Why we’re excited
Violet wants to be the city's best criminal profiler, and Dr. Nathan Caster, her former professor, has held back until she finished her degree. Then a killer called the Shrike leaves bodies pierced with thorns, and Violet takes the case.
Reilly is best known for her Born in Blood mafia romances, which began with Bound by Honor. This standalone mixes romance with a serial-killer hunt, and readers of dark romantic suspense will find it the obvious next pick.
On our most-anticipated list since 22 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about The Shrike
Cora Reilly is new to The Bookish Elf: none of their books has a review here yet.
From the publisher
THEY CALL HIM THE SHRIKE…
Violet has one goal in mind: to be the city’s top criminal profiler. She’s smart. She’s hungry. She wants to stop killers almost as much as she wants to forget the twisted obsession she feels for Dr. Nathan Caster.
Nathan has never met a fellow criminologist he couldn’t best. Not until Violet arrived in his world as a student four years ago, with her sharp questions and even sharper eyes. He’s waited four years for her to graduate and it killed him every day not to touch her. Now she’s no longer his student, and they can both have what they’ve been waiting for.
Then the Shrike takes his first victim. Then the next. And then the next. Each body, pierced with thorns and dripping blood as birds sing in his wake. He kills without remorse. He’s impossible to catch. And Violet must hunt him down.
If the hunt doesn’t destroy her first.
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read The Shrike yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
