Wordhunter

A Novel

By: Stella Sands

Narrated by: Jeremy Carlisle Parker

An utterly original and thoroughly enjoyable detective story about a woman who uses her uncanny ability to analyze words and speech patterns to help solve crimes.

Tattooed, pierced, and a bit of a mess, Maggie Moore is a surprising genius when it comes to words, a savant able to solve any linguistic puzzle. The top student in her forensic linguistics class, she’s tapped by local police to use her skills to decipher harrowing notes left by a stalker-turned-rapist—and succeeds brilliantly.

But when the daughter of a local mayor is abducted, Maggie isn’t sure she’s the right person to help the police solve the crime. Given what happened to her best childhood friend, Maggie just might be too close to this one.

Yet she knows the authorities in this rural south-Central Florida town cannot crack the case without her special skill. Along with her new best friend, a detective Jackson, Maggie begins to analyze the texts, emails, and verbal tics of various suspects . . . and comes to a disturbing conclusion that will rock this small community.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Stella Sands (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Complex Mind

Such a great mystery novel. MC's mind is amazing to see laid out throughout the book. Unexpected twists and turns. READ IT!!

Honestly just ok

Main character is a Mary Sue and it’s pretty predictable. And the diagrams get old. Fun at first but meh at the end.

A Word Geek--I love it!

A murder mystery, a coming-of-age novel, an academics-behaving-badly novel, a family saga with a missing person thrown in. And because it's Florida--a cult. A main character who diagrams sentences to relieve stress--imagine that! A love story with a tragic (maybe not) ending. All in such a small book!

Smart, Edgy Thriller

This book had me staying up late and sneaking a few minutes to listen between meetings. I particularly liked that Maggie was a younger, edgy woman rather than the standard male lawyer or older female reporter or doctor we so often see in thrillers. Fresh, new and fast paced — and A+ for both the story and narration in my book.

Mirror writing reveals relationships

Main character almost autistic. many self-destructive behaviors. Gets raped by professor a serial rapist. that she comes out (by helping someone else!) is almost a miracle. Lots of vulgarity (always wonder about limited vocabulary).

Wordhunter

Great mystery and easy read! Whether sitting, walking or what ever!! And five more words to submit.

Wish someone had said cliffhanger

Strong characters. A bit Lisbeth Salander for the main character, tattooed, pierced, savant (albeit in a different field than Salander).
The literary references were interesting. I have read some reviews where the sentence diagraming is said to be unnecessary, I felt that it added to the depth of the story.
My biggest complaint is the three directional cliffhanger.
There was only one question asked in the story that was answered. Three huge, big, enormous and important questions were left on the table. I didn't realize until I looked down at the time counter and saw only six minutes left.
One cliffhanger, okay. I fully appreciate that writing is a job and that authors need to sell books. To string me along, allow me to become invested and leave that many cards on the table was shabby treatment of us, the readers.
Perhaps the author 'walked away' a bit to early.

I thought the narrator did a very good job, he had to have exceptional diction to narrate this book and I feel that he did it well.

Interesting descriptions of linguistic forensics. A little too much “diagramming” of sentences.

I found the reader’s voice irritating, and her pronunciation of certain were words were jarring. Such as pronouncing “faux” as “folks”. Especially annoying in a book which emphasizes the correct use of language!

Word geeks, unite!

Please tell me this is the first in a series! I read a review that compared Maggie Moore to Lisbeth Salander, and they're not wrong - although, perhaps not quite as damaged. Maggie is smart, snappy and....a sentence diagrammer! Her partner in crime detection, Jackson, is a middle-aged policeman whose special skill is an eagle eye - literally - his vision is particularly sharp. They're a terrific partnership. Get writing, Stella Sands - I need to know what happens next.

Really fun book

I love a book that has a unique perspective on crime. I really liked “blood memory” by Greg Isles because the protagonist had a “very particular set of skills”. This book is the same. I think there were some tropes that I saw coming. I guessed the killer fairly early on. However, the book was fun and the protagonist has a lot of potential if there is a series.