Are you looking for a great book to sit by a body of water with and read? Maybe with a cold drink in hand? Some salacious, sReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
Are you looking for a great book to sit by a body of water with and read? Maybe with a cold drink in hand? Some salacious, soapy, and thrilling? Then you might be looking for Ladykiller.
Ladykiller is author Katherine Wood’s debut novel, and even if it’s pretty obvious this is a debut novel, it’s a pretty good shot for a debut thriller beach read being published smack dab in the middle of summer. Set mostly in the sublime Greek islands and filled with sun, food, drink, sex, and secrets, there is nothing about this book that doesn’t meet the criteria needed for something fun and diverting to read when it’s hot outside and you just want to drink your daiquiri and be left alone.
This book is mostly told from two POVs: Gia is the scion of a wealthy family who is in the midst of divesting herself of the beloved family estate in Greece, and Abby is her best friend who was also the daughter of their family cook growing up. Abby’s story is told in first-person POV, while Gia’s is told in chapters from a manuscript she wrote for the majority of the book. Along for the ride as a narrative foil is Gia’s younger brother, Benny. If you’re thinking unreliable narrator, you got it. If you’re thinking “best friend’s brother” trope, you got it. Is it spicy? Not in my opinion. There’s titillation, but no explicitness. Nudity, but not smut. Fade to black, mostly.
This book isn’t heavy and it’s not meant to be; even so, there’s just so much of this book that seems to breeze by and so much stuff that seems to be a bit too incredulous. I can only suspend disbelief so much. Either that, or I’m more of a cynic than I thought I was. Either way, I just wasn’t as engaged as I’d hoped. I want to be swept away by my beach reads. This was fun, but not quite fun enough for me.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
One of my favorite books of 2023 was Jordan Harper’s Everybody Knows, which follows a PR executive and a disgraced PI as they unravel a gritty neon-noOne of my favorite books of 2023 was Jordan Harper’s Everybody Knows, which follows a PR executive and a disgraced PI as they unravel a gritty neon-noir mystery at the heart of Los Angeles. Ever since I’ve been looking for that magic pairing of “PR and PI” in the hopes I can find more books where these two seedy, seamy undersides of Los Angeles come together in some kind of mysterious tangle.
I was hoping Your Dark Secrets would give me the high I was searching for, but I spent the whole book chasing it and then was absolutely upset with myself at the end for sticking with it.
The first half of this book is interesting, if a slower build than I like to see in a jet-set suspense thriller with so much on the line for the main characters and taking place over what seems like a pretty short time frame. The pacing is off, there’s a bit too much filler, but it wasn’t unsalvageable. Sadly, in the back half of the book it just fell apart for me: the pacing was all over the place, the characters were inconsistent, there was too much filler, there was a very obvious evil villain monologue, and everything was either tied up too neatly or left dangling like a snagged sweater.
Ultimately, it was a very flawed book, in my opinion.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Reviews rated three stars or below will not appear on my social media. Thank you.
If there’s one thing you definitely can’t be if you want to be a saturation diver, it’s claustrophobic. You have to train even Are you claustrophobic?
If there’s one thing you definitely can’t be if you want to be a saturation diver, it’s claustrophobic. You have to train even the slightest amount of animal instinct to back out of too-tight spaces out of your system in order to be a saturation diver. You also have to quickly grow okay with the idea of being packed into a very tight space (smaller than a train car) with five other fully-grown adults under increased pressure and temperature while you’re all up in each other’s business for about a month.
Thank goodness we’re merely readers, so all we have to worry about is if these kinds of things trigger us before we read. If they don’t, then we just get treated to a suspense thriller about six saturation divers who go down in their chamber while in the North Sea and they start mysteriously dying.
This is advertised as a locked-room mystery, but it really isn’t. If you go into this expecting it to be a traditional locked room, you’ll be disappointed. It’s closer to a closed-loop, but it’s not even truly that because there’s almost an element of possible conspiracy to the mystery in this story. Every time it seems as if the field of suspects has narrowed, Will Dean creates opportunities for the list of suspects to either widen or to shift, changing the perspective and/or the motive.
That’s the largest part of the charm behind The Chamber: Divers, just like other people who live their lives on the sea and do their jobs based on a very strict set of rules and rituals, can be set very off course by ill omens and superstitions. One bad omen can shift a character’s (maybe more than one) entire point of view and it could roll into a completely unrelated event, tainting it with a seeming darkness that otherwise may not have colored it so. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Or maybe it’s not all in your mind. Or maybe it’s both.
Will Dean’s last two books have been absolutely bangers for me, but The Chamber left a little to be desired in the way of excitement for me. I felt the suspense. I felt the claustrophobia. I felt the paranoia and germaphobia. I felt the pressure, the heat, and the fear. For some reason, though, I didn’t feel engaged with the story or compelled to keep reading. The story lacked propulsion. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was while I was reading and I still can’t. I just felt like I could walk away from this book and it wouldn’t really matter.
Will Dean is a wonderful writer and this is a great book, so I totally recommend it. I just didn’t feel like I needed to finish this story in order to get on with my life. This is a wonderful story, though.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
The premise behind Tell Me Who You Are sounded very intriguing when I first read it and in the long run that’s not my issue with this book. The plot iThe premise behind Tell Me Who You Are sounded very intriguing when I first read it and in the long run that’s not my issue with this book. The plot is still very compelling and the book itself is well-paced and well-constructed. This book just didn’t vibe with me from the beginning in almost every other way: I didn’t enjoy the writing style, the narrative voice was rather annoying, and there seemed to be a few holes here and there that maybe could’ve been taken care of with another pass through with the editor.
I didn’t find it to be as sharp or propulsive as other reviewers have found it to be. While it does have some unpredictability in its favor the shock factor isn’t that great when the turn comes.
Sometimes we just don’t vibe with a book, and I think this is one of those times.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review was rated three stars or lower, meaning it will not be appearing on my social media pages. Thank you.
I love comic thrillers. In accordance with family tradition, about 30% of my sense of humor is set aside specifically for dark and morbid humor. When I love comic thrillers. In accordance with family tradition, about 30% of my sense of humor is set aside specifically for dark and morbid humor. When an invite to read this book came along you can bet I accepted it right away. Come on, look at that cover! The title! Like I had a chance. I knew I was going to enjoy it, but enjoy it I did.
You’d Look Better as a Ghost walks down the middle of road somewhere between two of my favorite comic thrillers: Sascha Rothschild’s Blood Sugar and Katy Brent’s How to Kill Men and Get Away With It. Wallace’s writing is more irreverent and sly than Rothschild, but has more of a sense of self and less sociocultural satire than Brent. Wallace likes her humor drier than bones in a desert and dark as a cave, her inner narratives extensive and hyper-critical, her plotting full of little unexpected twists and turns, and her protagonist (Claire) is a delightful serial killer to read as she tries to play catch up with a tiny mistake, understand the process of grieving, and play the unexpected role of vigilante (even if it’s only a means to an end, really).
On a personal note: Even though I’m not a serial killer, I appreciated reading a book with a protagonist who doesn’t grieve in the manner which people are accustomed to, because I don’t and I never have. I don’t go to funerals or memorial services anymore because of the looks I get at my lack of grief when people pass away. Nothing happened to me or anything–I have Alexithymia, and the way in which it presents itself is that my sadness meter isn’t there most of the time. I’m either mildly sad or I’m having a complete depressive breakdown. There’s no in between. It’s either shallows or an abyss. I’ve been like this my entire life. It’s led to everything from me being called a sociopath or narcissistic to being accused of not loving those who have passed away or not missing them.
The protagonist in this book, Claire, is grieving her father. She’s just grieving him in her own way. The only way a person like her can. Just because she’s not crying her eyes out or drinking her nights away doesn’t mean she’s not grieving. Everyone grieves differently. Sure, she chooses to take out her grief with a hammer at first, but no one can accuse of her of not caring for her father in her own way.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Dark Comedy/Murder Thriller/Psychological Fiction/Serial Killer/Suspense Thriller ...more
Rob Hart won me over with his darkly funny, intense action-adventure-in-a-hotel, tragically romantic novel The Paradox Hotel, which is a book I think Rob Hart won me over with his darkly funny, intense action-adventure-in-a-hotel, tragically romantic novel The Paradox Hotel, which is a book I think about all the time and constantly recommend because I love authors who know how to write perfect blends of dark comedy, intense action, and love of varying types.
Assassins Anonymous runs in a similar-but-definitely-not-same vein as The Paradox Hotel: darkly funny, intense action-adventure (not in a hotel), and a few different types of love. The plot is what it says on the tin: An assassin gave up the game almost a year ago and joined a 12-step program to stop killing people. A few days shy of earning his one-year chip he gets attacked and now he’s on the run to get to the bottom of the matter and get back out all without relapsing and killing someone.
Why wouldn’t I want to read that? Why wouldn’t anyone want to read that? That plot sounds like the bee’s knees.
And it was the bee’s knees! This book was fantastic. From the first page to the last this book was an interesting and fun read. It’s witty, dark, action-packed, adrenaline-fueled, reflective, and emotionally-aware. I nearly cried a couple of times, and I really loved the found family aspect that comes in clutch. I totally recommend it.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
You can really tell this book was originally published as an Audible Original. It’s a small blessing, but a larger curse.
YoReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
You can really tell this book was originally published as an Audible Original. It’s a small blessing, but a larger curse.
Young Rich Widows is a multi-POV thriller set in 1985 just after a plane crash that kills all four partners of a law firm. The story itself is about the widows of the four partners and what they have to deal with in the wake of the unexpected disaster that takes a wrecking ball to all of their lives.
I’ve never read a book that was published as an audiobook first, and maybe that has a lot to do with how the book was transitioned to paperback and therefore how I received it as a reader. The reason I think the transition from Audible Original to paperback may be a larger curse than a blessing is because while the book is entertaining it feels rather flat. I didn’t get anything other than surface vibes and emotions from the pages. While the dialogue was well written it didn’t pack any emotion behind it. I just all read like cheap champagne when I imagine it could’ve read like Dom.
So while it’s a fun read, it just felt kind of empty at the end.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Do you ever think about just getting in a boat and sailing away from it all? Living on a boat, just the water, wind, and s✨Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars✨
Do you ever think about just getting in a boat and sailing away from it all? Living on a boat, just the water, wind, and sky for your most dependable company as you hop from port to port all around the world?
If you loved Gone Girl but also the drama and suspense of at-sea thrillers, then I think you might love Rachel McGuire’s On the Surface (which has such a pretty cover, perfect for a summertime beach read). This releases on July 9th.
The first half of this book isn’t as solid as the back half, but I’m telling you that the back half practically flies by. I also had some issues with the character building of the law enforcement officers in this book because it seemed a little forced, as if McGuire didn’t completely believe in the veracity of her own characters, but when it came to the rest of the cast the character building was absolutely fascinating.
We Used To Live Here is very hard to describe because it’s a patchwork of influences and genres that ends up making a fast-paced and completely intrigWe Used To Live Here is very hard to describe because it’s a patchwork of influences and genres that ends up making a fast-paced and completely intriguing quilt of vibes that ends up being a terrifying and entertaining read. It’s part House of Leaves (but not quite as gonzo), part Backrooms (but not as desolate), part “Parasite” (like the blurb says, but make it even creepier), and add some gothic sprinkles on top for extra atmosphere.
(If you don’t know what Backrooms are, just look it up on Wiki. Seriously intriguing Creepypasta stuff).
What do you end up with? A book that managed to freak me all the way out (few books do that) and kept me completely engaged all the way from start to finish. I can completely see why this is being made into a film because it’ll make a great one.
It’s not perfect. I felt there were a couple of plot holes and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending, but I could live with the ending as it is. I loved the LGBTQ couple versus the traditional couple aspect and I wish that theme had been explored more, but not exploring it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book as a whole.
It’s a freaky fun time and I think if you want your brain bent for about 320 pages, this is the book you want right now.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Did you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up?
Camille’s daughter, Georgie, has two. Bestie isn’t too much of an issue. Her other one, ImagDid you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up?
Camille’s daughter, Georgie, has two. Bestie isn’t too much of an issue. Her other one, Imaginary? Now, that one’s an issue, because it quickly becomes clear that Imaginary isn’t an imagined friend at all, but rather a teacher’s aide at Georgie’s school who somehow knows things about Camille’s past that she’s never told anyone involved in her life about and has taught them to her daughter. Camille has kept her past buried for a reason, and now she’s afraid it’s caught up to her.
The first and third acts of this book are fast-paced and smartly-written. The beginning of the book really hooks you, with an attention-grabbing opening sequence before slinging you into the present day and the frightening start of the main story. The third act is well-written as well, with an even faster pace than the first act as it careens to a really engaging and captivating ending.
It’s the second act where this book suffers a little. It’s not much, mind you. It’s just the pacing that suffers from some stuttering and a little meandering that feels like it could’ve been tightened up a little.
The timeline on this book is non-linear as it switches between the present and back to Camille’s therapy sessions a few years prior to the events of the book. Normally this might feel like a manner of expositional dump and I’d deride it as such, but in this case it really mutually informs and is informed by the plot, so it fits perfectly without feeling plopped so Kent doesn’t have to explain things.
Kent apparently got the idea for this book after reading something about how 1 in 25 people are sociopaths, and that might be true, but it’s important to remember sociopathy is a spectrum of antisocial behaviors and disorders. Camille is a made sociopath, and that’s part of the reason why she resonated with me so much as a character and why this book works so well. Camille still remembers a time when she wasn’t a sociopath. There is an echo of those years in her, a memory of those days and what she wanted and what she went through. She remembers what it was like to want to be loved and seen. This book works because she doesn’t want that life for her kids and will do anything to protect them from it. She’s beyond a mama bear: she’s a mama bear without restraints.
The ending of this book is fantastic, with a great twist. I saw it coming but not until late in the book. I thought I had the whodunit called two other times before I finally called it correct. I always like when I can be surprised by a book these days. I enjoyed it a good deal.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Book Series/Kidnapping/Psychological Fiction/Psychological Thriller/Suspense Thriller/Women’s Fiction ...more
Sometimes I just don’t vibe with a book. I can see this book has appealed to a number of readers and has made its way onto a number of “best of” and “Sometimes I just don’t vibe with a book. I can see this book has appealed to a number of readers and has made its way onto a number of “best of” and “must-read” lists. I was looking forward to reading it until I was about 30% of the way through and found myself underwhelmed.
The pacing was slow. The writing was average. The story wasn’t forging a new path or tackling standard paths with new approaches. The characters were interesting but I didn’t find myself getting invested. The science involved and its implications isn’t shocking and is old news in literature.
It was just below average for me. It’s not something I would recommend to people and it’s going to be easy to forget.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Owing to the fact this review has a three star or lower rating it will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.
Is there a day in your childhood that sticks out in your mind like it happened only yesterday?
For the Finch sisters, it’s the day a boy in town showedIs there a day in your childhood that sticks out in your mind like it happened only yesterday?
For the Finch sisters, it’s the day a boy in town showed them an abandoned house that had a seemingly endless amount of doors and three specific keys, one for each sister. That day changed all three of them, leaving a sort of stain on their souls they were never able to cleanse or forget about. Then, one night, the youngest of the three sisters hangs herself inside the house, an event which opens up old emotional wounds and wakes up memories long since laid to rest. The darkness that claimed one sister permeates all three of them, and now it’s up to the two that remain to keep one another safe and find out what really happened to their little sister.
I felt the same way about Through the Midnight Door as I did about Monroe’s last book, Graveyard of Lost Children: Everything about this book is fantastic except for a single plot point that somehow is just sticking in my craw. Can I tell you what it is? No. That’d be a huge spoiler. All I can tell you is that when this plot point was revealed I felt like a rapidly deflated balloon. That’s how disappointed I was. It’s the kind of disappointment that makes me feel like an author didn’t have the gumption to take a subject or a point to a certain level, to really go for it and write something large. (To be clear, I’m not saying that was Monroe’s intention at all.)
Monroe has done a spectacular job at weaving characterization, worldbuilding, plot, and story in this book. To understand the characters of this book you have to understand the world they grew up in and currently live in, which is a post-2000 American Rust Belt. During the 2000’s, the Rust Belt saw a drop in employment of around 35%, which was over a million jobs. This drop was due to companies in the area not growing along with their rivals in industry and the amount of jobs that were being moved overseas. An unfettered and unchecked pharmaceutical industry was also far too willing to dole out prescription painkillers to white men and women, who sometimes became addicted and then also became dealers and users of other drugs.
Industry towns in the Rust Belt used to be ripe with Boomers working at the plants and sending their Gen X and Millenial kids to university in the large cities, but as the years went on it became harder and harder for parents to send their children anywhere or for children to leave. This is how the family circle of the Finches works and how it informs both the characters and the story. Dad works at a plant, but work has been getting scarcer over the years. Mom has always stayed at home. Their daughters had run kind of wild when they were smaller, but they were as happy as they could be when they knew their parents were struggling to make ends meet. But then there was the boy, and the abandoned house that was somehow creepier than all the other abandoned property around town, and then nothing was ever the same between the three of them.
Poverty, mental illness, child welfare, substance abuse, crime, suicide, strained relationships, secrets, family trauma, gun violence, small town gossip, personal demons, things you wish you could forget, and more are all themes that intertwined at the heart of this book. If you like a book that can bring all of that home tied in a bow, you’re going to like this book.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
If Katy Brent writes a third brilliant book I’m going to declare her an auto-buy author, because I loved this book almost as much as I did her 2023 reIf Katy Brent writes a third brilliant book I’m going to declare her an auto-buy author, because I loved this book almost as much as I did her 2023 release, How to Kill Men and Get Away With It. Though the two books are as different as night and day, they’re both flavored with Brent’s distinctive feminist prose and sharp, satirical sociocultural commentary.
This book is smart, thoughtful, emotionally provocative, and morbidly funny. Molly Monroe wakes up one morning after a work party with a strange man in her bed. She doesn’t remember much of anything from the night before. The guy’s name is Jack and he tells her he rescued her after he found her crying and wailing but not able to tell him why somewhere near his house in Vauxhall the night before. He brought her home in an Uber and just stayed with her because he was afraid she’d choke on her own vomit. She’s fully dressed. So is he. She feels fine, except she feels mostly dead from a hangover. He leaves her his number in case she needs to get in touch with him and she reluctantly goes into work, despite the strange looks and weird name-calling she gets from people on the way.
But that’s just the start of a few weeks of the weirdest and most heartbreaking weeks of her life.
The sociocultural commentary is hard and fierce in this book: social media and how it automatically focuses on fetishizing and shaming females who obviously are out of it when they are unknowingly filmed or papped, wives who automatically go after the other woman when they should go after their husbands first, best friends who scream at one another over their habits instead of just automatically helping, and mostly all of the men who dismiss and deride women whenever they have the chance of taking an out.
Katy Brent has more talent in her little finger for straddling that fine line between satire and mockery than most authors in the business. It would be easy for her to dip a toe fully into blaming men for everything, but Brent fully acknowledges that women can sometimes be just as awful. Internal misogyny is a beast and sometimes even the best of women can succumb when they’re weak.
It was brilliant, quick-witted, and sharp. Watch out for TW/CWs, please.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
This book is creepy as heck. This book is also freaking fantastic.
I had a bad experience with my last Malerman book, which was Daphne. I didn’t like This book is creepy as heck. This book is also freaking fantastic.
I had a bad experience with my last Malerman book, which was Daphne. I didn’t like it at all. I ended up DNF-ing it. I ended up wanting to read this one mostly because I couldn’t stop thinking about the cover. It’s a brilliant cover that evokes these feelings of childhood, innocence, being so small around large things, being defenseless against the dark, abandonment, and of feeling isolated. I just couldn’t get it out of my head: “What is that book about?”
Well, the cover does a good job of conveying a lot of what the book’s themes are, actually (so A+ to the cover designer!). I never had a closet growing up, so I don’t know what it’s like to fear the monster in the closet, but Malerman could’ve made the “monster in the closet” any number of things and gotten the message across because the monster is just a very large metaphor (for lack of a better word right now) for the culmination of just about everything that’s happened to everyone in this book. (If I went any further it’d be Spoiler City and I don’t want to live there).
When I tell you this book is fantastic, I’m telling you I think this is the best horror novel I’ve read so far this year, and that’s saying something because it’s really been a great year for horror already. Not only does it fall outside the traditional narrative structure, which sets it apart in a unique but not-annoying way, but it’s told from the POV of a child that comes across as genuinely lost, frightened, and never comes across as precocious. A lot of the horror in this novel felt like it was being generated directly from how sad and helpless this child felt. How cruel it all felt.
It’s set at a great pace, is unbelievably suspenseful and unpredictable, and honestly left me a bit shook. I can’t recommend it enough.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Ghost Fiction/Horror/Paranormal Horror/Suspense Thriller...more
Andrew Joseph White hits it out of the ballpark again, this time with an Appalachian suspense thriller that pulls no punches and absolutely doesn’t caAndrew Joseph White hits it out of the ballpark again, this time with an Appalachian suspense thriller that pulls no punches and absolutely doesn’t care what you think about that.
I’m here for it. I’m biased, of course, because when it comes to AJW I’ve always been here for it. I rejoiced when I heard he was writing yet another sure-to-be-banger, and then I read the magical buzz words: “queer Appalachian thriller”, “trans autistic teen”, and “generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them”. Why, it’s like you have seen directly into my brain and provided one of the types of books I’m absolutely going to want to read anytime I come across them.
Miles Abernathy has a lot of problems and not a lot of clues on how to solve them. He’s a closeted sixteen year-old trans boy in rural West Virginia with no friends. His parents are a mess, they’re always behind on the bills, and anyone who could actually do something to change things in their town has been traumatized or run out of town by their corrupt sheriff. Miles isn’t immune to the fear, but he doesn’t just want to sit by and do nothing. It’s too bad what happens to him when he tries to do something, though.
The sheriff wants Miles to keep quiet, just like everyone else in town. At first, that’s what Miles intends to do. Then Miles gains a partner of sorts, and all the circumstances start to change.
There’s something that needs to be said about books: Books are art. All art is political, therefore all books are political. This is especially true for Compound Fracture, and it was purposefully written that way. AJW acknowledges this and pushes for this book to be put in the hands of teens pushing for radical change. I’ll go further: I’d put this in the hands of anyone who is pushing for radical change. I’d put this in the hands of anyone who’s struggling to understand the insult-aggressions cycles surrounding the southern culture of honor. I’d put this in the hands of anyone who doesn’t understand the dangerous state of rural health care in America. I’d put this in the hands of anyone who doesn’t understand why people in states ravaged by conservative policies continue to vote conservative or live in those states. I’d put this in the hands of parents who are struggling to understand their transgender or autistic kids. Heck, I’d put it in the hands of an adult who’s struggling to understand what it means to self-diagnose yourself with autism as an adult. I’d love to put it in the hands of someone who gets socialism and communism confused all the time.
There is so much to be learned from books like this, where the author puts it all out there. Where their guts are out there for us to see.
I don’t think I need to point out that AJW’s writing is beyond fantastic. Even though his voice has been preserved throughout his three books, each one has a distinctive narrative and prose style. This book’s no different. Being trans and autistic himself, AJW’s narrative here comes across as so authentic, with that certain amount of removal that anyone who has a loved one with autism (or has autism and/or is neurodivergent) is probably familiar with. I can’t comment on what it’s like to be trans or come out as trans, but I have a nonbinary kid and a trans ex-husband and anything I felt as a bisexual myself was a sense of community and understanding. If that checks out for everyone else, then I’m happy.
This book is big vibes, big mood, huge atmosphere, large emotions, a whole lot of visceral reactions, a heap of fear, and a town’s worth of unabashed screaming in rage. I’ll read that any time.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley, the publishers, and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/Coming of Age/Disability Rep/Ghost Fiction/LGBTQ Fiction/Psychological Thriller/Standalone Novel/Suspense Mystery/Suspense Thriller/Vigilantes/YA Fiction/YA Mystery/YA Suspense/YA Thriller...more
This book opens with a bang, almost literally. To call Hunted fast-paced is doing it a disservice: This book is utterly furious in its pacing, relentlThis book opens with a bang, almost literally. To call Hunted fast-paced is doing it a disservice: This book is utterly furious in its pacing, relentless as time itself as it inexorably works for the antagonists in this book and against the protagonists.
The story engages you immediately, hooking you with a tension and terror-fueled scene that unfolds in a busy Los Angeles mall. After that the hits just keep on coming as we bounce from a female POC FBI agent who loves her work but faces discrimination at every turn, two parents of two different potential terrorists who are trying to get to their kids before the cops do, and one of those potential terrorists as he struggles with the ethics and morals of what he’s doing and where it’s all leading.
It’s eloquently written, with a lot of genuine emotion that’s sometimes lacking in thrillers. The plot is incredibly executed and the story is incredibly relevant to current times. There’s compassion here for everyone except the people who don’t deserve any of it: The actual terrorists.
It’s a terrific, compulsive, page-turning read.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley, the Novel Suspects Insider’s Club, and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Conspiracy Thriller/Crime Thriller/Political Thriller/Suspense Thriller ...more
I enjoyed this book for the entire first act, and then it just went downhill from there. By the end I was so relieved it wasReal Rating: 2.5 / 5 Stars
I enjoyed this book for the entire first act, and then it just went downhill from there. By the end I was so relieved it was finally over.
I know this is an unlikely and probably unpopular opinion, especially coming from me, considering how much I enjoy just about every book that throws punches at the patriarchy and advocates for feminine rage. The fact is: The first act of this book was impeccably written and had me looking forward to an intense thriller told from the POV of a narcissistic and unreliable narrator, and then the second and third acts were a hot mess when it comes to writing.
When I got to the beginning of the second act and realized we were switching from Cole’s POV to another POV altogether, I was wary, but willing to try. It didn’t take me too long to realize Hall had moved from what I was beginning to consider a fantastic, creepy, charismatic novel about a smarmy incel that might build and build in tension and violence to a disorganized format consisting of flashbacks, social media posts, blog posts, newspaper articles, newscast transcripts, an art installation information pamphlet, press releases, and present-day POV. In my opinion, this switch ruined the novel. There was no more thrill, no more suspense, and no more mystery. It was just chaos, and I no longer really cared.
The aims, messages, and goals of the story were good. I’m sure this book will be a hit with a lot of people and it will resonate with many. I just didn’t jive with it. I wanted a thriller, and this wasn’t one.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Political Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Suspense Thriller/Vigilante Justice ...more
Was there ever a time in your childhood when you just couldn't tell anyone what was wrong?
That’s Rose Barclay’s problem: She suffers from traumatic muWas there ever a time in your childhood when you just couldn't tell anyone what was wrong?
That’s Rose Barclay’s problem: She suffers from traumatic mutism after witnessing the death of her nanny. With her parents both angling for sole custody, the court appoints Rose a BIA (Best Interest Attorney) in order to make the best recommendations on her behalf. Stella Hudson became a BIA partly because at one time she suffered from traumatic mutism after finding her mother’s dead body. Rose is a little younger than Stella’s usual clients, but no other BIA is as uniquely qualified to represent her.
House of Glass is a really entertaining novel with a lot of page-turning fun. The front half of the book is really engaging and compelling, but the back half felt a little messy to me. It didn’t feel as suspenseful or as compelling. The pacing was also tidier in the front half than the back.
I enjoyed most of the characters. There were a few that came across as a little transparent in their motives, but that could possibly be due to it being close to the end of summer and it’s thriller season. Rose and Stella were especially fun to read, especially when they were in a scene together on their own. I also enjoyed Charles as a character, especially earlier in the book.
The story is a good one, but I felt like the ending could’ve been done better. I felt like the motive behind the murder was there but was still pretty murky when Pekkanen could’ve made it a clearer point. I also didn’t like the ultimate ending too much. Overall, this is an entertaining summer thriller with a lot of themes around stolen childhoods, grief, absent parents, surrogate parents, childhood advocacy, deceit, and the dissolution of marriage.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
The issue with giving books a 3.5 star rating is that people automatically assume that means you hated it or that it was a bReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
The issue with giving books a 3.5 star rating is that people automatically assume that means you hated it or that it was a bad book. That’s usually the case. For If Something Happens to Me, it simply means it was an alright thriller that I didn’t mind reading, will likely appeal to the average thriller reader not looking for something deeper or with more substance, but isn’t a title I’d go around recommending or putting on my own bookshelf.
ISHTM starts with a killer (ah, come on, let me have my fun) opening scene straight out of a slasher flick or scary story that ends with one of this novel’s main characters blacking out. It’s well-written, creepy, and immediately engages you. It’s a very nice piece of bait to lure you into a boiler-plate plot that’s been dressed up with a hodgepodge of other story elements: A boyfriend who was wrongly accused of his girlfriend’s death who ultimately had to leave town and change his name, a shadowy eight-fingered man, a young and plucky new female officer in town just as new evidence comes to light regarding this cold case, a good ol’ boy police force that may be keeping secrets, a mysterious FBI agent, and an organized crime syndicate with a bone to pick. It’s a puzzle, so, how does it all fit together?
Of course, there are the predictably-timed turns. There are some attempts at red herrings and misdirection, but I don’t think this book was plotted very well because they didn’t hit like I assume they were supposed to. The pacing was actually done very well, without much lagging or rushing. There were some attempts at social commentary that I felt were clumsy in nature and ultimately came across as trying too hard and that made the ending of this book feel more than a little cheesy.
At the end of the day this book was an okay read and I don’t regret spending my afternoon on it, but I can’t say I’d recommend you rush out and buy it. It’s not the worst time either.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
If you decided to try and pick Under the Palms up without reading Beneath the Surface first then you need to rethink that deReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
If you decided to try and pick Under the Palms up without reading Beneath the Surface first then you need to rethink that decision right away, because you’ll be totally lost trying to read this book without reading BtS first. That’s the first thing I need to say.
The second most important thing I need to say is: While I was happy to hear and see that The Kingsleys were getting another book (because why not have another book full of rich, unscrupulous people doing more unscrupulous things?) I was kind of disappointed with the story Kaira Rouda chose to tell.
Under the Palms takes place roughly a year, maybe two, after the events of Beneath the Surface, and company President Paige Kingsley has organized a company retreat at a luxury retreat in the hills. This corporate retreat is more than it seems, of course, because everyone at Kingsley is gunning to oust Paige as President and she’s pulling everyone together (including some surprise players) in order to stop this coup in its tracks.
I don’t mind that in a lot of ways it echoes the bones of the first book’s plot. In a way, that’s in line with how the characters in these books work, using each other’s tactics and weapons against them. What did bother me was how the female characters in this book ended up relying on males to get them out of their bad situations. I’m not a fan of female characters who are supposed to be strong willingly letting men lead them around and make decisions for them when they had previously spent pages declaring they’d never do that again.
So while it was a fun read, it didn’t do the Kingsleys justice. They deserved more depravity.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Book Series/Domestic Thriller/Murder Thriller/Psychological Fiction/Suspense Thriller ...more
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