Book Review: Hooker Avenue by Jodé Millman

I grew up in a quaint, laid back county in upstate New York called Dutchess County. Not too much happened there, which was fine with me. I’m all for a peaceful existence. I jokingly say that I grew up where the “deer and cows roamed free.”

One of the biggest cities in Dutchess County is called Poughkeepsie (we referred to it as P’ok). There is also a town of Poughkeepsie, also in Dutchess County.

I never liked to drive through the city of Poughkeepsie. I would avoid it at all cost. It’s a scary place! It’s a huge contract to where I was born and raised (about 20 minutes away).

One day, my husband and I were driving home from a friend’s house and he make the wrong turn and ended up in the city of Poughkeepsie. He was terrified! He made us lock the doors and told our kids to keep their heads down and not look out the window. He was afraid for our lives.

It’s crazy how two places in the same county could be so different.

Back in the mid-to-late 90’s there was a rash of murders in the city of Poughkeepsie. The serial killer targeted prostitutes that hung out on a road called Hooker Avenue (fitting name, don’t you think?).

The murders took place between 1996-1999 (I moved out of the area in 1997). I still remember hearing about them in the news. It was crazy to think that a serial killer was operating so close to where I grew up.

The killer was eventually caught and brought to justice. His name is Kendall Francois. He died in incarceration in 2014. In total he strangled and murdered eight women (prostitutes’) and was giving eight live sentences.

A newly released book is loosely based on Francois’ murders. The book is called Hooker Avenue. It was written by Jodé Millman.

The author is from Pougheepsie. In fact, she has written another book based on a murder, also in the area.

Millman gets her inspiration for writing about renowned serial killers in her own back yard and both The Midnight Call and her current book Hooker Avenue are set in the Queen City. And she has a personal connection to the murderers in her books.

Whereas The Midnight Call was about Albert Fentress, a popular Poughkeepsie Middle School teacher (a teacher of Millman’s) who murdered a teen trespassing in his yard, the true crime story in Hooker Avenue literally occurred on Millman’s doorstep. Millman bought a building for her law office in downtown Poughkeepsie. Unbeknownst to her, prostitutes plied their wares on her front porch and serviced patrons in a garage across the street. Gradually, the women vanished from her porch steps, abducted by a quiet, unassuming serial killer, and the story evolves from there.

Here is some additional information about the author.

In addition to being the award-winning author of The Midnight Call, Millman has been an attorney for more than 40 years with practical experience in intellectual property law. She is a contributing editor of “The Kaminstein Legislative History Project: A Compendium and Analytical Index of Materials Leading to the Copyright Act of l976,” holds a MA in English Literature specializing in law and literature, the author of the best-selling Broadway series.

Normally I write up my own synopsis, but honestly, I worry that I’ll give away too many of the details. For that reason I’ll go with an official synopsis.

Being a Good Samaritan is hazardous.

Amid a violent Hudson Valley thunderstorm, Jessie Martin discovers a woman lying unconscious in a roadside ditch. The badly beaten victim, Lissie Sexton, a local prostitute, claims she’s escaped the attack of a killer.

Jessie’s more than a causal driver who passes by: she’s a criminal-defense attorney. And Lissie is more than an ordinary hooker. She’s the key witness in a cold case under investigation by Jessie’s estranged longtime boyfriend, Detective Ebony Jones.

And now Ebony can’t find her witness. Jessie’s new boss has sent Lissie into hiding. If Jessie reveals Lissie’s location she compromises her client, her firm and her professional ethics. If she doesn’t, she risks alienating not just Ebony but the entire police department backing her.

To say this book has a lot of twists and turns is an understatement. There is a lot going in within the pages of this book.

What I liked about this book is the characters and how well developed they are in this book. You feel like you really know these people, most especially Jessie, as the story progresses.

I found this book difficult to put down. Just when I got to the end of a chapter, the author writes a little something that piques your interest and makes you want to read on further, just to see what happened next. Literally every chapter ends that way. They don’t have simple endings where you’d want to take a break from reading the book. If you are hooked on this story, be prepared to read the entire book within a day or two.

Personally, I could only read a little bit of this book at a time, due to being so busy. I hated that! Whenever I had to put the book down I was frustrated because I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next.

This is a well written book. Even the descriptions of the places in the book were well done, which helped you visual the place as if you were right there in the story. It’s very descriptive.

This book is a thriller and a true crime story (of sorts) all in one. If you like either genre, you’ll certainly enjoy this book.

I found this book to be an easy read. It wasn’t filled with hard to pronounce or understand words (my husband refers to them as “big words” – ha ha).

If you are interested in learning more about the author and her books, visit her official website at JodieMillman.com.

Look for Hooke Avenue where ever books are sold.

Kimberly

*I received a free copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.