Category: Mystery/Thriller

#BookReview They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe @AuthorKatM @PPPress #TheyDrownOurDaughters #KatrinaMonroe #inkedinpoison

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#BookReview They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe @AuthorKatM @PPPress #TheyDrownOurDaughters #KatrinaMonroe #inkedinpoison Title: They Drown Our Daughters

Author: Katrina Monroe

Published by: Poisoned Pen Press on Jul. 12, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Paperback

Source: Poisoned Pen Press

Book Rating: 8/10

If you can hear the call of the water,
It’s already far too late.

They say Cape Disappointment is haunted. That’s why tourists used to flock there in droves. They’d visit the rocky shoreline under the old lighthouse’s watchful eye and fish shells from the water as they pretended to spot dark shapes in the surf. Now the tourists are long gone, and when Meredith Strand and her young daughter return to Meredith’s childhood home after an acrimonious split from her wife, the Cape seems more haunted by regret than any malevolent force.

But her mother, suffering from early stages of Alzheimer’s, is convinced the ghost stories are real. Not only is there something in the water, but it’s watching them. Waiting for them. Reaching out to Meredith’s daughter the way it has to every woman in their line for generations-and if Meredith isn’t careful, all three women, bound by blood and heartbreak, will be lost one by one to the ocean’s mournful call.

Part modern gothic, part ghost story, They Drown Our Daughters explores the depths of motherhood, identity, and the lengths a woman will go to hold on to both.

Review:

Atmospheric, menacing, and dark!

They Drown Our Daughters is an eerie, gripping, multi-generational story that transports you to Cape Disappointment and into the lives of the Strand family and all the powerful emotions, spooky traditions, long-buried secrets, strange behaviours, and unimaginable tragedy that has tied them together for more than a century.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are multilayered, vulnerable, and troubled. And the plot told in a back-and-forth style is an unsettling tale of life, loss, tragedy, desperation, familial drama, legends, secrets, tortured souls, supernatural phenomena, and the complex relationships that exist between mothers and daughters.

Overall, They Drown Our Daughters is a haunting, ominous, chilling tale that kept me engaged and intrigued from the very first page and is undoubtedly a unique, creative, promising debut by Monroe.

 

This book is available now.

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

          

 

 

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Katrina Monroe

Katrina Monroe is the author of They Drown Our Daughters, coming July 2022 from Sourcebooks. She lives in Minnesota with her wife, two children, and Eddie, the ghost who haunts their bedroom closets.

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#BookReview The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green @CeladonBooks #KingdomsOfSavannah #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner

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#BookReview The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green @CeladonBooks #KingdomsOfSavannah #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner Title: The Kingdoms of Savannah

Author: George Dawes Green

Published by: Celadon Books on Jul. 19, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Celadon Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Savannah may appear to be “some town out of a fable,” with its vine flowers, turreted mansions, and ghost tours that romanticize the city’s history. But look deeper and you’ll uncover secrets, past and present, that tell a more sinister tale. It’s the story at the heart of George Dawes Green’s chilling new novel, The Kingdoms of Savannah.

It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night as some locals gather at Bo Peep’s, one of the town’s favorite watering holes. Within an hour, however, a man will be murdered and his companion will be “disappeared.” An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding, and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths—truths that will rock Savannah’s power structure to its core.

Moving from the homeless encampments that ring the city to the stately homes of Savannah’s elite, Green’s novel brilliantly depicts the underbelly of a city with a dark history and the strangely mesmerizing dysfunction of a complex family.

Review:

Haunting, complex, and intense!

The Kingdoms of Savannah is a charged, gripping mystery that sweeps you away to Savannah, Georgia, and into the lives of the prominent, dysfunctional Musgrove family as they reluctantly, at the persistence of their matriarch Morgana, band together to solve the callous murder of a young homeless man and the disappearance of a middle-aged woman who seems to have discovered some long-buried secrets that at least one person is willing to kill to keep hidden in the past.

The prose is powerful and polished. The characters are flawed, ruthless, and self-absorbed. And the plot is a captivating, menacing mix of life, loss, secrets, deception, privilege, resentments, greed, corruption, homelessness, familial drama, and harrowing truths.

Overall, I found The Kingdoms of Savannah to be a gritty, provocative, tight novel by Green that’s a must read for anyone who loves a well-written mystery interlaced with a dramatic, family saga all mired in the dark, racially toxic history of the south.

 

This novel is available on July 19, 2022.

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

            

 

 

 

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

 

About George Dawes Green

George Dawes Green, founder of The Moth, is an internationally celebrated author. His first novel, The Caveman’s Valentine, won the Edgar Award and became a motion picture starring Samuel L. Jackson. The Juror was an international bestseller in more than twenty languages and was the basis for the movie starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin. Ravens was chosen as one of the best books of 2009 by the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Mail of London, and many other publications. George Green grew up in Georgia and now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo by Syrie Moskowitz.

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#BookReview I Told You This Would Happen by Elaine Murphy @ElaineMbooks @HBGCanada @GrandCentralPub #ElaineMurphy #IToldYouThisWouldHappen #HBGCanada #GCPInsider

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#BookReview I Told You This Would Happen by Elaine Murphy @ElaineMbooks @HBGCanada @GrandCentralPub #ElaineMurphy #IToldYouThisWouldHappen #HBGCanada #GCPInsider Title: I Told You This Would Happen

Author: Elaine Murphy

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jul. 12, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Carrie’s sister is dead.

Four months after losing her sister, Becca—a serial killer unknown to everyone else in town—Carrie Lawrence is finally free of her manipulative clutches. From now on, she’s keeping her hands clean, no more hiding dead bodies in the middle of the night, no more lies.

She’s never been happier.

Then she attends a meeting of the Brampton Kill Seekers, a group of amateur local sleuths, and learns that a recent victim left behind a note that incriminates her in their disappearance. All of a sudden the quiet, law-abiding life she’s been planning starts to unravel.

She’s never had so much to lose.

In her frantic quest to keep her secret dead and buried, she discovers someone nefarious lurking in the shadows…someone who’ll go to any lengths to bring her dark truths to light. Now if Carrie wants her secrets to stay hidden, she’ll have to get her hands very, very dirty.

Review:

Gripping, mysterious, and sinister!

I Told You This Would Happen is a crafty, complex thriller that takes us back to Brampton, Maine and into the life of Carrie Lawrence, a young woman who is now struggling to juggle her mixed feelings of elation and unease over the death of her manipulative serial killer sister as well as her ever-increasing guilt and dread over just how many secrets and skeletons the local amateur sleuthing group, the Brampton Kill Seekers, will finally unearth and uncover.

The writing is brisk and witty. The characters are consumed, devious, and deceitful. And the plot builds quickly into a mischievous tale of deception, manipulation, secrets, malicious intentions, revelations, deviance, cunning behaviours, familial obligation, and murder.

Overall, I Told You This Would Happen is an edgy, intricate, twisty follow-up by Murphy that kept me amused from the very first page and was an exceptionally entertaining and satisfying conclusion to last years debut Look What You Made Me Do.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

 

Thank you to HBG Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Elaine Murphy

Elaine Murphy is a Canadian author who has lived on both coasts and several places in between. Among other things, she has volunteered in Zambia, taught English in China, jumped off a bridge, and out of an airplane. She has a diploma in Writing for Film & Television but has never worked in either field. She took an interest in the dark side and began plotting suspense and thrillers. She enjoys putting ordinary people in extraordinarily difficult situations and seeing what they do about it. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Photo by Laura Shortt Photography.

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#BookReview The Gatekeeper by James Byrne @JByrnemystery @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #JamesByrne #TheGatekeeper #DezLimerick

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#BookReview The Gatekeeper by James Byrne @JByrnemystery @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #JamesByrne #TheGatekeeper #DezLimerick Title: The Gatekeeper

Author: James Byrne

Series: Dez Limerick #1

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jun. 7, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

James Byrne’s The Gatekeeper introduces Dez Limerick in the most anticipated new thriller in years.

A highly trained team of mercenaries launches a well-planned, coordinated attack on a well-guarded military contractor – but they didn’t count on one thing, the right man being in the wrong place at the right time.

Desmond Aloysius Limerick (“Dez” to all) is a retired mercenary, and enthusiastic amateur musician, currently in Southern California, enjoying the sun and sitting in on the occasional gig, when the hotel he’s at falls under attack. A skilled team attempts to kidnap the Chief legal counsel of Triton Expeditors, a major military contractor – in fact, Petra Alexandris is the daughter of the CEO – but their meticulously-planned, seamlessly executed scheme runs into the figurative ‘spanner-in-the-works,’ Dez himself.

After foiling the attack, and with nothing better to do, Dez agrees to help Alexandris with another problem she’s having – someone has embezzled more than a billion dollars from her company and left very few tracks behind. But Dez is a gatekeeper – one who opens doors and keeps them open – and this is just a door of another kind. And the door he opens leads to a dangerous conspiracy involving media manipulation, militias, an armed coup, and an attempt to fracture the United States themselves. There’s only one obstacle between the conspirators and success – and that is Dez, The Gatekeeper.

Review:

Tight, sinister, and suspenseful!

The Gatekeeper is the start of a brand-new series by Byrne that sweeps you away to California, where the cocky, confident, retired mercenary Dez ‘The Gatekeeper’ Limerick finds himself inadvertently swept up in the investigation of an embezzlement and conspiracy scheme involving military contractor, Triton Expeditors when one night after playing a local musical gig he successfully thwarts the attempted kidnapping of their CLO Petra Alexandris.

The prose is direct and well-paced. The characters are resourceful, talented, and committed. And the plot is a thrilling tale full of greed, power, deception, abuse, violence, manipulation, passion, politics, murder, and corruption.

Overall, The Gatekeeper is a darkly comedic, edgy, action-packed thriller that kept me highly entertained from the very first page and is without a doubt an exceptionally promising debut by Byrne that left me more than a little eager to read what Dez Limerick manages to get mixed up in next.

 

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 Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza @RobertBryndza #FatalWitness #RobertBryndza #ErikaFoster

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#BookReview Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza @RobertBryndza #FatalWitness #RobertBryndza #ErikaFoster Title: Fatal Witness

Author: Robert Bryndza

Series: Detective Erika Foster #7

Published by: Raven Street Publishing on Jul. 7, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 372

Format: Paperback

Source: Robert Bryndza

Book Rating: 10/10

Detective Erika Foster is back in FATAL WITNESS – with a chilling new serial killer case in Robert Bryndza’s multi-million bestselling crime thriller series!

How do you find a killer who has destroyed all the evidence?

Detective Erika Foster is on a late-night walk near her new house in Blackheath when she stumbles upon the brutal murder of Vicky Clarke, a true-crime podcaster.

Erika is assigned to the case and discovers that Vicky had been working on a new podcast episode about a sexual predator who preys on young female students around South London, staking out his victims in their halls of residence before breaking in at the dead of night. When Erika discovers that Vicky’s notes and sound recordings were stolen from her flat at the time of her murder, it leads her to believe that Vicky was close to unmasking the attacker, and she was killed to guarantee her silence.

The case takes on a disturbing twist when the body of a young Bulgarian student doctor is discovered in the same building, and this makes Erika question everything she thought she knew about Vicky. With very little evidence, the clock is ticking to find the killer before he strikes again.

Review:

Disturbing, dark, and exceptionally entertaining!

Fatal Witness is an unpredictable, sinuous thrill ride that takes us back to London, where Detective Erika Foster and her team now find themselves investigating the death of Vicky Clarke, a true-crime podcaster whose own investigation into a slew of sexual attacks on female students may have just made her the latest victim of a callous predator who is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his identity hidden forever.

The writing is bold and crisp. The characters are resilient, impulsive, and troubled. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine seamlessly into a sinister tale full of twists, turns, secrets, surprises, manipulation, coercion, deception, violence, and murder.

Overall, Fatal Witness is another riveting, spine-chilling, engrossing thriller by one of my favourite authors that kept me guessing from the very first page and left me unnerved, impressed, highly satisfied and eager to read whatever his devious mind manages to come up with next.

This book is available now.

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

      

 

 

Thank you to Robert Bryndza for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Robert Bryndza

Robert Bryndza is an international bestselling author, best known for his page-turning crime and thriller novels, which have sold over four million copies in the English language.

His crime debut, The Girl in the Ice was released in February 2016, introducing Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster. Within five months it sold one million copies, reaching number one in the Amazon UK, USA and Australian charts. To date, The Girl in the Ice has sold over 1.5 million copies in the English language and has been sold into translation in 29 countries. It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller (2016), the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle in France (2018), and it won two reader voted awards, The Thrillzone Awards best debut thriller in The Netherlands (2018) and The Dead Good Papercut Award for best page turner at the Harrogate Crime Festival (2016).

Robert has released a further five novels in the Erika Foster series, The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath, Cold Blood and Deadly Secrets, all of which have been global bestsellers, and in 2017 Last Breath was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller.

Most recently, Robert created a new crime thriller series based around the central character Kate Marshall, a police officer turned private detective. The first book, Nine Elms, was an Amazon USA #1 bestseller and an Amazon UK top five bestseller, and the series has been sold into translation in 18 countries. The second book in the series is the global bestselling, Shadow Sands and the third book, Darkness Falls, has just been published.

Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England. He studied at Aberystwyth University, and the Guildford School of Acting, and was an actor for several years, but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. He self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels, before switching to writing crime. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia, and is lucky enough to write full-time.

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#BookReview The Second Husband By Kate White @katemwhite @HarperPerennial #TheSecondHusband #HarperPerennial #KateWhite #OliveInfluencer

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#BookReview The Second Husband By Kate White @katemwhite @HarperPerennial #TheSecondHusband #HarperPerennial #KateWhite #OliveInfluencer Title: The Second Husband

Author: Kate White

Published by: Harper Paperbacks on Jun. 28, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Harper Perennial

Book Rating: 8/10

Recovering from the unsolved murder of her first husband, Derrick, thirtysomething Emma Hawke has built a new life with Tom, a handsome, successful, and loving widower who finally makes her feel safe again.

Then one day a police detective shows up at their house on the Connecticut shore, asking questions about Derrick’s death. Emma was sure she’d been cleared in the days after the tragedy. So why is law enforcement taking another look now–and questioning the timing of her relationship with Tom? She hadn’t even met him until after Derrick’s death.

Then Emma is shocked to discover that, in fact, she and her second husband attended the same business dinner two months before Derrick’s murder. Did Tom, unbeknownst to Emma, spot her there? Could he have set his sights on her and orchestrated a plan to make her his wife, whatever the cost.

With twists and turns all the way to the last page, this fast-paced, expertly plotted novel will have you asking that age-old question: how well do you really know the ones you love?

Review:

Sinister, tense, and engaging!

The Second Husband is a tortuous, simmering tale that introduces us to Emma Hawke, a successful entrepreneur who, after the investigation into the murder of her first husband Derrick is reopened, begins to wonder if anyone is who they really claim to be and whether the introduction to her second husband Tom was as honest and accidental and it originally appeared.

The writing is fluid and tight. The characters are troubled, secretive, and consumed. And the plot is an intricate tale of deception, manipulation, suspicions, revelations, fraud, drama, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, The Second Husband is an ominous, suspenseful, twisty whodunit by White that does a wonderful job of reminding us that things are never quite as they seem.

 

This novel is available now.

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

                

 

 

Thank you to Harper Perennial for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kate White

Kate White is the New York Times bestselling author of eight standalone psychological thrillers, including Have You Seen Me? (2020) and the upcoming The Fiancée (June 2021), as well as eight Bailey Weggins mysteries, including Such a Perfect Wife, which was nominated for an International Thriller Writers Award. Kate, the former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, is also the author of several popular career books for women, including I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: How to Ask for the Money, Snag the Promotion, and Create the Career You Deserve and Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead, as well the editor of the Anthony and Agatha Award-nominated The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. 

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#BookReview The Omega Factor by Steve Berry @GrandCentralPub #SteveBerry #TheOmegaFactor #GrandCentralPub #GCPInsider

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#BookReview The Omega Factor by Steve Berry @GrandCentralPub #SteveBerry #TheOmegaFactor #GrandCentralPub #GCPInsider Title: The Omega Factor

Author: Steve Berry

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jun. 7, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 464

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The Ghent Altarpiece is the most violated work of art in the world.  Thirteen times it has been vandalized, dismantled, or stolen. 

Why?  What secrets does it hold? 
 
Enter UNESCO investigator, Nicholas Lee, who works for the United Nations’ Cultural Liaison and Investigative Office (CLIO).  Nick’s job is to protect the world’s cultural artifacts—from countless lesser-known objects to national treasures. 

When Nick travels to Belgium for a visit with a woman from his past, he unwittingly stumbles on the trail of the twelfth panel for the Ghent Altarpiece, stolen in 1934 under cover of night and never seen since.  Soon Nick is plunged into a bitter conflict, one that has been simmering for nearly two thousand years.  On one side is the Maidens of Saint-Michael, les Vautours, Vultures, a secret order of nuns and the guardians of a great truth.  Pitted against them is the Vatican, which has wanted for centuries to both find and possess what the nuns guard.  Because of Nick the maidens have finally been exposed, their secret placed in dire jeopardy—a vulnerability that the Vatican swiftly moves to exploit utilizing an ambitious cardinal and a corrupt archbishop, both with agendas of their own.  

From the tranquil canals of Ghent, to the towering bastions of Carcassonne, and finally into an ancient abbey high in the French Pyrenees, Nick Lee must confront a modern-day religious crusade intent on eliminating a shocking truth from humanity’s past.  Success or failure—life and death—all turn on the Omega Factor.
 

Review:

Thought-provoking, creative, and suspenseful!

In this intriguing new standalone novel, The Omega Factor, Berry introduces us to the resourceful Nick Lee, a UNESCO investigator who, after heading to Belgium to meet up with his ex-fiance, art restorer and catholic nun Kelsey Deal, becomes swept up in the centuries-old conflict and mystery surrounding one of the world’s most important works of art from the early fifteenth century, the Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert & Jan van Eyck.

The writing is descriptive and rich. The characters are inquisitive, driven, and fearless. And the plot is an intricate tale that will have you contemplating the significance and importance of historical artefacts, Christian history, the dealings and scandals of the catholic church over the years, and the possible location of the final resting place of the Virgin Mary and the ashes of Joan of Arc.

Overall, The Omega Factor is a unique, mysterious, action-packed thrill ride that grabbed me from the very start and did an excellent job of blending historical facts with compelling fiction.

 

This book is available now.

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

              

 

 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Steve Berry

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of sixteen Cotton Malone novels, five stand-alone thrillers, and several works of short fiction. He has 25 million books in print, translated into over 40 languages. With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, an organization dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co‑president.

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#BookReview Hatchet Island by Paul Doiron @pauldoiron @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #PaulDoiron #HatchetIsland #MikeBowditch

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#BookReview Hatchet Island by Paul Doiron @pauldoiron @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #PaulDoiron #HatchetIsland #MikeBowditch Title: Hatchet Island

Author: Paul Doiron

Series: Mike Bowditch #13

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jun. 28, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

An eerie, windswept island off the coast of Maine becomes the site of a double murder and a disappearance in Hatchet Island, the next thriller in Paul Doiron’s bestselling Mike Bowditch series.

A call for help from a former colleague leads Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch and his girlfriend Stacey Stevens on a sea kayaking trip to a research station far off the coast. Stacey spent summers interning on the island, a sanctuary for endangered seabirds, and they are shocked by what they hear when they come ashore. The biologists are being threatened by local fishermen and stalked by a mysterious boatman who seems intent on trespassing on the refuge. Even worse, their leader, whose mind is slowly unraveling after the unexplained suicide of a young intern, has now gone missing.

Camped on a nearby islet for the night, Mike and Stacey waken to the sound of a gunshot. When they return to the refuge at dawn, their darkest fears are confirmed: two of the three researchers have been brutally murdered and the third has disappeared, along with the island skiff. Mike’s quest to find the missing man reveals new suspects including a Marine Patrol officer with a history of violence and the sanctuary’s enigmatic founder, who conveniently reappears after the killings. The search expands to a nearby island owned by a world-renowned photographer with a scandalous reputation. The artist and his equally brilliant wife wield a powerful hold over the inhabitants of their private kingdom, and Mike increasingly comes to believe that someone in the village knows more about the killings than they dare admit.

With no one to trust and miles from shore, Mike Bowditch must stop a ruthless murderer determined to make sure a terrifying secret never sees the light of day.

Review:

Ominous, intricate, and creepy!

Hatchet Island is an engrossing, menacing thriller that takes you back into the life of Maine game warden Mike Bowditch as he and his significant other, biologist Stacey Stevens find themselves heading to the islands off the coast of Maine and embroiled in a tragic, disturbing case involving some disgruntled fishermen, a famous photographer with a dark side, and a double homicide when Stacey’s old roommate working on the Maine Seabird Initiative asks for her help locating her missing boss. 

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are resourceful, clever, and persistent. And the plot is a sinister tale of mayhem, murder, coercion, deception, tragedy, suspicious personalities, abusive behaviour, suicide, and loss.

Overall, Hatchet Island is another atmospheric, pacey, thrilling tale by Doiron that, with its well-drawn characterization and entertaining storyline, is sure to be a big hit with longtime fan of the Mike Bowditch series.

 

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 Paul Doiron

A native of Maine, bestselling author PAUL DOIRON attended Yale University, where he graduated with a degree in English. The Poacher’s Son, the first book in the Mike Bowditch series, won the Barry award, the Strand award for best first novel, and has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity awards in the same category. He is a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing and lives on a trout stream in coastal Maine with his wife, Kristen Lindquist.

Photo by Mark Fleming.

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#BookReview Birthday Girl by Niko Wolf @Mobius_Books @HodderBooks #BirthdayGirl #NikoWolf #MobiusBooksUS

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#BookReview Birthday Girl by Niko Wolf @Mobius_Books @HodderBooks #BirthdayGirl #NikoWolf #MobiusBooksUS Title: Birthday Girl

Author: Niko Wolf

Published by: Hodder And Stoughton Ltd. on Jun. 28, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 8/10

He loved her. He lost her. But he should never have written her off.

Jonathan’s wife disappeared more than twenty years ago. Now he’s seeing her everywhere . . .

New York in the 1990s – impoverished writer Jonathan Dainty takes his wife Maddie out to the beach for her birthday. Hours later he finds himself at the local police precinct trying to explain how on earth he let his wife get into a stranger’s car, and allowed it to drive her away.

More than twenty years later, Maddie is presumed dead and Jonathan has channelled his grief into a best-selling series of crime novels. As far as he can, he is living the perfect life.

Then one day he catches a glimpse of his dead wife, moving through a throng of people. Is Maddie alive? Has she come back? And why does no one believe him? As Jonathan attempts to uncover the truth, it soon becomes clear that the people closest to him are hiding something, something that could change everything . . .

Review:

Intricate, crafty, and absorbing!

Birthday Girl is an intense, devious thriller set during the late 1990s, as well as present-day, that takes you into the life of Jonathan Dainty, a writer, husband and father of one whose life has never been quite the same since his wife got into a stranger’s car one day and disappeared without a trace.

The writing is fluid and tight. The characters are driven, devious, and insecure. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style, unfolds slowly into a simmering tale full of emotion, manipulation, deception, desperation, jealousy, obsession, marital strife, and familial drama.

Overall, Birthday Girl is a taut, cunning, sinister read by Wolf that kept me engaged, entertained and guessing from start to finish.

 

This book is available now.

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

              

 

 

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

 

About Niko Wolf

Niko Wolf was born in London and her first novel, The Favourite, was published in the UK in 2017 under SV Berlin. Long listed for The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2018, it was also chosen as an ELLE Book of the month. Most recently, she was a Screenwriter and Story Editor for independent movie A Son of Man, selected as an official entry in the foreign-language category for the 2019 Oscars. Wolf works in artificial intelligence, and lives in Manhattan. Birthday Girl is her first thriller.

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#BookReview And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling @PPPress #AndThereHeKeptHer #JoshuaMoehling #inkedinpoison

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#BookReview And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling @PPPress #AndThereHeKeptHer #JoshuaMoehling #inkedinpoison Title: And There He Kept Her

Author: Joshua Moehling

Published by: Poisoned Pen Press on Jun. 14, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Poisoned Pen Press

Book Rating: 8/10

They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong.

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he’s been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he’ll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector.

Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff’s deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

Review:

Gritty, menacing, and dark!

And There He Kept Her is a creepy, engrossing thriller that takes you to Sandy Lake, MN, where acting county sheriff Ben Packard suddenly finds himself unexpectedly uncovering a history of violence and murder nobody in this small town ever could have imagined when his investigation into two missing teens also leads to the discovery of a well-organized drug ring and two sadists with a penchant for confinement, torture, and rape.

The writing is crisp and tight. The characters are multilayered, persistent, and vulnerable. And the plot is a suspenseful, gripping tale full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, community, abuse, familial drama, depravity, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, And There He Kept Her is a shocking, ominous, spine-chilling tale by Moehling that kept me on the edge of my seat from the very first page and is undoubtedly an exceptionally promising debut.

 

This book is available now.

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

          

 

 

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Joshua Moehling

Joshua Moehling works in the medical device industry by day and writes at night. And There He Kept Her is his first novel. He lives in Minneapolis.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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