Review of "Something in the Blood" by H.H. Mika

​Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

Two girls have been found murdered—cut in half with a chainsaw—in Bloodrun, Alaska.
The gruesome murders rattle the community and prompt a full-blown investigation and manhunt by the Bloodrun Borough Police Department and even the FBI. Can they find and stop the perpetrator before he can kill again?

Something in the Blood by H.H. Mika is a suspenseful thriller and detective/murder mystery interwoven with elements of psychological horror and cultural folklore.

The book follows Detective Terry Volker and his partner and protege, Eddie, as they hunt down this sadistic and brutal killer. The clock is constantly ticking, the suspects are numerous, and the weight and risk of another tragedy hangs in the air.

Something we really appreciated about this book is how it explores the psychology of violent criminals and serial-killers.

We hate to admit it, but it's fascinating, isn't it? Why do terrible people do such terrible things to other people? How could they? Do they have no conscience? Do they not understand pain and suffering? Do they have no moral compass? No sense of right or wrong?

This book explores the idea that things aren't always as they seem. The people we think are the perpetrators—based on their bizarre personalities and outward appearances—could end up being the victims (or innocent).

Evil doesn't always show its face, and it isn't always obvious. In fact, the killer (for much of the book) is often referred to as a "Masked Figure" or a "Shadow"--almost like an abstract, metaphysical entity that transcends reality. Heck, one of the characters even starts referring to the murderer as a "Werewolf"--some monster that has lost its humanity. Having read a lot of cheesy werewolf literature lately, this got a chuckle out of us.

But, anyway, getting back to the point...

There are so many possible suspects and red herrings in this book. Practically all of them are screwed up and twisted in one way or another.

We learn about an unsettling character named Joshua who has been twisted since his younger years, drawing pictures that glamorize and celebrate extreme violence, sadism, and dismemberment. We even learn that his schools wanted him gone because he would "hurt" and indecently expose the other children, especially the girls. We learn that he would hurt animals if given the chance. Adding credence to his suspect profile, he seems to idolize large masked wrestlers and slasher characters like Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers.

We learn about a bizarre and twisted French artist named Emille Lepus who was seen with the first murder victim a week before her death. Lepus is the primary suspect for a large portion of this book. He is into some really creepy stuff and, similar to Joshua, loves portraying the human body in troubling ways (in his art). We learn from an interview he did that he's actually fascinated by the concept of removing damaged, injured, or broken human limbs and parts and replacing them with new ones like cybernetics. He loves to fix things and even worked as a building safety inspector for that reason. What's sort of interesting about this is that it suggests almost a positive, therapeutic angle to his twisted psyche—almost like he wants to help people. Well, the path to destruction is littered with good intentions.

Lepus also seems to have a compound with a bunch of people including several young women in it including Audrey Willard, who becomes important because her unintended death causes a PR nightmare for the police department, and Holly—Lepus's supposed girlfriend. There's also Talon, who we'll get to.

Lepus's disturbing, cult-like compound is one of the highlights of the book. In fact, it probably is the highlight of the book. It's like mixing Sander Cohen (the crazy, homocidal artist from Bioshock) with David Koresh. His home is littered with "art" that resembles medieval torture devices as well as hidden/secret rooms and passages that are either empty or lead to nowhere.

We also learn about Talon, one of Lepus's housemates, who we are warned by one of the other housemates might have a sadistic personality that he keeps tucked away and hidden. We're actually told that Talon has hit and possibly even tortured the dogs in the house. Add to this the fact that he looks like Eminem (and probably Stan from the "Stan" music video), and you have the recipe for shady dude.

In one of the best passages of the book, Eddie evokes Jane Goodall's research and says:

"One claimed that psychos aren’t born, they’re made—y’know, products of their environment; family, school, work, society—whatever. They’re not even all killers. Lots of them just become CEOs and athletes or religious leaders, yada-yada."

He goes on to say that Goodall found this in researching chimps.


What this tells us is that there's evil in us and all around us, but it doesn't always show itself. Sometimes, it is suppressed. Sometimes, it is outshone by the good. Sometimes, it's defeated outright.

But every now and then, evil will show its face, and the good have to stand up to it.

This book also has an interesting cultural/supernatural angle to it. There are references to apocalyptic Bible verses, which is pretty standard for this type of book. But there are also discussions of Inuit spiritual practices and shamanism. We get references to Igaluk, the Inuit moon deity, and shamans who are referred to as "Angatuik."

Oh, yeah, there's also this whole discussion about whether or not it's right to kill in life-or-death situations. Interestingly, this is especially explored in a scene in which a big wolf shows up as one of the characters is having a heart attack. As expected, the wolf is a motif throughout the book. Hannah keeps demanding that they just shoot the wolf, but Terry advises against it, considering it unnecessary.

There's this really weird and somewhat annoying tension between Hannah and Terry throughout the book. Hannah really seemed superfluous most of the time, but it is what it is.

There is this somewhat interesting and somewhat poetic scene in which the characters try making their own roast beef for the first time, which doesn't go as planned and leads to bland-tasting roast beef. What makes this poetic? Well, in a book about stopping a man from dismembering bodies, these characters are experimenting with curing and slicing up meat.

We wish that this book didn't meander so much. We also wish the ending wasn't so flat. There was so much build. The ending warranted more.

But all in all, this was a good book.

Check it out on Amazon!