Review: Hushed by Kelley York

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn't protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he's never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn't matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another - Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who's ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer's committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn't get what she wants... And what she wants is Evan's death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.

After really enjoying Made of Stars, I knew I’d have to read Hushed, especially after reading that intense blurb. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, since it doesn’t really pick up until the last third, but I ended up liking it a lot. There’s a lot of death, but it’s not quite as violent or bloody as I thought it was going to be. Which was a good thing, at least for a wimp like me. Hushed opens up with Archer working on his latest kill, and his methods are quite disturbing. Smart, but disturbing. He has a list of men who he wants to remove permanently, since they’ve hurt his long time best friend, Vivian. But then he meets Evan, who figures him out but lets him know that he doesn’t have to be a monster, especially for someone who will never appreciate him. Then there’s an unexpected twist and things get crazy!

Hushed is very slow in the beginning. Yes, there are two murders, but they’re not super in-your-face violent kills. I think this may be the author’s style, since her other book also started out very slow, developing relationships, and then got extremely intense toward the end. I did like getting a deep understanding of Archer and Vivian’s relationship before everything changes. It’s a very unstable relationship, but both partners aren’t exactly stable individuals. Vivian essentially uses Archer as a doormat, ditches him, then gets upset when he makes a new friend. She’s not all to blame, of course, since Archer always goes back to her and tries to do everything in his power (including manslaughter) to make her happy.

It was really interesting to compare that to his developing relationship with Evan. Evan is a genuinely nice guy, and really listens to Archer. He doesn’t use him like Vivian does, and he encourages Archer to take time for himself instead of always putting her first. They meet at the beginning of Hushed, and Archer who is typically a loner, reluctantly starts hanging out with him. Soon enough they’re getting close…very close. There is one quite steamy shower scene! But getting close to Archer is dangerous, and not even for the obvious reason of him being a kind of serial killer.

The last third of Hushed is insane. I didn’t see that coming, but it was to be expected. Halloween changes everything for Archer and there’s no going back. After the big climax, I really liked how the author handled Archer’s mental health. While I wanted a happy ending for him, I also didn’t want things to be too convenient. He definitely has some work to do and I’m glad it ended the way it did.

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