The Rexwood Murders novel by Barron Jones is about a group
of teenagers being thrown in the middle of fifteen year old vendetta that is
finally making itself known. The first opening chapter takes the reader back to
October 31st, 1998 where this close knit community in southern
Georgia is about to be put though a horrific tragedy. A home in the neighborhood of Meadow-Way is
hosting a Halloween party. Inside there
is a fight that breaks out between two men, Kirk Jones and Ronald
Rosenberg. A fire starts claiming the
home after Kirk’s failed attempted at throwing his drink at Ronald. The home
explodes not long after Ronald goes back into the home to try and rescue his
family. Years later, this group of teenagers on Halloween night spend a
terrifying night in the Rosenberg mansion, chased thorough hallways and
discovered tucked away secrets. After some of the characters make it out alive and
into their homes, the dark hooded figure’s presence didn’t diminish. Through notes and text messages, the group is
threatened of their secrets coming to light. The teenagers think they know
exactly who is harassing them and who attacked them that Halloween night but
when they drive by the Rosenberg Mansion, it’s littered with police. One body
bag is being wheeled away. In the distance, the black hooded figure is
watching. They were wrong.
The Rexwood Murders novel was different in terms of the
writing style. This example will be
taken from the book itself;
“They are reaching a door and Austin starts to place his
hand on the door knob.”
In a usual fiction piece that
sentence would be written like this, “They reach a door and Austin begins to
place his hand on the handle.” I haven’t read a novel written like this before
and I honestly didn’t enjoy this style. There were points where I would catch
word or phrase repetition within the same two or three sentences. These two
sentences are an example.
“…reach
the lunchroom before the lines get full, the three finally reach the lunchroom.
Entering the lunchroom…”
The plot is
very good although towards the end it seemed to resemble a popular television
series called Pretty Little Liars. This novel started off very strong and
original until it was reaching its last couple chapters. I hope there is a
slight change in the way this plot seems to be developing if there happens to
be a sequel in the future.
Until Next Time…
~Fiction-Book-Reviewer
