Wordhunter Audiobook By Stella Sands cover art

Wordhunter

A Novel

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Wordhunter

By: Stella Sands
Narrated by: Jeremy Carlisle Parker
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An utterly original and compulsively readable 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.

 Crime Thrillers Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Crime Mystery Detective Amateur Sleuths Exciting
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It was very Interesting hearing how language is used to investigate crimes and how we are all individual in our use of language

Language as clues

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Stella Sands' "Wordhunter" was a great read and a great reminder/refresher of the English language. The moments in which the lead charater, Maggie, would break down a sentence - also used as a method for her breakdown cases that she was employed on to find "the bad guy" - were truly some of the greatest moments because so much of those lessons in how a sentence is formed have been forgotten as they were learned back in my youth. It was often a theme in the book that many had forgotten those lessons as well - which goes to show that after learning what is needed to form language, the methods used to get there simply become second nature and not something well thought out UNLESS continuosly studied (or used to throw off the scent when used for criminal reasons). Also, the references to how various cases (cold or not) were solved with the interpretation of letters left behind by said "bad guys" were a great reminder of how one mind can solve the mystery of another mind through how words on paper are placed. All of that, alongside exploring heavy topics like sexual abuse, r*pe, substance abuse, broken families, physical and mental abuse, m*lestation, and just some more general themes like that of trusting one's gut and others, speaking up for oneself, managing grief, mourning/loss, and the like, the book is pretty well-rounded.

While the book ends on a cliffhanger, it is truly a good detective/mystery book with a unique approach to solving said mystery - a unique approach that has been used to solve many well-known cases. It's also a great book for American language enthusiasts, as well as classic literature enthusiasts, as the author incorporates many great quotes from other notable works. Definitely worth the read.

Wordhunter

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

Complex Mind

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I was intrigued by the plot but the overall story was boring. I didn’t enjoy it

Interesting concept but poor story

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

Honestly just ok

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