Title: Hungry Muse

Author: Jessica Michaels

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Muse-Jessica-Michaels-ebook/dp/B07WHFKX9C/

Summary

Every artist needs a muse, or three if they are superstitious.

Muses require care. They are far too delicate to wander freely in the world. A painter, known to his young captives as, the artist, has constructed an idyllic cage to keep the world out, and where his carefully selected muses can flutter about, inspiring his work.

Detective Jack Lancaster is no stranger the horrors human monsters inflict on the innocent people in his city. When he takes the statement of, Lark, a young woman who escaped the hands of the artist, he discovers that when creativity and psychopathy occupy the same mind, depravity becomes an artform.

My Review

5/5 Stars

When “Lark” is abducted by the artist and put in the “aviary” she slowly learns the truth of her situation. She’s been abducted by a serial killer. His “muses” as he calls them have a lifespan of three years in captivity before he kills them and brings home a new “bird.” Lark quickly adapts to her new role, becoming the artists’ favorite. Problem is, she adapts a little too well.

Dark and twisty.

From victim to predator, Lark has made quite the character arc. From the beginning, she stood out from the other “birds” in the “aviary.” The artist adored her because she was the easiest to tame. She was willing to be tamed. After being passed along to the artists’ son, the gardener, she was even more so.

As Lark began to lose herself to the names given to her, Lark, Lily, she starts to wonder about who she really is. Part of her likes to be a muse. To inspire death and destruction. So much so that she takes the leap from muse to artist herself.

Jack was a solid companion for her though he was in way over his head. At first Lark seems fragile and broken, but there’s a darkness in her that he either doesn’t see or is willing to overlook. Whatever the case, he’s loyal to her.

Fantastic serial killer thriller. A must read for fans of the genre.