A fantastic dark psychology thriller

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook in return for a fair and honest review

The doll maker gives me Jack the Ripper vibes. There is a serial killer who is taking young women and mutilating to make beautiful dolls out of them and it is up to dawn and two brothers she just meet to solve the mystery

📖The Dollmaker📖
🖋️Morgan Shamy🖋️
🎧Audiobook🎧

As I was browsing Netgalley for some audiobooks, I came across this one that was released last year. In wanting to get into some horror books this year, this one was very intriguing.
‘The Dollmaker’ is set in an 1800’s town where there is a serial killer going around targeting women, taking body parts from them, and then proceeding to stitch them together like a doll. Our FMC, Dawn, is taking investigation of the Dollmaker into her own hands after her sister goes missing, whilst also facing the troubles of arranged marriages and witchcraft allegations.
I really liked this book as it was something a little different to the psychological thrillers whilst still having the same sort of vibes. The characters were well thought out and had multiple layers of growth throughout the story. Reading this as an audiobook definitely added to the creepiness of the story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Overall, I’d definitely recommend this book, only if you’re not squeamish about blood and gore details.

It wasn’t great. I was expecting a twisty-turny-historical-murder-mystery but this novel wasn’t twisty and it wasn’t turny at all. However, the worst part of this book was the main character. It felt as though someone had grabbed a ‘pick me’ girl from some bad fanfiction and plopped her into a bad episode of Criminal Minds - if Criminal Minds was set in the 1920s. The prose was very simple and clunky in places which was distracting from the narrative - the key to a good thriller/mystery is leading the reader into their own conclusions whereas The Dollmaker lacks any real subtleties in how it delivers clues or information - it's very heavy handed with the exposition. Which is a real shame as this book had a very interesting premise.

The narration was okay though!

First thing to catch my eye was the cover. A very well done design. The story follows a woman whose friend is taken by a serial killer “The Dollmaker”. Even though she witnesses the abduction, no one takes her seriously simply because she is a woman. While she tries to catch a killer and save her friend, she also is fighting for her independence. Her parents want to marry her to anyone with any wealth to their name. This is a well written story and even though I figured out who the killer was it is full of suspicious and dishonest people what will have you second guessing.

Such a good book! I only planned to read part of the book and I was going to try to sleep but I couldn’t put it down. It’s after 4am and I just finished and I’m feeling so many emotions right now. This is among one of the best books I have read in a long time! This has everything good! Set in the 1920’s where women didn’t have the same rights as men. I’m the end she got the respect that she deserved along with finding the love of her life all while finding a killer and helping people being a female doctor in the 1920’s. I hope they make they make this book into a movie adaptation. I can see it perfectly in my head. Such a good book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Author for allowing me to read this masterpiece! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves suspense or mystery. Although I did ARC read this I was not paid for this review and it is my honest review.

I hope this book blows up and I can definitely see it becoming a best seller. Also, I adore the cover art so much! I can’t wait wit to read more from the author!

She's a Dr before it’s acceptable for women to be drs. Her family blames her for her brothers Death, and have been tossed from high society. She works as an apprentice to the only Dr in her town. Most of her patients are ballerinas, and one of her best friends is kidnapped by a serial killer. Now it's up to her to find killer this before he kills her friend. Set in the early 20th century. This book has a decent amount of suspense and a killer you don't expect.

When a killer starts kidnapping women again a girls best friend is taken. What won’t she do to get her back? This fiction set during a time when women were forced to wed for standing in their community and to avoid poverty. Was a thrilling listen with aspects of romance as well

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I saw the description of this book and immediately requested it because it gave me Hannibal vibes. I LOVE some Hannibal, so I was so down for a book about a serial killer attacking women and cutting them up only to display them in interesting ways. AND what's not to love about a strong independent woman who stands up against society's sexism?? The description of Dawn's goal of becoming a doctor at a time where women weren't allowed to do much had me all excited. The audiobook also has some excellent narration, so I was pretty invested at the beginning.

This is all well and good, except my excitement dropped at a dizzyingly fast rate because Dawn was definitely not the strong independent woman I hoped for. While hunting down this murderer, she meets these dudes and <spoiler> starts fake courting one of them, which of course leads to feelings, but then GASP, she likes the other one more and is now in this weird love triangle-esque thing with these brothers low-key fighting over her. Not to mention, all the feminism leaves her body when she's around these guys and she constantly needs to be rescued by them. </spoiler>. And that was NOT the vibe I was hoping for.

I was hoping for a lot more gruesome murdery-descriptions and chasing down the murderer, especially with this being described as a horror/thriller, but I would call it more of a historical romance with the brooding, morally-gray (and honestly kinda toxic) male love interests that are very popular right now.

The big murderer reveal did catch me off guard, but not in a way that made me intrigued. It was more like "wait, these motives don't make any sense, even if this person is mentally unwell..."

All that to say, the advertising around this book should probably shift to saying its more of a romance, because I think it would find more of its audience in that group and not with people like me who were hoping for some fucking wild murders.

Publication date: 28 Feb 2023

A light, delightful thrill with a dash of romance. I loved the narration of this audiobook; it brought the characters to life. The plot was a little predictable at times. However, this is an excellent option if you want something to listen to while you work.

The Dollmaker - Morgan Shamy
4⭐️
i really enjoyed this book and finished it in one sitting. This book is set in the 1920’s with a serial killer on the loose. I liked that the main character doesn’t care for getting married or finding a husband and all she wants is to be a doctor and treat people. She gets involved when her bestie gets kidnapped and the cops arent helping.
I pride myself on usually being able to figure out the ending but this one actually surprised me.
The sense of unease throughout the book was well written. I could feel their anxiety through the pages.
My only complaint is that I felt some of the characters shouldve been introduced sooner in the story.
I’ll definitely be picking up some more books by this author :)

*Thank you @Netgalley and @camcat_books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

This was fantastic! Firstly it's set in the 1920s, Dawn is a healer (men got to be the doctors/surgeons back then). Her best friend Rose is a ballerina. When Rose disappears, Dawn fears that a serial killer known as 'The Dollmaker' might have taken her. Dawn teams up with Gideon (his fiance was killed by said dollmaker) to catch and stop the killer.

I was hooked! I really liked the characters, and the story was brilliant. No way could I have predicted who the killer turned out to be. The narrator was great aswell although it did sound a bit like a computer but that may have been the speed I was listening to it at. Highly recommend.

The Dollmaker by Morgan Shamy was narrated by Kate Rudd who I honestly thought did a decent job. She was believable and clear. The novel had a great premise and a chilling crime story. But when it came to a convincing story of closeness I didn’t feel it. The mystery was good but the authentic feelings weren’t there. Something felt off for me so I’m giving this 3⭐️.
Thanks CamCat Publishing via NetGalley.

I absolutely loved this audiobook! Having this unique serial killer as well as an independent strong female main character while being set in the early 1900’s make this book different than others I have read. Such a fun read!!

🎧3.75⭐️

This is listed as historical fiction / horror, but I’d describe it as slightly gritty crime that happens to be set in 1920

I had the audiobook narrated by Kate Rudd who does a good job.

Dawn is a woman ahead of her time, thanks to her mentor she’s managed to study as a doctor, but is struggling to get exposure to cases deemed unsuitable for a woman.

When Dawn’s friend Rose ( a prima ballerina) is kidnapped by a crazed serial killer known as ‘the doll maker’ as he leaves the dismembered and reconstructed women’s bodies staged as artwork she drops everything to find her.

There’s a good mix of character/ relationship development and plot development. There’s plenty of red herrings and twists and turns to keep the levels of interest up.
I liked Dawn, plucky trendsetting, ok occasionally she’s looking to a man to help her in her current predicament, I’d have liked her to be totally independent and strong. There’s some poor decision making driving the plot too, which caused the occasional eye roll. Theres some character and thought process complete U turns which didn’t sit so easily with me.

I don’t feel that I fully bought into the historical time frame, I didn’t really feel the era. If you’re not a historical fiction fan, don’t let the genre put you off as it’s not historically laden. Perhaps not one for readers who want to feel totally immersed in the era.

I found it entertaining, not too dark or graphic. An easy listen.

The premise of this book is good, I always enjoy a good mystery/thriller. I found killer's methods and motive to be unique. The story was intriguing enough to keep me going but towards the end it felt like it jumped from one thing to the next without the proper amount of filler or story.
I will say that I did not guess who the killer was until the end. Once I realized who it was I remembered a clue that was dropped along the way that could have made me suspect them but I did not pick up on it so kudos to the author for that.

I received this book through NetGalley.

This book is great if you don’t look too closely. Fierce independent female doctor in the 20s gets sucked into a murder mystery!

But when you look closer, things kinda fall apart. Am I too picky? It’s little things like using terms like serial killer before it was a known term. Where was the killer keeping Rose? For doctor who wants to have her own practice, Dawn doesn’t seem to spend a lot of time doctoring. (There are a lot of other book that tackle the idea of women who aren’t allowed to be doctors, and they spend lots more time treating patients.)

Although there are some early clues about the real killer, the effort to make others look guilty is so heavy handed that it does feel forced when the real killer is revealed.

I think if you want to write a new book where people have already done the topic to death you need to bring something new, and I don't think they succeeded at that here. The "feminist" main character was also unrealistically written.
It's okay, if you want to read a mystery with a young protagonist in a historical setting.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read listen to this audiobook. The narrator was all right, she worked well with the material.

Dawn want make her own future as healer. As woman from 1920s era, noone understand and support her dream to help other people who need healthy services. Dawn longing for a personal purpose more than get married and have children.

The Dollmaker was my first book from author. She gave me mixing story between historical romance with enough portion of creepy murder crime mystery. The premise is strong and intriguing since the beginning. The writing is easy to follow and successful delivered several feminism ideas and MC personal struggles. I like the MC with her strong will and genuine care for her friends. I also kinda stressful saw her bravery to challenging such a creepy serial killer. The romance ut self brimming with potential but unconvincing because lack of spotlight and chemistry. The plot was very busy and must share spotlight between historical romance typical conflicts with thrilling murder case. Both conflicts easily solve at the end but lack detail and emotions depth.

The narrator is doing good job for representing Dawn and her story. The changing intonation for the different characters is helpful. I would love more emotions into the characters and suspens atmosphere.

This book is easy to follow and reader can finished in one sitting. I would love to try another installment from the author.

Thank you to Netgalley and CamCat Publishing for providing copy of this audiobook. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Expecting Publication : 28 Feb 2023

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook copy of The Dollmaker by Morgan Shamy in exchange for an honest review. This was an interesting book. I listened to it quickly, but wasn't sure if I liked it. It was kinda like a Lifetime movie and if you're into that, it was great.