Posts

Showing posts with the label Thriller

Book Review: The Last House Guest

Image
The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda  Goodreads Summary: The summer after a wealthy young summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion. Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors. Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl—but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable—until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twist...

Book Review: Truth and Lies

Image
Truth and Lies  by Caroline Mitchell                                                             Goodreads Summary: Meet Amy Winter: Detective Inspector, daughter of a serial killer. DI Amy Winter is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her highly respected police officer father. But when a letter arrives from the prison cell of Lillian Grimes, one half of a notorious husband-and-wife serial-killer team, it contains a revelation that will tear her life apart. Responsible for a string of heinous killings decades ago, Lillian is pure evil. A psychopathic murderer. And Amy’s biological mother. Now, she is ready to reveal the location of three of her victims—but only if Amy plays along with her twisted game. While her fellow detectives frantically search for a young girl taken from her mother’s doorstep, Amy ...

Book Review: No Exit

Image
  No Exit by Taylor Adams Goodreads Summary: A brilliant, edgy thriller about four strangers, a blizzard, a kidnapped child, and a determined young woman desperate to unmask and outwit a vicious psychopath. A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do? On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers. Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate. Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her? There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But wh...

Book Review: Verity

Image
Verity by Colleen Hoover Goodreads Summary: Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read hi...

Book Review: The Wives

Image
The Wives by Tarryn Fisher Goodreads Summary: New York Times  bestselling author Tarryn Fisher delivers a pulse-pounding, fast-paced suspense novel that will leave you breathless. A thriller you won’t be able to put down! Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him. But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different—and horrifying—story about the man she married.  What follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you’ll ever read.  You’ll have to grab a copy to find out why. My Review: 3/5 Stars The premise of this book was overall interesting and  nothing like I had every read before. However it look me almost half of the book to get into in and become actually invested.  Seth has 3 wives and refers to them as the day of the week he is with each one - Monday, Tuesday,...

Book Review: Someone We Know

Image
Someone We Know by Shari Lapena Goodreads Summary: Maybe you don't know your neighbors as well as you thought you did . . .  "This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. . . My son broke into your home recently while you were out."  In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses--and into the owners' computers as well--learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too. Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets?  In this neighborhood, it's not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide . . . You never really kno...

Book Review: My Lovely Wife

Image
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing Goodreads Summary: Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting... Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored. We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with. We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder. My Review: 4/5 Stars This summary caught my attention right away, and I thought it was going to be another thrilling mystery similar to all the others out there and boy was I wrong. Downing wrote this book to be all kinds of twisty and messed up that had me staying up all night to finish it. All true-crime fan...

Book Review: The Accident

Image
The Accident by Natalie Barelli Goodreads Summary: If only she'd said no...   Katherine  knew she’d had too many drinks, but they were only going a short distance. And as  Eve  pointed out, it was late, there was no traffic anyway...  Now, Katherine would do anything to turn back the clock.  If anyone ever found out about the accident, it would ruin Katherine’s life . But no one needs to know because Eve was there too, and she’s going to help make it all go away. Except  something's not quite right with Eve , and by the time Katherine realizes that… It's too late. My Review: 3.5/5 Stars At first I saw similarities with the new Netflix show Dead to Me, but I think its a bit of a reach with 1 or 2 coincidences. I guess I've just been obsessed with the show. Both kept me engaged and predicting possible outcomes the whole time. A big difference was I didn't get it all right in the book. The characters of Katherine (Kat) and Eve...

Book Review: Pieces of Her

Image
Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter Goodreads Summary: Andrea Oliver's mother, Laura, is the perfect small-town mum. Laura lives a quiet but happy life in sleepy beachside Belle Isle. She's a pillar of the community: a speech therapist, business owner and everybody's friend. And she's never kept a secret from anyone. Or so Andrea thinks. When Andrea is caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognisable to her daughter. It's like Laura is a completely different person - and that's because she was. Thirty years ago. Before Andrea. Before Belle Isle. Laura is hailed as a hero for her actions at the mall but 24 hours later she is in hospital, shot by an intruder, who's spent decades trying to track her down. What is Andrea's mother trying to hide? As elements of the past return and put them both in danger, Andrea is left to piece together Laura's former identity and discover the truth - for b...

Book Review: Carrie

Image
Carrie by Stephen King Goodreads Summary: Carrie knew she should not use the terrifying power she possessed... But one night at her senior prom, Carrie was scorned and humiliated just one time too many, and in a fit of uncontrollable fury she turned her clandestine game into a weapon of horror and destruction... My Review: 4/5 Stars Believe it or not I have never read a Stephen King before this, so I figured what better way to start than one of his earliest and most popular books. I gave this book 4 stars, but I honestly have pretty mixed feelings about it. Mostly because I think it confused me more than anything. Like really who can come up with this kind of stuff? But on the other hand I was completely hooked. Carrie has telekinetic powers that when pushed over the edge by her bullying classmates goes into effect and causes major destruction. Her mother never helped the situation by belittling every common teenage feeling, and always suggesting the need to ...

Book Review: The Leaving

Image
The Leaving by Tara Altebrando Goodreads Summary: Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back --with no idea of where they've been. Eleven years ago, six kindergarteners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to. Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max. He doesn't come back. Everyone wants answers. Most of all Max's sister Avery, who needs to find her brother--dead or alive--and isn't buying this whole memory-loss story. My Review: 3.9/5 Stars This book was daunting at first, any book over 400 pages I conte...

Book Review: Girl Last Seen

Image
Girl Last Seen by Nina Laurin Goodreads Summary: Two missing girls. Thirteen years apart. Olivia Shaw has been missing since last Tuesday. She was last seen outside the entrance of her elementary school in Hunts Point wearing a white spring jacket, blue jeans, and pink boots. I force myself to look at the face in the photo, into her slightly smudged features, and I can't bring myself to move. Olivia Shaw could be my mirror image, rewound to thirteen years ago. If you have any knowledge of Olivia Shaw's whereabouts or any relevant information, please contact... I've spent a long time peering into the faces of girls on missing posters, wondering which one replaced me in that basement. But they were never quite the right age, the right look, the right circumstances. Until Olivia Shaw, missing for one week tomorrow. Whoever stole me was never found. But since I was taken, there hasn't been another girl. And now there is. My Review: 2.7/5 Stars The  synopsis  of th...

Book Review: The Woman in the Window

Image
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn Goodreads Summary: Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare. What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems. My Review: 4/5 Stars This book is very much "Girl on the Train" meets "Gone Girl" but lucky for me I love them both. I was guessing and re-guessing on every page. And never completely figured it out until I had about 10 pages left. And considering it was over 400 pages that's a lot of gu...

Book Review: Behind Closed Doors

Image
Behind Closed Doors by: B.A. Paris: Goodreads Summary: Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace: he has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You'd like to get to know Grace better. But it's difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are never apart. Some might call this true love. Picture this: a dinner party at their perfect home, the conversation and wine flowing. They appear to be in their element while entertaining. And Grace's friends are eager to reciprocate with lunch the following week. Grace wants to go, but knows she never will. Her friends call—so why doesn't Grace ever answer the phone? And how can she cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim? And why are there bars on one of the bedroom windows? The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie? My Review: 3/5 stars I was so so so excited about this book. Everyone knows those "perfect" people, so I was intrigued about how Paris would make it relatable in a sense. Grace wa...

Book Review: The Woman in Cabin 10

Image
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware Goodreads Summary: In this tightly wound story, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong… With surprising twists and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another intense read. My Summary: 3.5/5 stars I couldn't help but compare this book to the The...

Book Review: Where They Found Her

Image
Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight Goodreads Summary: From the author of the New York Times bestseller and 2014 Edgar and Anthony nominee Reconstructing Amelia comes another harrowing, gripping novel that marries psychological suspense with an emotionally powerful story about a community struggling with the consequences of a devastating discovery. At the end of a long winter, in bucolic Ridgedale, New Jersey, the body of an infant is discovered in the woods near the town’s prestigious university campus. No one knows who the baby is, or how her body ended up out there. But there is no shortage of opinions. When freelance journalist, and recent Ridgedale transplant, Molly Anderson is unexpectedly called upon to cover the story for the Ridegdale Reader, it’s a risk, given the severe depression that followed the loss of her own baby. But the bigger threat comes when Molly unearths some of Ridgedale’s darkest secrets, including a string of unreported sexual assaults t...