Category: Mystery/Thriller

#BookReview Ice and Stone by Marcia Muller @GrandCentralPub #MarciaMuller #IceandStone #SharonMcConeMystery

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#BookReview Ice and Stone by Marcia Muller @GrandCentralPub #MarciaMuller #IceandStone #SharonMcConeMystery Title: Ice and Stone

Author: Marcia Muller

Series: Sharon McCone #34

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Aug. 10, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 272

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Private Investigator Sharon McCone goes undercover to investigate the murders of two Indigenous women in remote Northern California in this gripping, atmospheric mystery in the New York Times bestselling series.  

When the bodies of two Indigenous women are found in the wilderness of northern California, it is only the latest horrific development in a string of similar crimes in the area. Despite all evidence to the contrary, officials rule the deaths isolated incidents, which soon join the ranks of countless other unsolved cases quickly dismissed by law enforcement.
 
In a town where too many injustices are tolerated or brushed under the rug, only a few people remain who refuse to let a killer walk free. But Private Investigator Sharon McCone is one of those few. She is hired by an organization called Crimes against Indigenous Sisters to go undercover in Meruk County—a community rife with secrets, lies, and corruption—to expose the truth.
 
In an isolated cabin in the freezing, treacherous woods, McCone must work quickly to unravel a mystery that is rooted in profound evil—before she becomes the killer’s next target.

Review:

Duplicitous, intense, and atmospheric!

In this intriguing, thirty-fourth instalment in the Sharon McCone series, Ice and Stone, Muller has written a fast-paced, sinister thriller that finds San Francisco PI Sharon McCone going undercover in the town of Meruk at the request of the Crimes Against Indigenous Sisters to investigate the murders of two native woman that seem to have slipped through the cracks of the local justice system due to ongoing battles over jurisdictions, but when two more native women go missing, and some of the richer, white folk in the area start acting shadier than usual, the case may be a little more complex and dangerous than anyone could have imagined.

The prose is smooth and rich. The characters are strong, relentless, and resourceful. And the plot unfolds quickly into a menacing tale of mischief, mayhem, corruption, manipulation, racial tension, abuse, sexual assault, coercion, greed, heinous violence, and murder.

Overall, Ice and Stone is a tight, intricate, engrossing thrill ride by Muller that is highly entertaining, a little disturbing, and the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys a good mystery threaded with ongoing social issues and injustices.

 

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

 

About Marcia Muller

Marcia Muller has written many novels and short stories. She has won six Anthony Awards, a Shamus Award, and is also the recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award (their highest accolade). She lives in northern California with her husband, mystery writer Bill Pronzini.

Photo courtesy of Grand Central Publishing Website.

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#BookReview Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #JoannaSchaffhausen #GoneforGood #DetectiveAnnalisaVega #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #JoannaSchaffhausen #GoneforGood #DetectiveAnnalisaVega #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: Gone for Good

Author: Joanna Schaffhausen

Series: Detective Annalisa Vega #1

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 10, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 10/10

Gone For Good is the first in a new mystery series from award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen, featuring Detective Annalisa Vega, in which a cold case heats up.

The Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women, ritually binding them and leaving them for dead before penning them gruesome love letters in the local papers. Then he disappeared, and after twenty years with no trace of him, many believe that he’s gone for good.

Not Grace Harper. A grocery store manager by day, at night Grace uses her snooping skills as part of an amateur sleuth group. She believes the Lovelorn Killer is still living in the same neighborhoods that he hunted in, and if she can figure out how he selected his victims, she will have the key to his identity.

Detective Annalisa Vega lost someone she loved to the killer. Now she’s at a murder scene with the worst kind of déjà vu: Grace Harper lies bound and dead on the floor, surrounded by clues to the biggest murder case that Chicago homicide never solved. Annalisa has the chance to make it right and to heal her family, but first, she has to figure out what Grace knew―how to see a killer who may be standing right in front of you. This means tracing his steps back to her childhood, peering into dark corners she hadn’t acknowledged before, and learning that despite everything the killer took, she has still so much more to lose.

Review:

Dark, disturbing, and exceptionally entertaining!

In this latest novel by Schaffhausen, Gone for Good, we are introduced to Chicago PD Det. Annalisa Vega, a complex, tenacious young woman who finds herself investigating the death of Grace Harper, a member of a group of online amateur sleuths, whose investigation into the murder of seven women in the 1990s may have just triggered the reappearance of a serial killer from the past.

The writing is bold and tight. The characters are committed, persistent, and vulnerable. And the plot starts off with a bang and then quickly unravels into an ominous tale full of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, lies, obsession, deception, emotion, violence, and murder.

Gone for Good is the first book in the new Detective Annalisa Vega series, and once again, Schaffhausen has written a highly suspenseful, intricately woven mystery with superb character development that gives the story a touch of human frailty and authenticity that takes it from being just a good thriller to a great one!

 

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.

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#BookReview In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead @ashleywinstead @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #InMyDreamsIHoldaKnife #AshleyWinstead #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead @ashleywinstead @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #InMyDreamsIHoldaKnife #AshleyWinstead #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

Author: Ashley Winstead

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Aug. 3, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

Six friends.
One college reunion.
One unsolved murder.

A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to southern, elite Duquette University, down to the envious whispers that are sure to follow in her wake. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see—confident, beautiful, indifferent—not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather’s murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she’d been closest to since freshman year. Ten years ago, everything fell apart, including the dreams she worked for her whole life—and her relationship with the one person she wasn’t supposed to love.

But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather’s murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night—and the years’ worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.

Told in racing dual timelines, with a dark campus setting and a darker look at friendship, love, obsession, and ambition, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is an addictive, propulsive read you won’t be able to put down.

Review:

Creepy, unpredictable, and exceptionally gripping!

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife transports you into the life of successful NYC consultant, Jessica Miller, as she heads to her ten-year reunion at Duquette University, where the past will collide with the present, long-buried secrets will finally be unearthed, and the senseless murder of her roommate and fellow member of the East House Seven clique will finally be solved.

The writing is meticulous and tight. The characterization is spot on with a cast of characters that are insecure, self-involved, and secretive. And the plot using flashbacks and a back-and-forth, past/present style intertwines and unravels effortlessly into a machiavellian tale of manipulation, deception, lies, drama, callousness, jealousy, secrets, revelations, hatred, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is a clever, sinister, fabulous debut by Winstead that kept me guessing from the very first page and left me chilled, entertained, pleasantly surprised, and eager to read whatever her remarkably devious mind manages to come up with next. 

 

This novel is available now.

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

              

 

 

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

 

About Ashley Winstead

Ashley Winstead holds a Ph.D. in contemporary American literature from Southern Methodist University and a B.A. in English and Art History from Vanderbilt University. She lives in Houston, TX, where she drinks red wine and dreams up novels.

Photo by Luis Noble.

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#BookReview The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #SandieJones #TheGuiltTrip #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #SandieJones #TheGuiltTrip #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: The Guilt Trip

Author: Sandie Jones

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 3, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8/10

In the vein of The Other Woman, Sandie Jones’s explosive new novel The Guilt Trip will have readers gripped to the very last page.

Six friends.

Rachel and Noah have been friends since they met at university. While they once thought that they might be something more, now, twenty years later, they are each happily married to other people, Jack and Paige respectively. Jack’s brother Will is getting married, to the dazzling, impulsive Ali, and the group of six travel to Portugal for their destination weekend.

Three couples.

As they arrive at a gorgeous villa perched on a cliff-edge, overlooking towering waves that crash on the famous surfing beaches below at Nazaré, they try to settle into a weekend of fun. While Rachel is looking forward to getting to know her future sister-in-law Ali better, Ali can’t help but rub many of the group up the wrong way: Rachel’s best friend Paige thinks Ali is attention-seeking and childish, and while Jack is trying to support his brother Will’s choice of wife, he is also finding plenty to disagree with Noah about.

One fatal misunderstanding . . .

But when Rachel discovers something about Ali that she can hardly believe, everything changes. As the wedding weekend unfolds, the secrets each of them hold begin to spill, and friendships and marriages threaten to unravel. Soon, jumping to conclusions becomes the difference between life and death.

Review:

Gripping, tight, and ominous!

The Guilt Trip is a twisty, pacey, domestic thriller that delves into the complex bonds that exist between friends and family members and reminds us that behind all those happy, smiling faces often lies an abundance of devastating secrets and destructive lies.

The writing is taut and edgy. The characters are secretive, manipulative, and troubled. And the plot is suspenseful and highly entertaining as it twists, turns, and unravels all the motivations, personalities, and relationships within it.

The Guilt Trip, at its core, is a novel about marital discord, friendship, deception, jealousy, misconceptions, devious behaviours, and murder. It’s an intense, dramatic, exceptionally menacing tale by Jones, and even though it seems to be getting some mixed reviews at the moment, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now, more than ever, eager to read the copy of The Other Woman that has been sitting on my unread shelves for far too long.

 

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 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.

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#BookReview When All Light Fails by Randall Silvis @randallsilvis @PPPress #WhenAllLightFails #RandallSilvis #RyanDeMarcoMystery #inkedinpoison

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#BookReview When All Light Fails by Randall Silvis @randallsilvis @PPPress #WhenAllLightFails #RandallSilvis #RyanDeMarcoMystery #inkedinpoison Title: When All Light Fails

Author: Randall Silvis

Series: Ryan DeMarco Mystery #5

Published by: Poisoned Pen Press on Aug. 3, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 400

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Poisoned Pen Press

Book Rating: 8/10

A new mystery from Randall Silvis, critically acclaimed master of crime fiction

When powerful men pull strings to get what they want… someone almost always ends up dead

There’s not much that would convince retired police sergeant Ryan DeMarco to take on another private investigation case, but he can’t refuse a nine-year-old Michigan girl begging for help finding her biological father. The road trip to the Upper Peninsula promises DeMarco and his partner, Jayme, a chance to heal from their last case, which ended in a traumatic brush with death for DeMarco. But things aren’t as they first appear in the woods of Michigan, and the seemingly simple paternity investigation soon morphs into something deadly.

The deeper DeMarco, Jayme, and the rest of their team dig, the more ugly truths they reveal, all while doing their best to keep one member of their team, from falling prey to her own kind of darkness. This investigation just might be the most emotionally troubling one DeMarco and Jayme have yet encountered, for there are plenty of people who will do whatever it takes to shut them down before the truth comes to light.

Review:

Menacing, compelling, and sly!

When All Light Fails is a sinister, engaging police procedural that takes you back to Pennsylvania, where after recovering from an almost fatal altercation with a former adversary PI Ryan DeMarco and his partner, Jayme Matson, find themselves immersed in an investigation that seems at the start to be a simple case of confirming the paternity of a little girl but which quickly escalates into a tragic, multiple murder in at least two jurisdictions.

The writing is crafty and intense. The characters are ruthless, determined, and impulsive. And the plot is a suspenseful tale full of twists, turns, manipulation, desperation, duplicity, corruption, intrigue, self-reflection, violence, and murder.

Overall, When All Light Fails is a shrewd, pacey, action-packed fifth novel in the Ryan DeMarco series by Silvis, and even though it can be easily enjoyed as a standalone story, I highly recommend reading the first four novels in the series to truly appreciate the continuity of the storyline and the depth in characterization.

 

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

 

About Randall Silvis

Randall Silvis is the internationally acclaimed author of over a dozen novels, one story
collection, and one book of narrative nonfiction. Also a prize-winning playwright, a
produced screenwriter, and a prolific essayist, he has been published and produced in
virtually every field and genre of creative writing. His numerous essays, articles, poems and short stories have appeared in the Discovery Channel magazines, The Writer, Prism International, Short Story International, Manoa, and numerous other online and print magazines. His work has been translated into 10 languages.

Silvis’s many literary awards include two writing fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts, the prestigious Drue Heinz Literature Prize, a Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Award, six fellowships for his fiction, drama, and screenwriting from the Pennsylvania Council On the Arts, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree awarded for “distinguished literary achievement.”

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens @ChevyStevens @StMartinsPress #DarkRoads #ChevyStevens #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens @ChevyStevens @StMartinsPress #DarkRoads #ChevyStevens #SMPInfluencers Title: Dark Roads

Author: Chevy Stevens

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 3, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

The acclaimed and beloved author of Still Missing is back with her most breathtaking thriller yet.

The Cold Creek Highway stretches close to five hundred miles through British Columbia’s rugged wilderness to the west coast. Isolated and vast, it has become a prime hunting ground for predators. For decades, young women traveling the road have gone missing. Motorists and hitchhikers, those passing through or living in one of the small towns scattered along the region, have fallen prey time and again. And no killer or abductor who has stalked the highway has ever been brought to justice.

Hailey McBride calls Cold Creek home. Her father taught her to respect nature, how to live and survive off the land, and to never travel the highway alone. Now he’s gone, leaving her a teenage orphan in the care of her aunt whose police officer husband uses his badge as a means to bully and control Hailey. Overwhelmed by grief and forbidden to work, socialize, or date, Hailey vanishes into the mountainous terrain, hoping everyone will believe she’s left town. Rumors spread that she was taken by the highway killer—who’s claimed another victim over the summer.

One year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek, where her sister Amber lived—and where she was murdered. Estranged from her parents and seeking closure, Beth takes a waitressing job at the local diner, just as Amber did, desperate to understand what happened to her and why. But Beth’s search for answers puts a target on her back—and threatens to reveal the truth behind Hailey’s disappearance…

Review:

Unsettling, twisty, and intricate!

Dark Roads is a tortuous, disturbing mystery that introduces us to Beth Chevalier as she heads to Cold Creek, British Columbia, to investigate the horrific murder of her younger sister, Amber, after her body is found brutalized on the side of Cold Creek Highway, a lonely stretch of road where multiple women have suspiciously disappeared, including local Hailey McBride, over the past several decades.

The writing is brisk and sharp. The characters are tormented, vulnerable, and scarred. And the plot told from alternating POVs and using a back-and-forth style is an eerie whodunit full of twists, turns, lies, deception, familial drama, depravity, violence, and murder.

I can honestly say I have yet to read a novel by Stevens that I didn’t really enjoy, and Dark Roads is no exception. It’s a taut, tense, gripping tale that packs a real punch and is a spine-chilling reminder, especially for those of us who grew up hearing about this real-life crime this tale is loosely based on, that evil can often live comfortably amongst us, merely hidden behind masks of normality.

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

 

About Chevy Stevens

CHEVY STEVENS lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and daughter. When she isn’t working on her next book, she’s hiking with her two dogs on her favorite mountain trails and spending time with her family. Chevy's current obsessions are vintage Airstreams, Hollywood memoirs, all things mid-century modern, and stand-up comedians--not necessarily in that order. Her books, including Still Missing, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel, have been published in more than thirty countries.

 

Photo by Poppy Photography.

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#BookReview Deny Me by Karen Cole @Mobius_Books @QuercusBooks #DenyMe #KarenCole #MobiusBooksUS

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#BookReview Deny Me by Karen Cole @Mobius_Books @QuercusBooks #DenyMe #KarenCole #MobiusBooksUS Title: Deny Me

Author: Karen Cole

Published by: Quercus on Jul. 27, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 287

Format: Paperback

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 8.5/10

From the bestselling author of Deliver Me comes a gripping new thriller with a twist you’ll never see coming!

Thirty-two-year-old Jessica is newly divorced and has returned home to live with her parents whilst she puts the pieces of her life back together. But Jessica isn’t the only one with problems, as her mother, Jean, has recently been diagnosed with dementia.

Shortly after Jessica’s arrival, one of the neighbours falls to her death, in what appears to be a terrible accident. However, Jean claims that the woman was murdered by her husband and that she witnessed the whole thing.

With Jean’s memory rapidly deteriorating, her family dismiss her story, believing Jean is confused. But when Jessica learns that the couple next door’s marriage may have been in trouble, she begins to wonder if her mother did see something after all.

Jessica is determined to discover the truth, but soon uncovers much more than she bargained for…

Review:

Ominous, tense, and clever!

Deny Me 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 unfolds subtly into a murky tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, lies, scandal, secrets, manipulation, wickedness, deception, tragedy, mental illness, and murder.

Overall, Deny Me is another crafty, sinister, engaging tale by Cole that kept me engaged from the very first page and has now, without a doubt, solidified her status on my must-read authors list.

 

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

 

About Karen Cole

Karen Cole grew up in the Cotswolds and got a degree in psychology at Newcastle University. She spent several years teaching English around the world before settling in Cyprus with her husband and two sons, where she works at a British army base as a primary school teacher. She recently completed the Curtis Brown writing course where she found her love of writing psychological thrillers.

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#BookReview Look What You Made Me Do by Elaine Murphy @ElaineMbooks @GrandCentralPub #EmilyMurphy #LookWhatYouMadeMeDo

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#BookReview Look What You Made Me Do by Elaine Murphy @ElaineMbooks @GrandCentralPub #EmilyMurphy #LookWhatYouMadeMeDo Title: Look What You Made Me Do

Author: Elaine Murphy

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jul. 13, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A gripping thriller about a woman who must help cover the tracks of her serial killer sister — only to discover her sibling isn’t the only serial killer in town . . . and they’re both next on his kill list.

Carrie wants a normal life.
Carrie Lawrence doesn’t need a happily ever after. She’ll just settle for “after.” After a decade of helping her sister hide her victims. After a lifetime of lies. She just wants to be safe, boring, and not trekking through the woods at night with a dead body wrapped in a carpet.

Becca wants to get away with murder.
Becca Lawrence doesn’t believe in happily ever after because she’s already happy. She’s gotten away with murder for a decade and has blackmailed her sister into helping her hide the evidence—what more could a girl want?

But first they have to stop a serial killer.
When thirteen bodies are discovered in their small town, people are shocked. But not as shocked as Carrie, who thought she knew all the details of Becca’s sordid pastime. When Becca swears she’s not behind the grisly new crimes, they realize the town has a second serial killer who has the sisters in his sights, and what he wants is…Carrie.

Review:

Intricate, gritty, and unsettling!

Look What You Made Me Do is a suspenseful, eerie thriller that transports you to Brampton, Maine and into the life of Carrie Lawrence, a twenty-eight-year-old woman who has spent the last ten years of her life helping her serial killer sister hide a dozen bodies, but when the police begin to discover multiple, mutilated victims buried in the woods that aren’t the result of Becca’s malicious behaviour, it quickly becomes apparent there are two serial killers operating in the same small town, and at least one of them needs to go

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are troubled, complex, and scheming. And the plot builds nicely as it twists, turns, surprises, and unravels all the behaviours, motivations, personalities, and relationships within it.

Look What You Made Me Do at its core is a novel about secrets, sisterhood, manipulation, coercion, obsession, revenge, mayhem, and murder. It’s an absorbing, creepy, somewhat darkly comedic debut by Murphy that does a fantastic job of delving into all the complex, dysfunctional dynamics that can occur between family members and reminds us just how toxic and evil some of these relationships can truly be.

 

This novel 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 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 Deceive Me by Karen Cole @Mobius_Books @QuercusBooks #DeceiveMe #KarenCole #MobiusBooksUS

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#BookReview Deceive Me by Karen Cole @Mobius_Books @QuercusBooks #DeceiveMe #KarenCole #MobiusBooksUS Title: Deceive Me

Author: Karen Cole

Published by: Quercus on Jul. 20, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 293

Format: Paperback

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 8.5/10

YOUR DAUGHTER IS MISSING. HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO FIND HER?

When Jo’s teenage daughter goes missing, she feels like the world is collapsing around her.

The police believe Grace is just an angry teenager, punishing her parents by hiding out at a friend’s house, but Jo is terrified that her daughter is in grave danger. With so little urgency from the police, Jo decides to take matters into her own hands.

But, as Jo gets closer to discovering what has happened to her daughter, a devastating secret is uncovered that threatens to destroy the family she has been trying so very hard to protect…

Review:

Simmering, intricate, and sinister!

Deceive Me is a menacing, addictive thrill ride that takes you to the beautiful island of Cyprus and into the lives of the Appleton family as their worlds get turned upside down when their teenage daughter goes missing without a trace, and everyone seems to have something, past or present, they’re willing to do anything to hide.

The prose is tense and tight. The characters are anxious, tormented, and volatile. And the plot told using a back-and-forth, past/present style is an unsettling tale of twists, turns, familial drama, secrets, lies, deception, relationship dynamics, mayhem, and swirling emotions.

Overall, Deceive Me was so much better than I ever expected. It’s a tragic, compulsive, well-executed tale by Cole that highlights the desperate, selfish side of human nature and reminds us that secrets almost always find their way to the surface no matter how well they are hidden or buried.

 

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

 

About Karen Cole

Karen Cole grew up in the Cotswolds and got a degree in psychology at Newcastle University. She spent several years teaching English around the world before settling in Cyprus with her husband and two sons, where she works at a British army base as a primary school teacher. She recently completed the Curtis Brown writing course where she found her love of writing psychological thrillers.

Goodreads

#BookReview The Therapist by B.A. Paris @BAParisAuthor @StMartinsPress @RaincoastBooks #TheTherapist #BAParis #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Therapist by B.A. Paris @BAParisAuthor @StMartinsPress @RaincoastBooks #TheTherapist #BAParis #SMPInfluencers Title: The Therapist

Author: B.A. Paris

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 13, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: Raincoast Books, St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive…

As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.

Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem…

The multimillion-copy New York Times bestselling author B.A. Paris returns to her heartland of gripping psychological suspense in The Therapist–a powerful tale of a house that holds a shocking secret.

Review:

Brisk, eerie, and intense!

The Therapist is a suspenseful, psychological thriller that introduces us to Alice, a young woman who is excited to move into a new home with her long-distance boyfriend Leo, that is until the murder-suicide of the previous homeowners is learned, the neighbours of this coveted gated community seem distant and unfriendly, a PI appears out of nowhere asking for help in identifying the true killer, and danger seems to be lurking around every corner inside and out.

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are obsessed, consumed, and flawed. And the plot is an unnerving, suspenseful tale of deception, manipulation, suspicions, revelations, mayhem, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Therapist is a twisty, atmospheric, sinister page-turner that does a wonderful job of highlighting just how easily people can be psychologically and emotionally exploited, and reminds us that even those we think we know so well often have deep, dark secrets they choose to hide.

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Raincoast Books and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About B.A. Paris

B. A. PARIS is the internationally bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, and Bring Me Back. She grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. The Dilemma is her fourth novel.

Photograph by Philippe Matsas.

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