The Helper

In the psychological mystery The Helper, three lives intersect in New York City. The eponymous named Helper is a self-flagellating serial killer, wrecking his way through the homeless kids of the city. Martha Beauvais is a Native American woman with a history of bad decisions, particularly around the men in her life. Dave Lacey is a stay-at-home dad, who, after his wife stands him up one too many times, goes out on a night on the town that ends in a life or death fight. There, his life changes with Martha and her grandmother involving him in a vision quest to stop the killer, save his son, and help Martha with her past.

The Helper has good characters and an interesting plotline. Martha and Dave quickly become people you want to succeed while they scramble to figure out what’s going on and why they need each other to stop the Helper. Dave’s night out and disappearance leaves his wife to clean up his mess, while also trying to figure out how her life became what it now is. All of the characters, most especially the Helper, are all flawed and damaged, each in their own way. As the story progresses and the tales peel back, the reader finds the personalities more developed and rounded out. The Helper is an engaging thriller using Native American shamanic traditions. The only caveat is there are moments of overwriting descriptions or metaphors that distract from flow of the story that could be cleaned up with an tighter edit.