m usually stumped. I could see this as a movie which is always an attractive quality in a book for me. Easy to read and finish in a couple sittings. Was I stumped? No. Did I totally see the ending coming? Absolutely. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Stephane · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be the worst book I’ve read this year. It was very predictable. There were times when sentences were repeated almost one after the other which was annoying. The characters were bland and there were no real personalities.

Also, if Harley could just shut up about Chris that would be beautiful.

[Amanda Manns · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had so much hope for this book, I really did. The plot was amazing, but the execution was terrible. The way people were talking back and forth with each other wasn't the way we talk in real life. There were so many mistakes. I just couldn't look over them. The author kept repeating the same things over again, just worded a bit different.

[Jessica Meade · Rating 1 out of 5]

what can I say about this book.... I didn't finish it I got half way though and I just couldn't carry-on the writing style is poor there was multiple mistakes repeating of sentences. the story line could have potential but when a city cop finds out multiple missing people and a dead body in less than 24 hours over the actual.police... its a bit far fetched in my eyes

[Jenny Coyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

rounding up from 3.5 stars

I enjoyed the premise of this book, but I had a hard time with the dialogue. People don't have entire conversations in perfect grammar. There were times that the dialogue felt unnatural and this pulled me out of the story. It was also a bit obvious as to who the killer was, but honestly, the dialogue bothered me more.

[Kristen Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg 😮

I did not see that ending coming! I need another book...immediately. 😍

I could not figure out the killer the whole book, and normally, I can predict an ending. Love Harley and can not wait for more.

[Kayla Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this book on Booktok and knew I had to have it!! The characters are so fun! Twists and turns all throughout the book! Absolute page turner! I was hooked from the first chapter!! This is one of my all time favorite books!!! I can’t wait to see what Harley gets herself into!!!

[Misti Norwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up twice and had to rip it from my hands to put it down! Finished in two reading sessions. As messed up and the scenes were that were placed in your head, I wish they were more detailed. Amazing read! Did not disappoint!

[aly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was super excited for this based on other reviews I had seen and the book fell so sort.

Super quick read but you can predict how it’s going to go/who it is super early on. Some was repetitive and just overall wasn’t exciting.

[Jade Long · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a bit more hope for this book, Harley as a character fell flat. And the book was so repetitive and went over the same points alot. It was obvious who the Butcher was. I enjoyed the ending and that was about it!

[Tera Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to read with a likeable main character. I feel the ending jumped the shark a little bit, but it kept me turning the pages! I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a fast paced cat-and-mouse thriller!

[Kimberlee Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much. It had a wonderful plot and the author did a great job at keeping the readers on their toes. Just when you think you know what’s gonna happen you get hit with an outrageous curveball. 100% would recommend to anyone and everyone

[MotherrTereesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

not too bad

The storyline was great but it was a little too predictable. And the way she was so quick to “fall in love” was a little weird. But all in all pretty good.

[Tiffany Edmonds-Clapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book but it kind of fell flat. It wasn’t a bad story but just not what everyone on TikTok had built it up to be. Very predictable.

[Brittany Loring · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a lot of times in the book where a sentence or a whole paragraph was repeated. Not very well edited.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried so hard to enjoy this fully. Great concept. But the style isn't for me.

[Melissa Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fast paced read that kept me wondering who did it! Great book and I highly recommend it!