Category: Mystery/Thriller

#BookReview The Strangers We Know by Pip Drysdale @SimonSchusterCA #TheStrangersWeKnow #PipDrysdale #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Strangers We Know by Pip Drysdale @SimonSchusterCA #TheStrangersWeKnow #PipDrysdale #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Strangers We Know

Author: Pip Drysdale

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Nov. 7, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Imagine seeing your loving husband pop up on your best friend’s dating app. Now imagine that’s the best thing that happens to you all week…

When Charlie sees a man who is the spitting image of her husband, Oliver, on a dating app, her heart stops. Her first desperate instinct is to tell herself she must be mistaken—after all, she only caught a glimpse from a distance as her friends laughingly swiped through the men on offer. But no matter how much she tries to push her fears aside, she can’t let it go. Because she took that photo. On their honeymoon.

When other signs of betrayal begin to surface, Charlie does the only thing she can think of to defend herself—she signs up for the app to catch Oliver in the act.

But Charlie soon discovers that infidelity is the least of her problems. Nothing is as it seems, and nobody is who she thinks they are…

Review:

Ominous, engrossing, and suspenseful!

The Strangers We Know is a captivating, sinister tale that takes you into the life of Charlie Buchanan, a young wife who, after finding her husband’s profile on a dating app and becoming increasingly sceptical of his recent unexplainable behaviour, suddenly finds herself on the run from the police when his body is discovered inside their home and it becomes abundantly clear that they believe she’s the murderer.

The writing is taut and brisk. The characters are resourceful, confused, and persistent. And the plot is an intricate, action-packed tale full of twists, turns, secrets, surprises, questionable personalities, duplicitous motivations, manipulative actions, parasitic relationships, violence, and ruthless murder.

Overall, The Strangers We Know is a fast-paced, tortuous, complex tale by Drysdale that does an exceptional job of reminding us that money and greed can easily sway perspective and are, in fact, often the root of all evil.

 

This novel is available in paperback now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Pip Drysdale

Pip Drysdale is a writer, musician and actor who grew up in Africa and Australia. At 20 she moved to New York to study acting, worked in indie films and off-off Broadway theatre, started writing songs and made four records. After graduating with a BA in English, Pip moved to London where she played shows across Europe and started writing books. Her debut novel, The Sunday Girl, was a bestseller and has been published in the United States, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Strangers We Know was also a bestseller and is being developed for television. The Paris Affair is her third book.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview The Intern by Michele Campbell @MCampbellBooks @StMartinsPress #TheInternNovel #MicheleCampbell #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Intern by Michele Campbell @MCampbellBooks @StMartinsPress #TheInternNovel #MicheleCampbell #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Intern

Author: Michele Campbell

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Oct. 3, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

A young Harvard law student falls under the spell of a charismatic judge in this timely and thrilling novel about class, ambition, family and murder.

Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case.

When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her?

As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?

Review:

Tense, twisty, and suspenseful!

The Intern is a well-executed, menacing tale that features Harvard law student Madison Rivera, who after acquiring the coveted internship with one of her idols and professors, Federal Judge Kathryn Conroy, begins to quickly uncover that people are not always quite as wholesome as they seem and often have a lot of dark secrets in their closets, secrets that others are more than happy to kill for in order to keep quiet.

The prose is brisk and tight. The characters are intelligent, resourceful, and scared. And the plot is a fast-paced, cat-and-mouse game full of twists, turns, action, intrigue, power, corruption, duplicity, manipulation, danger, terror, and murder.

Overall, The Intern is a sinister, edgy, action-packed page-turner by Campbell that I found to be intricate, satisfying, and undoubtedly highly entertaining.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Michele Campbell

Michele Campbell

A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, Michele Campbell worked at a prestigious Manhattan law firm before spending eight years fighting crime as a federal prosecutor in New York City.

Michele is the author of She Was the Quiet One and It's Always the Husband.

Photo Credit: Nina Subin

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#BookReview The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger @WmKentKrueger @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #WilliamKentKrueger #TheRiverWeRemember #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger @WmKentKrueger @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #WilliamKentKrueger #TheRiverWeRemember #SimonSchusterCA Title: The River We Remember

Author: William Kent Krueger

Published by: Atria Books on Sep. 5, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 421

Format: Hardcover

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land.

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life, The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.

Review:

Haunting, intimate, and impactful!

The River We Remember is a gritty, moving, character-driven tale that sweeps you away to Jewel, Minnesota, during 1958 and into the lives of a handful of people, including a sheriff with a tormented past, a wealthy murder victim who seems to have had sadistic tendencies, and a suspect who the people are more than happy to convict purely due to his Dakota Sioux blood and choice of a bride.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are vulnerable, scarred, and strong. And the plot is a raw, absorbing tale about life, loss, love, grief, strength, bravery, hope, survival, violence, injustice, racism, abuse, gossip, suicide, community, and fear.

Overall, The River We Remember makes you think, makes you feel, and ultimately resonates long after the final page. It’s a beautifully written, sobering, memorable story by Krueger that uses extraordinary character development to weave a combination of an impressive, intricate mystery with a heartbreaking, nostalgic tale, all steeped in an abundance of tragedy, discrimination, and pain.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About William Kent Krueger

William Kent Krueger is the New York Times bestselling author of The River We Remember, This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace (winner of the Edgar Award for best novel), and the original audio novella The Levee, as well as nineteen acclaimed books in the Cork O’Connor mystery series, including Lightning Strike and Fox Creek. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family.

Photo by Diane Krueger.

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#BookReview Nanny Wanted by Lizzy Barber @ByLizzyBarber @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #NannyWanted #LizzyBarber #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Nanny Wanted by Lizzy Barber @ByLizzyBarber @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #NannyWanted #LizzyBarber #PGCBooks Title: Nanny Wanted

Author: Lizzy Barber

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Oct. 31, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

A remote Cornish mansion. The perfect couple. And the deadly secrets that bind them.

When Lily finally leaves her toxic relationship, a job as a nanny at Kewney Manor seems like the perfect solution. There, she can cut herself off from her old life, and never have to see him again.

The Rowes seem like a model family, and Lily falls instantly in love with her new home. But she can’t help feeling that something isn’t quite right. Why will nobody tell her about the nanny before? Where does Laurie go at night? And what does Charles really want?

As Lily becomes increasingly entangled in the Rowes’ lives, she realizes that the perfect family may not be all that they seem. And as that as much as she fears the past she is running from, perhaps the present is where the real danger lies. . .

Review:

Simmering, gripping, and claustrophobic!

Nanny Wanted is an ominous, character-driven thriller that introduces us to Lily, a young woman who, after fleeing London for a quieter existence and a place to hide, quickly discovers that everything is not as perfect as it seems in the affluent home of the Rowes family she’s employed by, relationships seem to be strained, everyone has a secret to hide, and danger potentially lurks around every corner.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are anxious, flawed, and vulnerable. And the plot is a darkly menacing tale full of twists, turns, revelations, insecurities, lies, manipulation, isolation, domestic abuse, familial dysfunction, and troubled pasts.

Overall, Nanny Wanted is a taut, atmospheric, unnerving tale by Barber that is deliciously relentless, surprising, deceptive, and bursting with eeriness.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lizzy Barber

Lizzy Barber studied English at Corpus Christ College, Cambridge University. After 'previous lives' acting and working in film development, she has spent the last ten years as Head of Brand and Marketing for The Hush Collection, a boutique group of restaurants founded by her brother, Jamie.

Her debut novel, MY NAME IS ANNA, is the winner of the Daily Mail First Novel Competition, and was published in 2019 in the UK by Penguin Random House, by Mira/Harper Collins in the US and by Albatros in Slovakia.

OUT OF HER DEPTH was published in 2022 by Pan Macmillan in the UK and Harper Collins in the US and was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick. The TV rights have been optioned by Sony.

Her third novel, GIRLS LIKE THAT, will be published in 2023 by Pan Macmillan.

Lizzy lives in London with her husband, George, a food writer and strategy consultant, and their son, Marlowe.

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#BookReview People to Follow by Olivia Worley @olivia_worley @WednesdayBooks @StMartinsPress #OliviaWorley #PeopletoFollow #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview People to Follow by Olivia Worley @olivia_worley @WednesdayBooks @StMartinsPress #OliviaWorley #PeopletoFollow #SMPInfluencers Title: People to Follow

Author: Olivia Worley

Published by: Wednesday Books on Oct. 31, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Young Adult

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Ten teen influencers come to a remote island to star in a reality show, but when one of them winds up dead, they realize that this time, the price of being “cancelled” could be their lives.

A reality show on a remote Caribbean island. Ten teen influencers. One dead body.

Welcome to “In Real Life,” the hot new reality show that forces social media’s reigning kings and queens to unplug for three weeks and “go live” without any filters. IRL is supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime, watched closely by legions of loyal followers. But for these rising stars–including Elody, an Instagram model with an impulsive streak; Kira, a child star turned fitness influencer; Logan, a disgraced TikTok celeb with a secret; and Max, a YouTuber famous for exposés on his fellow creators—it’s about to turn into a nightmare.

When the production crew fails to show up and one of their own meets a violent end, these nine little influencers find themselves stranded with a dead body and no way to reach the outside world. When they start receiving messages from a mysterious Sponsor threatening to expose their darkest secrets, they realize that they’ve been lured into a deadly game…and one of them might be pulling the strings.

With the body count rising and cameras tracking their every move, the creators must figure out who is trying to get them canceled—like, literally—before their #1 follower strikes again.

Review:

Intense, tight, and sinister!

People to Follow is a crafty, ominous tale that sweeps you away to a secluded island where ten teen influencers have gathered to film the latest reality TV show, “In Real Life”, but in a group like this, where tensions are high, fame is coveted, deception is rife, everyone has secrets, and someone has a hidden agenda, death is definitely not out of the question.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are self-obsessed, ambitious, and secretive. And the plot is a suspenseful mix of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, obsession, greed, jealousy, malicious intentions, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, People to Follow is a cunning, edgy, promising debut by Worley that is an eerie reminder of just how corrosive social media can truly be and just how low some people are willing to go to achieve even just a little fame and fortune.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Wednesday Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Olivia Worley

Olivia Worley is an author and actor born and raised in New Orleans. A graduate of Northwestern University, she now lives in New York City, where she spends her time writing thrillers, overanalyzing episodes of The Bachelor, and hoping someone will romanticize her for reading on the subway. People to Follow is her debut novel.

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#BookReview Deadlock by James Byrne @JByrnemystery @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #JamesByrne #Deadlock #DezLimerick

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#BookReview Deadlock by James Byrne @JByrnemystery @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #JamesByrne #Deadlock #DezLimerick Title: Deadlock

Author: James Byrne

Series: Dez Limerick #2

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this sequel to the highly praised The Gatekeeper, Dez Limerick, one of the best new thriller heroes returns.

Desmond Aloysius Limerick (“Dez” to his friends and close personal enemies) is a man with a shadowy past, certain useful hard-won skills, and, if one digs deep enough, a reputation as a good man to have at your back. Now retired from his previous life, Dez is just a bloke with a winning smile, a bass guitar, and bullet wounds that paint a road map of past lives.

Jaleh Swann, a business journalist hot on the trail of an auditor who was mugged and killed, lands in the hospital just one day after her Portland apartment is ransacked. When Jaleh’s sister, Raziah, reaches out to an old friend for help, Dez has no choice but to answer. The Swann sisters have been pulled into a dizzying web of cover-ups and danger. At the center lies an insidious Oregon-based tech corporation, Clockjack, which has enough money and hired guns to silence just about anyone—including this rag-tag trio. Luckily, Dez’s speciality is not just to open doors, but keep them open—and protect those working to expose Clockjack’s secrets.

More stands in the way of the truth than just one corporation. When hired thugs come to the finish the job and attack the Swann sisters at the hospital, Dez does what he does best. Now, the two captured men (and the corpse Dez left behind) attract the attention of not just Clockjack, but of the Portland police, the D.E.A, and the U.S. Marshalls. Dez and the Swann sisters are on the run from powers beyond their control and means. Outnumbered, under resourced and outgunned, Dez must use all his skills to keep his friends safe and stand up to corporate conniving. After all, the one thing Clockjack didn’t count on? A good man with a simple job to do.

Review:

Action-packed, ominous, and intricate!

In this compelling second instalment in the Dez Limerick series, Deadlock, Byrne has written an adrenaline-pumping thriller that sees the arrogant, part-time musician and talented ex-mercenary Desmond Aloysius Limerick back doing what he does best when fellow musician Raziah Swann phones him for a little help when it seems that her sister has become the target of some people who would not only prefer her journalistic investigation into the successful Oregon company Clockjack Solutions to come to an end quickly, but who are more than happy to leave bodies behind in order to make that happen.

The writing is descriptive and tight. The characters are astute, tenacious, and confident. And the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat with its short, zippy, intense chapters that submerge you, page after page, into a world full of danger, deception, secrets, corruption, lies, arrogance, violence, and murder.

Overall, Deadlock is a meticulously woven, sinister, highly entertaining mystery with a good sense of urgency, great characterization, and a brisk pace that’s a fabulous addition to the Dez Limerick series and a novel that really shouldn’t be missed.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About James Byrne

JAMES BYRNE is the pseudonym for an author who has worked for more than twenty years as a journalist and in politics. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

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#BookReview Stop Them Dead by Peter James @peterjamesuk @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #PeterJames #StopThemDead #RoyGrace #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Stop Them Dead by Peter James @peterjamesuk @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #PeterJames #StopThemDead #RoyGrace #PGCBooks Title: Stop Them Dead

Author: Peter James

Series: Roy Grace #19

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Oct. 10, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 448

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace’s emotions are pushed to the limit in the nineteenth series installment of Peter James’ bestselling and award-winning series.

Now a major TV drama on Britbox, Grace stars John Simm as the titular character.

When a young farmer confronts intruders in the middle of the night he has no idea that just minutes later he will be left dying in a pool of blood. What’s more chilling is what the perpetrators were willing to kill for.

At the scene of the crime, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace soon realizes this is no isolated robbery gone wrong but the tip of the iceberg of a nationwide crime wave, in which ruthless organized gangs are making more money from the illegal trade in dogs than drugs. A trade which pits him against some ruthless people who will kill anyone who gets in their way, because where there is greed, there is murder.

In Stop Them Dead, a dead body, a missing woman, and the discovery of an illegal puppy farm converge to give Roy Grace one of the most challenging and emotional cases to solve yet.

Review:

Engrossing, intricate, and perfectly paced!

Stop Them Dead is an eerie, sinuous thrill ride that takes us back to Sussex, England, where Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and his team now find themselves tangled up in a murder investigation that, at first glance, seems to be the senseless murder of a local farmer turned breeder, but as the case unfolds and information starts to trickle in it quickly becomes apparent that something a lot more complex, sinister, and lucrative is definitely underway.

The writing is insightful and clever. The characters are multifaceted, ruthless, and elusive. And the plot is an ominous, compelling mix of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, deduction, mayhem, manipulation, malicious intentions, illegal trafficking, violence, and murder.

Overall, Stop Them Dead is a highly entertaining, disturbing, edgy thriller by James that once again highlights his exceptional ability to write police procedurals that have well-drawn characters and timely storylines. It is the nineteenth novel in the Roy Grace series and definitely one of my new all-time favourites.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

           

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Peter James

Peter James is the international bestselling author of many award-winning novels. His Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, set in Brighton, has been translated into thirty-seven languages with worldwide sales of over eighteen million copies, and has given him eleven consecutive Sunday Times number ones. In 2015 WHSmith customers publicly voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he became the recipient of the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. Peter has also written a short story collection, A Twist of the Knife, and his standalone titles include Perfect People and The House on Cold Hill. He has also co-written a non-fiction account of Brighton’s toughest cases with former detective Graham Bartlett entitled Death Comes Knocking. The Perfect Murder, Dead Simple and Not Dead Enough have all been turned into smash-hit stage plays. All his novels reflect his deep interest in the world of the police. Three of his novels have been filmed and before becoming a full-time author he produced numerous films, including The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. He divides his time between his homes in Notting Hill, London and near Brighton in Sussex.

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#BookReview The Wild Coast by Lin Anderson @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RhonaMacLeod #LinAnderson #TheWildCoast #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Wild Coast by Lin Anderson @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RhonaMacLeod #LinAnderson #TheWildCoast #PGCBooks Title: The Wild Coast

Author: Lin Anderson

Series: Rhona MacLeod #17

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Oct. 10, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 480

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

A remote shoreline. A lethal killer. As lone visitors disappear from the rural northwest of Scotland, campsites become crime scenes in the seventeenth Rhona MacLeod thriller from Lin Anderson.

When forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is brought in to analyze a shallow grave on Scotland’s west coast, she is disturbed by a bundle of twigs crafted into a stickman and left in the victim’s mouth.

Then, when a young woman is reported missing from a nearby campsite with another sinister figurine left in her van, it seems that someone is targeting wild campers. An idyllic coastline known for providing peace and serenity, now the area is a hunting ground.

As her investigation proceeds, Rhona is forced to reconsider her closest bonds. Rumours of sexual assault offences by serving police officers are circling in Glasgow, which may include her trusted colleague DS Michael McNab. Could it be true, or is someone looking to put him out of action?

All the while a young woman’s life is on the line and the clock is ticking.

Review:

Chilling, dark, and skillfully crafted!

In this seventeenth instalment in the Rhona MacLeod series, The Wild Coast, Anderson has written a gritty police procedural that sees forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod and her team tangled up in an inquiry that seems at first glance to be an isolated, missing person case, but which quickly unfolds into something a lot more sinister involving at least one killer with a penchant for confinement, torture, and murder and a strange fascination with figures made of sticks.

The writing is seamless and tight. The characters are multilayered, diligent, and persistent. And the plot is an engrossing, suspenseful tale full of twists, turns, secrets, lies, deception, familial drama, emotional entanglements, depravity, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, The Wild Coast is another thrilling, addictive, propulsive addition to a series that, with its flawed characters, great pace, and constant sense of urgency, is still one of my all-time favourites.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

           

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lin Anderson

Lin Anderson is a Scottish author and screenwriter known for her bestselling crime series featuring forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod. Four of her novels have been longlisted for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year, with Follow the Dead being a 2018 finalist. Her short film River Child won both a Scottish BAFTA for Best Fiction and the Celtic Film Festival’s Best Drama award and has now been viewed more than one million times on YouTube. Lin is also the co-founder of the international crime writing festival Bloody Scotland, which takes place annually in Stirling.

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#BookReview What We Kept to Ourselves by Nancy Jooyoun Kim @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #NancyJooyounKim #WhatWeKeptToOurselves #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview What We Kept to Ourselves by Nancy Jooyoun Kim @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #NancyJooyounKim #WhatWeKeptToOurselves #SimonSchusterCA Title: What We kept to Ourselves

Author: Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Published by: Atria Books on Oct. 10, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

The New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Last Story of Mina Lee returns with a timely and surprising new novel about a family’s search for answers following the disappearance of their mother.

1999: The Kim family is struggling to move on after their mother, Sunny, vanished a year ago. Sixty-one-year-old John Kim feels more isolated from his grown children, Anastasia and Ronald, than ever before. But one evening, their fragile lives are further upended when John finds the body of a stranger in the backyard, carrying a letter to Sunny, leaving the family with more questions than ever about the stranger’s history and possible connections to their mother.

1977: Sunny is pregnant and has just moved to Los Angeles from Korea with her aloof and often-absent husband. America is not turning out the way she had dreamed it to be, and the loneliness and isolation are broken only by a fateful encounter at a bus stop. The unexpected connection spans the decades and echoes into the family’s lives in the present as they uncover devastating secrets that put not only everything they thought they knew about their mother but their very lives at risk.

Both a riveting page-turner and moving family story, What We Kept to Ourselves masterfully explores the consequences of secrets between parents and children, hus­bands and wives. It is the story of one unforgettable family’s search for home when all seems lost, and a powerful meditation on identity, migration, and what it means to dream in America.

Review:

Simmering, dramatic, and sensitive!

What We Kept to Ourselves is a tender, compelling tale that sweeps you away to Los Angeles between the 1970s and 1999 and into the lives of the Korean-American Kim family as they grapple with the disappearance of the matriarch one year ago, the sudden discovery of a dead man in their backyard in possession of a letter addressed to their missing mother, and all the wounds, secrets, tears, and hurt that seem to have swirled around them forever.

The prose is fluid and smooth. The characters are bitter, troubled, and flawed. And the plot, using flashbacks and a back-and-forth style, is a captivating tale about life, loss, heartache, guilt, love, secrets, revelations, acceptance, familial drama, friendship, hope, racism, misogyny, corruption, forgiveness, introspection, and generational trauma, all interlaced with a sliver of mystery. 

Overall, What We Kept to Ourselves is a heartfelt, multilayered, timely tale by Nancy Jooyoun Kim that reminds us that families are complicated and messy, the choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and secrets often find their way to the surface no matter how well they’re buried.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Nancy Jooyoun Kim is the New York Times bestselling author of What We Kept to Ourselves and The Last Story of Mina Lee, a Reese’s Book Club pick. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Photograph by Andria Lo.

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#BookReview One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley @EmilyMCritchley @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #OnePuzzlingAfternoon #EmilyCritchley #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley @EmilyMCritchley @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #OnePuzzlingAfternoon #EmilyCritchley #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: One Puzzling Afternoon

Author: Emily Critchley

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Oct. 3, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 350

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 10/10

A mystery she can’t remember. A friend she can’t forget.

I kept your secret Lucy. I’ve kept it for more than sixty years . . .

It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother – who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community – she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.

When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .

Then Lucy goes missing.

2018. Edie is eighty-four and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There’s a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago . . .

Review:

Absorbing, mysterious, and heartfelt!

One Puzzling Afternoon is a heartwarming, captivating tale that takes you into the life of Edie Green, an eighty-two-year-old woman who, although struggling with a mind that is quickly losing the present while scattering the past, is determined to do whatever she can to piece those memories together before they’re gone for good to find her beloved friend whom she glimpsed only the other day but who actually hasn’t been seen since she disappeared almost seventy years ago.

The prose is evocative and warm. The characters are troubled, genuine, and endearing. And the plot, told in a past/present style, is a delightfully affecting tale about life, love, loss, family, friendship, deception, tragedy, community, dementia, and secrets.

Overall, One Puzzling Afternoon is a compelling, tender, lovely tale by Critchley that I absolutely adored and which did a beautiful job of reminding us that sharing, capturing, and remembering all those special moments in time, good or bad, is truly what life is all about.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Emily Critchley

Emily Critchley grew up in Essex and has lived in Brighton and London, where she worked in one of London’s biggest bookshops. She has an MA with in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. She lives in Hertfordshire.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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