Title: The Man on the Roof
Series: 
Author: Michael Stephenson 
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Publisher: Self Published
Format: eBook
ASIN: B07BP8ZD7T

Summary: Someone has been creeping in the dark while the others sleep, and they’ve done terrible, terrible things.

“There was a man on your roof,” claims curmudgeonly lane-hermit Herbert McKinney. Then, he initiates an unprovoked fight with a local punk. Drama escalates when that punk’s dead body is found hanging at mid-street one August morning—a boastful killer messaging their next prey. All fingers point to Herbert as the culprit. Soon, the five couples he calls neighbors come under suspicion, too. When detectives divine blackmail as the motive, eyes cross to find who hides the most shameful secret. Husband versus wife, friend versus friend, the shiny suburban veneer of innocence has been forever tarnished. As hidden deviousness boils from their pores, there lurks a thief, a pill addict and a sadist—secrets worth killing for.

Now, as the man on the roof helps guide justice and watches devious neighbors slip in and out of sleepy houses, confusion and questions persist. Who dies next? What have they learned? Who is becoming a monster? Who already is one? And just how many secrets can a small group of multi-ethnic Ohioans have? Only one cemented truth exists: the killer will kill again.

A taut domestic mystery-suspense thriller, The Man On The Roof propels the reader through a tangled, volatile and suspenseful thicket of deception, murder and friends, inviting the reader to discover the murderer and who hides which lie. First there was Gone Girl. Then there was The Girl on the Train. Now, there’s The Man On The Roof. 

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Quick warning: this book has some sexual content as well as some graphic violence. It’s not 50-shades explicit, but there are a few fetish scenes that can be a bit uncomfortable. A utopian type novel, mixed with a thriller-mystery theme, I did enjoy the story. The story takes place in a small town, on a small cul-de-sac in Suburbia land. A teenage boy has been murdered and everyone on the block is a suspect. As two cops try and figure out the murderer, they start to discover everyone on the block has their own secrets and alibis. The only person the police have ruled out is an old man, a retired soldier of war who dislikes everyone else because he seems to know everyone’s secrets and true character. The title really has no relevance to the story. The man on the roof pops up only a few times, and if you take him out of the story, you aren’t missing anything. We don’t even get to find out who the man on the roof is, so once you get past this, you’ll be much happier at the end of the story. The story is quite fast paced, and always moving, which I appreciate. The author tells the story with a solid the timeline, and used certain dates as checkpoints: (i.e., “Labor Day Weekend”, “Two Days after the Murder”) which also turned it to be great chapter headings. Other chapters tell the viewpoints of all the neighbors living on the block, calling them out as Suspect 1, Suspect 2, etc. However, I got lost very quickly in differentiating Suspect 1 from 2, or 2 from 3, etc. Which one is Suspect 3 again? Are they the one who steals AND is a computer hacker. Or are they the one who steals AND is having an affair? The character development was also a little strange. All the men seemed to be pedophiles and the women seemed to be “psycho/crazy.” To be honest, I had to give up even trying to separate the suspects, which is a bit frustrating for a mystery. I wasn’t looking to be able to solve it ahead of time, but it would have been nice not to feel lost until wrap-up in the last chapter. The overall plot is easy to pick up and pause at any point; and despite a few unpolished details, I was entertained by the story and would recommend reading this to other thriller-enthusiasts.   FTC Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.