Cricket Hunters by Jeremy Hepler

Celia (Garcia) Lundy was fifteen in the fall of 1998 when Abby Powell, one of her five friends who called themselves the Cricket Hunters, disappeared without a trace. Cops scoured the central Texas town of Oak Mott searching for Abby. Interviewed everyone. Brought in the Texas Rangers to assist. Three key suspects emerged and were focused on, but no evidence was found. Eventually, the case went cold, and the passage of time buried the truth of Abby Powell’s fate.

Fifteen years later, as the anniversary of Abby’s disappearance approaches, Cel’s life is upended when her husband Parker, also once a Cricket Hunter, goes missing. When bizarre clues surface that point to a link between Parker’s and Abby’s disappearances, Cel is forced to delve back into the past in order to navigate the present. With the help of her abuela, a self-proclaimed bruja, she embarks on a tumultuous journey fraught with confrontation and trickery, spells and spirits, theft and murder, in order to find out what happened to her husband, and why. 


Cricket Hunters takes place on two time lines. It is both a coming of age tale in the late 1990s and a supernatural mystery taking place today.  Back then Cel and Parker were teenaged sweethearts, and part of a close knit group of friends. In the present day the bloom is off the rose and their marriage is quite rocky. After a heated argument with Cel, Parker disappears. Cel doesn't know if it's because of his philandering ways or if it is something to do with an unresolved incident in their past. The interpersonal relationships between the characters in the past and the way it shaped their adult selves is quite realistic and believable. In my opinion this is the author's best work to date and that is saying something considering his previous work is quite good. The ending left me awe struck.
5 out of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy for review.
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About the author

Jeremy Hepler is the Bram Stoker-nominated author of CRICKET HUNTERS, THE BOULEVARD MONSTER, and numerous short stories and nonfiction articles. He received the Texas Panhandle Professional Writer’s Short Story Award in 2014, and his debut novel was a Bram Stoker Award finalist in the Superior Achievement in a First Novel category in 2017. He lives in central Texas with his wife and son and is currently working on his next novel. For more information, you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, and Amazon.