He Counts Their Tears by Mary Ann D'Alto

A handsome, successful, charming man. Healer. Miracle maker. Aaron Stein is all those things. Behind the benevolent facade, however, hides a monster: a destroyer of souls who lusts after power and control. Aaron plays his ruse again and again with unsuspecting women who genuinely believe that they have met their new "best friend," their "soul mate." Covert hypnosis, edgy trysts, psychological warfare - they're all part of the sick game he plays "to have all the power"

...until his secret life is threatened by a series of events he never sees coming. Will his devoted cousin, Constance, succeed in protecting him, just as she has throughout his entire life? And what exactly is it that she does to protect him? Is she a murderer, or is she simply devoted to him? Are they merely cousins (possibly, once, long ago, lovers), or are they partners in crime? Did Aaron learn his evil ways from her, or was he born a psychopath? In the end, these answers will make no difference in the lives of the women who, each in turn, are charmed into becoming his victims."

D’Alto is a very talented writer who, in my opinion, has brought a new kind of ‘evil’ to the table in this engaging thriller about one person’s ability to coerce people into getting their hopes up before he completely shatters them. This is a book that I have been meaning to get to for some time as I am always reading about it on Facebook. Mystery Thriller Week proved to be a great time to pick this book up as my final read for the event. The cover is simple; with no graphics or images to distract from the title. This in itself speaks for the methodical ill intent of our main culprit Aaron. He doesn’t do complicated – he plans everything with little room for error in a nice organised fashion. Thus a simple and bold cover is highly appropriate for this story.

The story itself was very interesting although I felt that sometimes D’Alto repeated herself unnecessarily however for her first book you can certainly tell that she is an incredible talented writer who sets out to engage with a reader’s emotional side and she does this rather well. While sometimes I was left thinking – what is this woman doing – there were many times when I sympathised with the women that were ensnared by Aaron. I think this is D’Alto’s secret to writing successfully – she doesn’t create something or work off of a serial killer pattern but rather she works with basic human nature and emotions and how someone might take those and use them as a weapon against you. The scary thing is; is that D’Alto has quite a realistic approach so it leaves the reader wondering how many of the people in their own lives are like Aaron.

As mentioned; the only thing that I didn’t really like about the book was I found some parts a little repetitive but overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it. I am looking forward to reviewing the second book in the series as I hear that she has taken leaps and bounds in her writing in the second novel and can’t wait to see her growth as a writer.

Review Rating: 3/5

More Information:

Published By: Dog Ear Publishing

Published Date: September 17, 2015

Genre: Thriller / Suspense