Find Nothing As It Seems Originated By Thomas Hall Offered In Volume

novel keeps readers asking, "why" to actions of serial killer, . . will appear at Book Readers Heaven later today, . . review

This is a medical murder mystery that will take you for a ride, The author wrote characters that are so realistic that the reader feels like they know them, You will find that once you start reading, you're stuck, You won't want to put it down, From the start you are hooked when you know that Megan Gallagher is going to die today, She's a young girl that has a knack of taking elderly patients at Horizons Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and making them feel better about themselves, There was one particular patient, Mrs Andrews that Megan developed a close friendship with, According to the doctors, Mrs, Andrews had the beginning of Alzheimers, It was time for Mrs, Andrews to go home and Megan had decided she was going to ask Mrs, Andrews to go home with her to recooperate, So much for best laid plans, Mrs Andrews wasn't going home with Megan since Megan was murdered that night by a hooded unknown woman, It couldn't be determined if she died of natural causes or what she died of, Who killed Megan Did she know her assailant Megan was only in her twenties, Twenty year olds don't just die without a reason, The big question is WHY was she killed The local sheriff doesn't have the resources to investigate and the State Police turned him down, His last hope was the FBI, They assigned a retired Agent named Walker to take on the case,

The author gives the reader a look into what causes a killer to do the things he does and most are without any feelings about what they do.
The reader will definitely not get bored, There are so many twists and turns that you are constantly trying to figure this murder mystery out, Don't miss out on this suspenseful murder mystery, It will definitely keep you in your chair,


I received a complimentary copy of NOTHING AS IT SEEMS from the author Thomas Hall for my unbiased view of the book,


I received this book for a fair review,

Overview: Craig Walker, a semiretired FBI agent, has been called in over an unexplainable death, A young woman, Megan Gallagher, was found dead in her small house, Thirtyish does seem way too young to die of natural causes, and there wasnt any signs of an accident, Can Walker and his partner, David Munoz, find out what happened to her Or will others meet the same fate

Likes: Walker and Munoz were rather nice,

Dislikes: I didnt care for the ending, nor the suspects,

Conclusion: This book was a pretty good, until the ending, Thanks to the author for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,

Plot A small organization of FBI agents has been created to assist police departments when their funds and/or skills aren't enough to solve suspicious crimes, Craig Walker heads this group and uses his good instincts and extensive training and experience to solve crimes,

Writing The story is easy to read, but the writing has a slight sense of ponderousness that sometimes slows down the forward progress, In particular, the dialog feels so precise at times that it doesn't flow smoothly, Although the interactions are probably just what would happen in real life, all the askandanswer dialog doesn't seem necessary to keep the story moving, For example:
"How about the phone records and financials"
"I got permission from the daughter, We should have them by tomorrow at the latest, "
"Okay, that's great," Walker said, "Sorry if I keep asking the obvious, "
"That's not a problem, You're making sure all the bases are covered, If I were in your shoes, I'd be doing the same thing, "
"Thanks. I appreciate you understanding," Walker replied, "You mentioned the barracks. Are those the ones in Brookfield"
"Yes, we're operating out of there, "
"Can you find some space for us"
"Sure, And I'll have someone make copies of the case file for you also, "
It seems to me that a couple of those lines could have been eliminated and still gotten the point across without bogging down in the minutia of everyday conversation.
It would have been implied, And this applies to a large number of the conversations included in the book, Less is more.

Characters We've met Agent Walker in a previous book, and in this case he's still dogged and definitely takes charge of the investigation without stepping on the locals' toes.
He seems like a good

guy and wants to solve the crime, but there's not quite enough personality to draw the reader into his orbit and root for his success.
While I appreciate the fact that he goes over and over each detail and followsup many times with the same people to clarify and gather facts and I'm sure that's what happens in real life, this practice takes the story backwards a few steps and covers the same ground, even we end up a little further along.
Occasionally I was uncomfortable with the shortcuts that Craig took to gather information for example, the tattoo parlor, although I'm sure it's common practice,

Title The title makes sense since there's a difficulty right from the beginning to connect the crimes, with little to no clues to advance the investigation,

Cover. Excellent cover showing a shadowy figure wearing a hoodie, just as the murderer is alleged to have worn, The hint of the emergency room sign against a quiet cover color draws the eye and the mind to the possibilities of the crime,

Overview This story compelled me to turn the pages even when we basically knew the identity of the killer, The persistent police procedure and gathering of information seemed very realistic and captured my attention, even though it sometimes got bogged down in daytoday minutia, I especially liked the fact that the ending was in the form of a newspaper article, providing the final details in a more subtle way, And the twist at the end was brief, provocative, and a fun surprise, Nothing As It Seems: A Novel of Suspense was written by Thomas Hall, It is a medical murder mystery that has a lot of twists and turns, It is very well written and the characters are very realistic, I had problems putting the book down when it became necessary and I hurried back to it,
Megan Gallagher was a young girl with the unique talent of making older patients feel good about themselves and their situation while in the hospital, She lived alone in the house her Nana Helen had left her and that she had grown up in, She really enjoyed helping the elderly and listening to their stories as it reminded her of her Nana Helen who she still missed, At Horizons Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Megan had a particularly close relationship to Mrs, Andrews who was recovering from a broken hip, Megan found Mrs. Andrews to be bright and cheerful and disagreed with the psychiatrist, Dr, Jonah Belkins, that Mrs. Andrews had the beginnings of Alzheimers, When he did rounds on Thursday and asked Mrs, Andrews what arrangements she had made instead of going home, Mrs, Andrews claimed it was the first she had heard of that, Megan knew they hadnt talked about that during the last sessions as she had been there too, She told Mrs. Andrews she would call social services and get her some help, When she went home that night, Megan decided she would ask Mrs, Andrews to come home with her until she was well enough to go home, However, that wasnt to be as Megan was murdered by a woman in a gray hoodie that night, However, because of Mrs. Andrews wondering why Megan missed work the following Monday, the supervisor went to check on her and found her dead, The coroner couldnt say she died from natural causes or not, However, he knew that twentysomethings just didnt die for no reason, The police chief agreed and called the State police to look at what they knew and see if they had an opinion,
The State police agreed that the death was suspicious and called in FBI consultant Agent Craig Walker and his special task force to assess this case, Agent Walker and Detective Munoz look into the case and find there are too many questions to call it a natural death, However, there are few clues to the cause of death,
Can they find the murderer What will happen in the meantime to confuse the trail
When a young, popular nurse is found dead in her home, the autopsy returns unclear results for the cause of death.
Chief Jim Prescott, the new head of police in Chandler, Massachusetts, cant shake the feeling that Megan Gallaghers death was the result of foul play, After working with the county coroner and taking the investigation as far as his limited resources will allow, Chief Prescott reaches out for assistance with the case, When he learns that the FBI has a special program that helps small town law enforcement officers, he connects with Agent Craig Walker,

Walker agrees to take on the nurses case and brings in a detective from a nearby town, Dave Munoz, to work the case with him, The initial efforts of Walker, Munoz, and Prescott are mostly unfruitful, Although the circumstances of Megans death appear suspicious, there is no physical evidence that the nurse was murdered, One day as the trio are brainstorming over the facts of the case, Chief Prescott receives a call from the local coroner who has been in touch with the coroner serving another county.
A woman has been found dead in her home, And while he did not identify the drug that led to the womans death, the coroner in the new case reveals that there is evidence that the woman had been injected with something before she died.


Walker and Munoz move the investigation to Kendall, Massachusetts and work with a local detective, Brian Evanston, As they learn about the second victim and question members of her family, a third woman is attacked in her home, But this time the perpetrator leaves before completing the injection, The victim falls into a coma but she remains alive, With the assistance of a retired FBI computer whiz and several cycles of interviews at the nursing home where the nurse worked and the hospital where the second victim had ties, Walker and Munoz identify a surprising suspect with an unlikely motive.

Excellent book, looking forward to the next one
Thomas Hall is a former English teacher and middle school and high school principal, He and his wife Marcia Young live in Central Massachusetts, They have three adult children Kimberly, Elizabeth, and Michael, This is Mr. Halls second novel. .