#BookReview Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #GoneTonightNovel #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #GoneTonightNovel #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Gone Tonight

Author: Sarah Pekkanen

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 1, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother’s past or background. But when Ruth’s desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth’s carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.


Review:

Ominous, tense, and clever!

Gone Tonight is a sharp, compulsive, psychological thriller that delves into all the deep, dark secrets people keep even from those closest to them and highlights just how easily people can be emotionally manipulated, controlled, and exploited by those they love.

The writing is crisp and edgy. The characters are distressed, unreliable, and vulnerable. And the plot, told by alternating perspectives, unfolds subtly into a murky tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, lies, secrets, manipulation, love, dysfunction, wickedness, deception, mental illness, and murder.

Overall, Gone Tonight is a crafty, sinister, engaging tale by Pekkanen that kept me engaged from start to finish and was a fantastic reminder of all the complex bonds and emotional ties that bind mothers and daughters.

 

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 Sarah Pekkanen

SARAH PEKKANEN is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of four novels of suspense including The Golden Couple and The Wife Between Us, and the solo author of the thriller Gone Tonight. A passionate volunteer for rescue animals, she serves as an Ambassador for RRSA India and works hands-on in India to heal and vaccinate street dogs. She lives just outside of Washington, D.C., with her family.

Photo Credit: Kristina Sherk

#BookReview The Block Party by Jamie Day @StMartinsPress #JamieDay #TheBlockPartyNovel #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Block Party by Jamie Day @StMartinsPress #JamieDay #TheBlockPartyNovel #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Block Party

Author: Jamie Day

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 18, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

This summer, meet your neighbors.

The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other.

On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder.

But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold—discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems.


Review:

Suspenseful, relentless, and tight!

The Block Party is a tempestuous, edgy domestic thriller that takes us to the affluent Alton Road, where financial woes are hidden, drama is high, marriages are in trouble, lives are messily intertwined, and by the end of this year’s annual Memorial Day party at least one resident won’t be alive.

The prose is brisk and sharp. The characters are self-absorbed, deceptive, and intrusive. And the plot, using a present/past style, is a juicy tale filled with secrets, deception, scandal, tragedy, infidelity, suspicions, revelations, mayhem, fractured relationships, inappropriate behaviours, substance abuse, jealousy, and murder.

Overall, The Block Party is a dark, twisty, compelling page-turner by Day that delves into the intricate and dynamic bonds that can exist between residents of tight-knit communities and has just the right amount of pace, mood, atmosphere, and surprises to keep you guessing until the very last page.

 

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 Jamie Day

Jamie Day lives in one of those picture-perfect, coastal New England towns you see in the movies. And just like the movies, Jamie has two children and an adorable dog to fawn over. When not writing or reading, Jamie enjoys yoga, the ocean, cooking, and long walks on the beach with the dog, or the kids, or sometimes both.

#BookReview The Trade Off by Sandie Jones @realsandiejones @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #SandieJones #TheTradeOffBook #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Trade Off by Sandie Jones @realsandiejones @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #SandieJones #TheTradeOffBook #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: The Trade Off

Author: Sandie Jones

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 15, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 7.5/10

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick The Other Woman comes The Trade Off, an electrifying new novel of suspense that begs the Would you tell a story, if you knew it was a lie? Or tell the truth and sleep at night?

For Stella, deputy editor of The Globe, the choice has always been clear. It doesn’t matter how low she has to stoop―getting the best story is what she’s built her reputation on.

For Jess, The Globe ’s rookie reporter, the story stops when the truth does. But she knows that the dirty tricks of the tabloids will be hard to overturn.

And when a celebrity is hounded by The Globe and pays the ultimate price, Jess wonders just how much Stella and the paper are responsible.

Determined to show the world what the tabloid is capable of, Jess will do whatever it takes to uncover the truth, but she needs to watch her back, because someone else is prepared to kill to bury it.

RISK or REWARD. JUSTICE or REVENGE. INNOCENCE or GUILT.


Review:

Intricate, crafty, and suspenseful!

The Trade Off is an engrossing, ominous tale that transports you into the lives of two main characters, Stella, the deputy editor of The Globe who will do whatever it takes to get the story, and Jess, the new rookie reporter who believes that the only story that should be printed is the truth, especially when that story can lead to devastating consequences.

The prose is tight and tense. The characters are secretive, ruthless, and driven. And the plot unravels quickly into a gripping tale full of twists, turns, lies, deception, power, abuse, corruption, greed, indulgence, revelations, ambition, and violence.

Overall, The Trade Off is a sinister, entertaining, intense thriller by Jones that explores the ethical and moral fine line between right and wrong. And even though it isn’t my favourite novel by this author, it does do a wonderful job of combining the morally questionable, somewhat sleazy atmosphere of tabloid journalism with unsavoury characters, poor choices, and eerie motivations.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Sandie Jones

SANDIE JONES has worked as a freelance journalist for more than twenty years and has written for publications including The Sunday Times, Woman’s Weekly, and Hello magazine. She lives in Lon-don with her husband and three children. She is the author of The Other Woman, a Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine pick, as well as The First Mistake and The Half Sister. The Guilt Trip is her fourth novel.

Photo by Harriet Buckingham.

#BookReview Dark Corners by Megan Goldin @megangoldin @StMartinsPress #DarkCornersBook #MeganGoldin #RachelKrall #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Dark Corners by Megan Goldin @megangoldin @StMartinsPress #DarkCornersBook #MeganGoldin #RachelKrall #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Dark Corners

Author: Megan Goldin

Series: Rachel Krall #2

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed The Night Swim, returns to search for a popular influencer who disappears after visiting a suspected serial killer.

Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his release date approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? And why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel Krall’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems to only exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.

When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail—identical to a tattoo Rachel had seen on Bailey’s hand—the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krall herself. Suddenly the target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.


Review:

Dark, ominous, and unnerving!

Dark Corners is an intense, well-crafted tale that takes us back into the life of podcaster Rachel Krall as she heads to Florida to help the FBI with a case involving a missing influencer with ties to a convicted killer that will see her using her talents to infiltrate BuzzCon, a cutthroat convention of influencers, where everyone is willing to do anything they have to in order to be the next big thing.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are sly, self-obsessed, and competitive. And the plot is an intricate, gripping tall full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, obsession, greed, jealousy, gossip-mongering, red herrings, malicious intentions, and murder.

Overall, Dark Corners is an unpredictable, eerie, entertaining tale by Goldin that didn’t have as much of that podcast feel as the first novel in the series, The Night Swim, but was nevertheless still an intricate, creepy, fantastic thrill ride.

 

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 for gifting me a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Megan Goldin

MEGAN GOLDIN worked as a correspondent for Reuters and other media outlets where she covered war, peace, international terrorism and financial meltdowns in the Middle East and Asia. She is now based in Melbourne, Australia where she raises three sons and is a foster mum to Labrador puppies learning to be guide dogs. THE ESCAPE ROOM was her debut novel.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview The Playground by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #ThePlayground #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks

#BookReview The Playground by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #ThePlayground #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks Title: The Playground

Author: Michelle Frances

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Aug. 15, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Looking to escape her old life, Nancy and her ten-year-old daughter Lara move to Ripton. A quiet, picturesque village in the rolling Derbyshire countryside, it seems like the perfect place to settle down.

But when Nancy reaches the school gates, she learns that beneath the quaint village atmosphere is a minefield. And after her daughter clashes with her school friends, Nancy quickly finds herself outside the whispering circle of parents.

As much as Nancy finds the playground politics absurd, they soon become impossible to ignore when Lara is accused of hurting another girl.

Desperate to clear Lara’s name, Nancy is about to learn just what lengths a parent will go to for their child . . .


Review:

Fast-paced, twisty, and captivating!

The Playground is a brisk, suspenseful thriller that introduces us to Nancy, a young mother who, after losing her husband in a tragic accident, decides to move to the Derbyshire countryside in hopes of a fresh start. But when her ten-year-old daughter is accused of trying to drown her popular classmate and the bullying and toxicity seems to just keep escalating from there, it quickly becomes apparent that life is going to be anything other than safe and peaceful in this village where everyone knows everyone and loyalties are long set.

The prose is sharp and crisp. The characters are manipulative, vulnerable, and cunning. And the plot is a menacing tale full of danger, deception, adultery, jealousy, gossip, obsession, negligence, and small-town drama.

Overall, The Playground is a cleverly plotted, eerie, intricate page-turner by Frances that had just enough twists, turns, and surprises to keep me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

 

This novel 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 Michelle Frances

Michelle Frances graduated from Bournemouth Film School and then from the Masters programme at the American Film Institute, Los Angeles. Returning to London, she has worked for several years in film and TV as a script editor and producer for both the independent sector and the BBC.

Her first novel, The Girlfriend, became an international best seller.

#BookReview Ritual of Fire by D. V. Bishop @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RitualofFire #DVBishop #CesareAldoSeries #PGCBooks

#BookReview Ritual of Fire by D. V. Bishop @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RitualofFire #DVBishop #CesareAldoSeries #PGCBooks Title: Ritual of Fire

Author: D. V. Bishop

Series: Cesare Aldo #3

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Aug. 14, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

Florence. Summer, 1538.

A night patrol finds a rich merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main piazza. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier on this date, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way in the same place. Does this new killing mean Savonarola’s vengeful spirit has risen again?

Or are his fanatical disciples plotting to revive the monk’s regime of holy terror? Cesare Aldo has his suspicions but is hunting thieves and fugitives in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the ritual killing. When another important merchant is slain even more publicly than the first, those rich enough to escape the summer heat are fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous places.

Soon growing religious fervor combines with a scorching heatwave to drive the city ever closer to madness, while someone is stalking powerful men that forged lifelong alliances during the dark days of Savonarola and his brutal followers. Unless Aldo and Strocchi can work together to stop the killer, Florence could become a bonfire of the vanities once more . . .


Review:

Dark, alluring, and suspenseful!

Ritual of Fire, the third novel in the Cesare Aldo series, takes us back to Renaissance Florence in the summer of 1538, where Cesare Aldo and Constable Stocchi find themselves having to finally confront the rift that’s been straining their relationship in order to work to together to catch a ruthless killer who seems to have a very specific target list and a penchant for reenacting a ritualistic killing from the past.

The prose is descriptive and tight. The characters are driven, fearless, and conscientious. And the plot is a complex, absorbing tale full of danger, deception, corruption, politics, religion, friendship, savagery, terror, and murder.

Overall, Ritual of Fire is an addictive, engrossing, thrilling addition to what has become a must-read series for me with its flawed characters, rich historical setting, and action-packed, gritty storylines.

This novel 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 D. V. Bishop

D. V. Bishop is the author of the Cesare Aldo mysteries set in Renaissance Florence, and published by Pan Macmillan.

An award-winning screenwriter and TV dramatist, his love for the city of Florence and the Renaissance period meant there could only be one setting for his crime-fiction debut.

City of Vengeance won the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland crime fiction festival in 2018, and D. V. Bishop was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship by the Scottish Book Trust while writing the novel.

He is currently finishing the second novel in the Cesare Aldo mysteries.

Photo by Paul Reich.

#BookReview Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker @lucindariley @HarryTwittaker @PGCBooks #AtlasTheStoryofPaSalt #LucindaRiley #HarryWhittaker #TheSevenSistersSeries #PGCBooks

#BookReview Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker @lucindariley @HarryTwittaker @PGCBooks #AtlasTheStoryofPaSalt #LucindaRiley #HarryWhittaker #TheSevenSistersSeries #PGCBooks Title: Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

Author: Lucinda Riley, Harry Whittaker

Series: The Seven Sisters #8

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 11, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 784

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Spanning a lifetime of love and loss, crossing borders and oceans, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt, co-authored by her son Harry Whittaker, draws Lucinda Riley’s saga to its stunning, unforgettable conclusion.

1928, Paris. A boy is found, moments from death, and taken in by a kindly family. Gentle, precocious, talented, he flourishes in his new home, and the family show him a life he hadn’t dreamed possible. But he refuses to speak a word about who he really is.

As he grows into a young man, falling in love and taking classes at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris, he can almost forget the terrors of his past, or the promise he has vowed to keep. But across Europe an evil is rising, and no-one’s safety is certain. In his heart, he knows the time will come when he must flee once more.

2008, the Aegean. The seven sisters are gathered together for the first time, on board the Titan, to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly.

To the surprise of everyone, it is the missing sister who Pa Salt has chosen to entrust with the clue to their pasts. But for every truth revealed, another question emerges. The sisters must confront the idea that their adored father was someone they barely knew. And even more shockingly: that these long-buried secrets may still have consequences for them today.

In this epic conclusion to the Seven Sisters series, everything will be revealed.


Review:

Fascinating, heartfelt, and absorbing!

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is the eighth instalment in The Seven Sisters series, set from 1928 to 2008, that sweeps you away into the life of Pa Salt, the loving father of seven girls who, after gathering together for the first time in a long time to celebrate his life, finally have the opportunity with the journal he left behind to unravel the secrets of his past and discover how they all came together to become one big family.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are considerate, caring, and troubled. And the plot is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching tale of life, loss, familial drama, self-discovery, grief, friendship, forgiveness, unconditional love, courage, hope, selflessness, revenge, and survival.

Overall, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is the brilliant conclusion to an extraordinary saga that is a testament to the amazing storytelling abilities of the late Lucinda Riley, as well as what must have been an incredibly difficult yet unbelievable literary achievement by her son Harry Whittaker. It is hard to believe that this fascinating, mysterious, exceptionally absorbing series has come to an end, but what a way to end. It doesn’t get much better than this. And even though it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to these characters I’ve come to know and love over these past eight books, it’s been a true pleasure and sheer delight to have been able to immerse myself in the histories, lives, loves and losses of them all.

 

 

This novel 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 Harry Whittaker

Harry Whittaker grew up in the 1990s and spent the first few years of his life on the rural west coast of Ireland. The son of the author Lucinda Riley, Harry became a storyteller himself, as an award-winning radio presenter for the BBC and a member of one of the UK’s most renowned improv troupes. In 2019, Harry and Lucinda co-authored the Guardian Angels series for children – four reassuring, timeless stories addressing worries that a small child may have.

After Lucinda’s death in 2021, it was announced that Harry would complete the Seven Sisters series on behalf of his late mother. Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt publishes globally in May 2023.

Harry lives in Yorkshire, England.

About Lucinda Riley

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland and, after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four.

Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold thirty million copies worldwide. She is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestseller.Lucinda's Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is inspired by the mythology of the famous star cluster, has become a global phenomenon. The series is a number one bestseller across the world and is currently in development with a major TV production company.

Though she brought up her four children mostly in Norfolk in England, in 2015 Lucinda fulfilled her dream of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home, and indeed this was where her last five books were written. Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died in June 2021

#BookReview None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell @lisajewelluk @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #LisaJewell #NoneofThisIsTrue #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell @lisajewelluk @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #LisaJewell #NoneofThisIsTrue #SimonSchusterCA Title: None of This Is True

Author: Lisa Jewell

Published by: Atria Books on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?


Review:

Multilayered, tense, and guileful!

None of This Is True is a meticulous, compelling thriller that takes us into the life of Alix Summers, a successful podcaster who finds her life turned upside down when on her forty-fifty birthday she bumps into a seemingly unremarkable woman also celebrating the same birthday whom she decides to feature in her next series. But Josie isn’t as ordinary as she first appears, and underneath all the subterfuge and denim lies some deep, dark secrets that once they come to light will expose a history of unimaginable terror and violence that will ultimately shatter Alix’s comfortable family life forever.

The prose is intricate and raw. The characters are secretive, manipulative, and consumed. And the plot using a mix of narration, scripts, and interviews, intertwines and unravels seamlessly into a creepy tale about life, loss, family, manipulation, obsession, abuse, deception, jealousy, mind games, violence, and murder.

Every year I’m always excited to read the latest Lisa Jewell release, and this year I have to say I think it might be one of her best. None of This Is True is one of the most spine-chilling, tragic, menacing tales I’ve read, and is without a doubt one of my new all-time faves.

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 Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell is the internationally bestselling author of sixteen novels, including the New York Times bestseller Then She Was Gone, as well as I Found You, The Girls in the Garden, and The House We Grew Up In. In total, her novels have sold more than two million copies across the English-speaking world and her work has also been translated into sixteen languages so far. Lisa lives in London with her husband and their two daughters.

Photograph by Andrew Whitton.

#BookReview Dead and Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #JoannaSchaffhausen #DeadandGoneBook #DetectiveAnnalisaVega #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Dead and Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #JoannaSchaffhausen #DeadandGoneBook #DetectiveAnnalisaVega #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: Dead and Gone

Author: Joanna Schaffhausen

Series: Detective Annalisa Vega #3

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 10/10

The next installment of Joanna Schaffhausen’s critically acclaimed Detective Annalisa Vega series.

For Chicago police detective Annalisa Vega, Sam Tran’s death presents an ominous puzzle. The ex-cop turned PI is found hanging from a cemetery tree with a message across his chest that suggests someone holds a murderous grudge against the police. Annalisa suspects the real answer lies in one of Tran’s open cases. She believes he stumbled on a dark secret during his investigations and someone killed him to keep him quiet. Her own family harbors plenty of secrets, something Annalisa is reminded of when her brother turns out to be one of Sam’s last clients.

Vinny Vega hired Tran to find a dangerous stalker on his daughter’s college campus. Now Sam is dead and the stalker remains at large, with Annalisa’s niece Quinn firmly in his sights.

To protect Quinn, Annalisa begins tracing Sam’s steps back through his open cases, which include not only the campus stalker but also a brutal double homicide from twenty years ago. Did Sam finally find the killer? Did he uncover the stalker’s identity? Annalisa must figure out which secret got Sam killed, and fast, or someone else will die. Every move she makes brings her closer to the truth of Sam’s death, and closer to a murderer who will stop at nothing to remain free.


Review:

Relentless, sinister, and intricate!

Dead and Gone is an intense, unpredictable thrill ride that takes us back to Chicago, where Detective Annalisa Vega now finds herself delving into the open cases of murdered former CPD officer turned private detective Sam Tran, which include the investigation into a missing mother from the late 1980s, a man looking for justice into the slaying of his wife and her lover, and the protection of Annalisa’s own niece who seems to have become the latest object of fascination for a stalker on her college campus.

The writing is eerie and tight. The characters are diligent, attentive, and flawed. And the plot builds quickly into an ominous tale full of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, lies, danger, obsession, violence, mayhem, and murder.

I’ve been a huge fan of Joanna Schaffhausen since I read The Vanishing Season in 2017, and whether it’s one of her Ellery Hathaway novels or another saga in the Detective Annalisa Vega series, such as this latest release, Dead and Gone, I am always riveted, entertained, satisfied and highly impressed.

 

This book 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 Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Joanna Schaffhausen

JOANNA SCHAFFHAUSEN wields a mean scalpel, skills developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain—how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter. She is also the author of The Vanishing Season and No Mercy.

#BookReview Someone You Trust by Rachel Ryan @rachelryanbooks @SimonSchusterCA #SomeoneYouTrust #RachelRyan #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview Someone You Trust by Rachel Ryan @rachelryanbooks @SimonSchusterCA #SomeoneYouTrust #RachelRyan #SimonSchusterCA Title: Someone You Trust

Author: Rachel Ryan

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Aug. 1, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 272

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

Amy jumps at the opportunity when she’s offered a nannying job in picturesque West Cork. The assignment is for the friendly and welcoming Carroll family, whose stunning house is situated on a stretch of remote and rugged coastline overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It’s the perfect chance for Amy to escape the suffocating city and the man who made her life hell.

With two adorable children to oversee, a pair of generous employers, and more freedom than she’s enjoyed in years, everything seems wonderful. So why can’t Amy shake a creeping sense of unease? Perhaps it’s the husband’s erratic behavior. Or the fact that she was never told about the reclusive teenage son whose bedroom is next to hers. Or maybe it’s the strange messages that somebody has been painting around the local village.

Quickly, it becomes clear that all is not well in the Carroll marriage, nor in their idyllic rural community. Whispered secrets and strange occurrences fill the breathtaking scenery with menace and, as the days pass, Amy learns that the refuge she has sought just might be the most dangerous place of all.


Review:

Brisk, riveting, and suspenseful!

Someone You Trust is an ominous, character-driven thriller that introduces us to Amy, a young woman who, after fleeing Dublin 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 Carroll family she’s employed by, everyone has a secret to hide, and danger lurks around every corner.

The writing is crisp and edgy. The characters are anxious, secretive, and flawed. And the plot, using a back-and-forth style, is a menacing tale full of twists, turns, revelations, insecurities, lies, obsession, manipulation, domestic abuse, infidelity, troubled pasts, and familial dysfunction.

Overall, Someone You Trust is a tortuous, addictive, unnerving tale by Ryan that is deliciously relentless, surprising, deceptive, and bursting with misdirection.

 

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 Rachel Ryan

Rachel Ryan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She can usually be found writing in coffee shops, hanging around libraries, or walking the streets of Dublin, making up stories. The Woman Outside My Door is her first novel.

Photograph by Ailish Kerr.