Set in 1763, The Butcher's Hook focuses on Anne, the eldest of a well off family. The family is still recovering from the death of Anne's younger 3 year old brother who died a few years previous. Anne is a strange young woman, made stranger still by how cold and unloving her father is, especially now that Anne's mother has just given birth to a baby girl. Excitement arrives to Anne in the form of Fub, the butcher's apprentice. Anne is instantly smitten, to the point of obsession. Her curiosity towards Fub leads her to grow more and more careless in her actions, that leads to a bloody frenzy.

I rated this 2 stars, not because I didn't like it. There are some positives to it, which I will get to. My main reasons for not marking it higher is because I didn't gel with it. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I found it too slow, I was about to give up about 60% through when I read a review that prompted me to keep going. I enjoyed the last 1/3 of the book a lot more than the beginning. Anne is a peculiar character, I know some people hated her and while I didn't like her, I did think she was interesting. She comes from a sheltered life and is a bit innocent in some ways. Her infatuation with Fub does seem a bit extreme but her being some what innocent, mixed with coming from a family where Anne doesn't see a lot of love, I can see why her feelings were accelerated. That said I didn't connect with her which perhaps added to why it felt slow for me. The writing is good though, I did enjoy it. There was a nice flow to it and some great descriptions. The story itself is interesting and placing it in Georgian times was a unique perspective. I feel like the default is to set stories like this more in Victorian times. Overall not my cup of tea but I can see why others enjoyed it more than me.