Category: Mystery/Thriller

#BookReview The Night Swim by Megan Goldin @megangoldin @StMartinsPress #TheNightSwim

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#BookReview The Night Swim by Megan Goldin @megangoldin @StMartinsPress #TheNightSwim Title: The Night Swim

Author: Megan Goldin

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 4, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

In this new thriller from the author of The Escape Room, a podcast host covering a controversial trial in a small town becomes obsessed with a brutal crime that took place there years before.

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?

Review:

Raw, impactful, and thought-provoking!

The Night Swim is a slow-burning, intense mystery that introduces us to the tenacious, driven, podcast-host Rachel Krall as she heads to Neapolis, North Carolina to cover the rape trial of a sixteen-year-old teen by the local superstar athlete and ends up in turn also unexpectedly investigating a twenty-five-year-old murder.

The writing is sharp and edgy. The characters are intelligent, relentless, and determined. And the complex plot told from alternating POVs and through a mixture of narration and podcast-style musings subtly unfolds into a chilling tale of scandal, consent, deception, reputation, coercion, injustice, class division, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Night Swim is a dark, gripping, sensitive tale by Goldin that packs a real emotional punch and does an exceptional job of highlighting the psychological and emotional devastation caused by rape and the cultural stigmatization that regrettably still surrounds it.

 

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 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.

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#BookReview The Vacation by T.M. Logan @TMLoganAuthor @StMartinsPress #TheVacation

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#BookReview The Vacation by T.M. Logan @TMLoganAuthor @StMartinsPress #TheVacation Title: The Vacation

Author: T.M. Logan

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 21, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Seven days. Three families. One killer.

It was supposed to be the perfect holiday – a group of families enjoying a week together in the sun. Four women who have been best friends for as long as they can remember making the most of a luxurious villa in the south of France.

But Kate has a secret: her husband is having an affair. And a week away might just be the perfect opportunity to get the proof she needs – to catch him in the act once and for all. Because she suspects the other woman is one of her two best friends.

One of them is working against her, willing to sacrifice years of friendship to destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined . . .

Because someone in the villa may be prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.

Review:

Twisty, sophisticated, and sinister!

The Vacation is a gripping, pacey, domestic thriller that delves into the intricate and dynamic bonds between friends and family members and reminds us that everything is not always as it seems and behind all those smiles and happy faces often hides an abundance of lies, secrets, and swirling emotions.

The writing is ominous and tight. The characters are complex, troubled, and secretive. And the plot told from multiple perspectives is suspenseful and tense as it quickly twists, turns, and unravels all the actions, motivations, personalities, and relationships within it.

The Vacation at its core is a novel about friendship, deception, parenthood, marital discord, jealousy, obsession, and murder. It’s menacing, intense, and without a doubt a real page-turner you won’t want to miss.

 

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

 

About T.M. Logan

T. M. Logan, the bestselling author of LIES, 29 SECONDS, and THE VACATION, was born in Berkshire to an English father and a German mother. He studied at Queen Mary and Cardiff universities before becoming a national newspaper journalist. He currently works in communications and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children.

Photograph by Sally Utton.

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#BookReview Cut to the Bone by Ellison Cooper @ECooperAuthor @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #CuttotheBone

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#BookReview Cut to the Bone by Ellison Cooper @ECooperAuthor @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #CuttotheBone Title: Cut to the Bone

Author: Ellison Cooper

Series: Agent Sayer Altair #3

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jul. 14, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A bus full of high school students has disappeared from Washington D.C. and FBI neuroscientist Sayer Altair must hunt down the culprit who has a link to her own past.

After grieving the death of her fiancé and almost losing her job, Agent Sayer Altair is finally starting to rebuild her life. Her research into the minds of psychopaths is breaking new ground and her strange little family is thriving. But Sayer’s newfound happiness is threatened when she is called in to investigate a girl’s body left inside a circle of animal figurines below a cryptic message written in blood. When they discover that the dead girl is one of twenty-four missing high school students, Sayer quickly realizes that nothing in this case is what it seems.

As the investigation draws her in to a tangled web of fake identities and false leads, the trail soon begins to point directly to her own life. Now, Sayer must confront her painful past to uncover her connection to the deranged killer if she hopes to save the missing teens and protect everything that she loves.

Review:

Chilling, suspenseful, and fast-paced!

In this riveting third installment in the Agent Sayer Altair series, Cut to the Bone, Cooper has written an unpredictable, sharp, sinuous thriller that takes you on a hunt for a dangerous, mass kidnapper and deranged serial killer who seems to have a fascination with Ancient Egypt, the afterlife, and Washington architecture.

The prose is crisp and precise. The characters are bold, intelligent, and driven. And the plot is an absorbing, tortuous tale full of twists, turns, intrigue, surprises, misinformation, cosmogony, symbolic references, red herrings, violence, and murder.

Overall, Cut to the Bone is a sharp, engrossing, intricate tale that keeps you guessing from the very first page and leaves you unsettled, entertained, and highly satisfied.

 

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

 

About Ellison Cooper

Ellison Cooper has a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA, with a background in archaeology, cultural neuroscience, ancient religion, colonialism, and human rights. She has conducted fieldwork in Central America, West Africa, Micronesia, and Western Europe. She has worked as a murder investigator in Washington DC, and is a certified K9 Search and Rescue Federal Disaster Worker. She now lives in the Bay Area with her husband and son.

Ellison is the author of Caged.

Photograph by Michael Soo.

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#PromoPost The Last Wife by Karen Hamilton @KJHAuthor @HarlequinBooks @Bookclubbish #TheLastWife #KarenHamilton

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#PromoPost The Last Wife by Karen Hamilton @KJHAuthor @HarlequinBooks @Bookclubbish #TheLastWife #KarenHamilton Title: The Last Wife

Author: Karen Hamilton

Published by: Graydon House on Jul. 7, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Harlequin Trade Publishing

From the internationally bestselling author of The Perfect Girlfriend.

Two women. A dying wish. And a web of lies that will bring their world crashing down.

Two women. A dying wish. And a web of lies that will bring their world crashing down.

Nina and Marie were best friends—until Nina was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before she died, Nina asked Marie to fulfill her final wishes.

But her mistake was in thinking Marie was someone she could trust.

What Nina didn’t know was that Marie always wanted her beautiful life, and that Marie has an agenda of her own. She’ll do anything to get what she wants.

Marie thinks she can keep her promise to her friend’s family on her own terms. But what she doesn’t know is that Nina was hiding explosive secrets of her own…

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with a copy.

 

About Karen Hamilton

Karen Hamilton caught the travel bug after an early childhood spent abroad (Angola, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Belgium, and Italy) and having worked as cabin crew for a major airline.
In 2006, she and her husband put down roots in Hampshire UK and four years ago, she later gave up flying to raise their three sons and concentrate on her writing.
In 2009, she decided to 'become a writer.'

The Perfect Girlfriend was her first novel (released March 2018).

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#BookReview Muzzled (Andy Carpenter #21) by David Rosenfelt @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #Muzzled

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#BookReview Muzzled (Andy Carpenter #21) by David Rosenfelt @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #Muzzled Title: Muzzled

Author: David Rosenfelt

Series: Andy Carpenter #21

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jul. 7, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books, NetGalley

Book Rating: 9/10

In David Rosenfelt’s newest Andy Carpenter mystery, Muzzled, Andy and his beloved golden retriever, Tara, are back on the case as a favor to a friend.

Andy Carpenter is a lawyer who would rather not practice law. He’d rather spend his time working with the Tara Foundation, his dog rescue organization, and being with his family and his two dogs, Tara and Sebastian. But when a friend asks him for a favor that involves both dogs and his lawyerly expertise, he can’t say no.

Andy’s friend Beth has found a stray that seems to have belonged to a murder victim–in fact, the man and two of his colleagues died in an explosion a few weeks ago. But when the murdered man contacts Beth, asking for his dog back, Andy knows there must be more to the story. The man claims his life is in danger, and that’s why he disappeared. As much as Andy doesn’t want to get involved–anything to avoid a new case–he can’t help but come to the rescue of a man who’d risk everything, even his life, to reunite with his dog.

Review:

Intricate, fresh, and outrageously funny!

Muzzled is an absorbing, humorous mystery that transports you to Patterson, N.J. where Alex Vogel, one of three men supposedly killed in a boat explosion is arrested for murder when he reappears to claim his dog from the Tara Foundation causing the happily retired, defense attorney Andy Carpenter to once again come out of retirement to defend someone in need.

The prose is witty and crisp. The characters are multilayered, unique, and amusing. And the plot is a funny yet thrilling tale full of twists, turns, mayhem, corruption, coercion, red herrings, deduction, violence, greed, danger, and murder.

Overall, Muzzled is a clever, quirky, suspenseful mystery that kept me absorbed, entertained and laughing out loud from the very first page. It’s hard to believe that this is the first novel I’ve read by Rosenfelt, but I can guarantee it won’t be my last.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from 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 David Rosenfelt

DAVID ROSENFELT is the Edgar-nominated and Shamus Award-winning author of more than twenty Andy Carpenter novels, including One Dog Night, Collared, and Deck the Hounds; its spinoff series, The K-Team; the Doug Brock thriller series, which starts with Fade to Black; and stand-alone thrillers including Heart of a Killer and On Borrowed Time.

Rosenfelt and his wife live in Maine with an ever-changing pack of rescue dogs. Their epic cross-country move with 25 of these dogs, culminating in the creation of the Tara Foundation, is chronicled in Dogtripping.

Photo by Brandy Allen.

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#BookReview Find Them Dead by Peter James @peterjamesuk @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #FindThemDead #RoyGrace

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#BookReview Find Them Dead by Peter James @peterjamesuk @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #FindThemDead #RoyGrace Title: Find Them Dead

Author: Peter James

Series: Roy Grace #16

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Jul. 2, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Roy Grace, creation of the award-winning author Peter James, unearths a powerful criminal network in Find Them Dead.

Ending his secondment to London’s Met Police, Roy Grace gets a tip-off about a county lines drugs mastermind operating out of Brighton. On his first day back in his old job in Sussex, he is called to a seemingly senseless murder.

Separately, Meg Magellan finally has her life back together, five years after the car crash that killed her husband and their son. Her daughter, Laura, now 18, is on her gap year travelling in South America with a friend, and Meg misses her badly. Laura is all she has in the world.

In between jobs, Meg receives a summons for jury service. She’s excited – it might be interesting and will help distract her from constantly worrying about Laura. But when she is selected for the trial of a major Brighton drugs overlord, everything changes.

Gradually, Grace’s investigation draws him increasingly into the sinister sphere of influence of the drug dealer on trial. A man utterly ruthless and evil, prepared to order the death of anyone it takes to enable him to walk free.

Just a few days into jury service, Meg arrives home to find a photograph of Laura, in Ecuador, lying on her kitchen table. Then her phone rings.

A sinister, threatening stranger is on the line. He tells her that if she ever wants to see Laura alive again, it is very simple. At the end of the trial, all she has to do is make sure the jury says just two words . . . Not guilty.

Review:

Sharp, engrossing, and unexpected!

In this menacing sixteenth installment in the Roy Grace series, Find Them Dead, DS Roy Grace is just finishing up his post at the London Met when he quickly becomes immersed in the newly commenced, high-stakes, illegal drug smuggling and distribution trial in Sussex of a ruthless defendant that’s not opposed to a little jury coercion and manipulation to get the verdict he’s hoping for.

The writing is taut and fluid. The characters are scheming, callous, and anxious. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine into a mysterious, courtroom drama filled with corruption, deception, manipulation, malevolence, speculation, violence, and murder.

Overall, Find Them Dead is another solid, complex, cunning addition to the Roy Grace series by James that’s a little different than the usual action-packed police procedural we’re used to and more of a tense, crafty, satisfying legal thriller. 

 

This book is available now.

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

              

 

 

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

 

About Peter James

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

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#BookReview #Giveaway The Lion’s Den by Katherine St. John @thekatstjohn @GrandCentralPub #TheLionsDen #GrandCentralPub

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#BookReview #Giveaway The Lion’s Den by Katherine St. John @thekatstjohn @GrandCentralPub #TheLionsDen #GrandCentralPub Title: The Lion's Den

Author: Katherine St. John

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jun. 30, 2020

Genres: Women's Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A dream vacation on a luxurious yacht turns deadly in this pulse-pounding beach read and perfect book club pick about glamour, friendship, romance, and betrayal on the Riviera.

Belle likes to think herself immune to the dizzying effects of fabulous wealth. But when her best friend, Summer, invites her on a glamorous girls’ getaway to the Mediterranean aboard her billionaire boyfriend’s yacht, the only sensible answer is yes. Belle hopes the trip will be a much-needed break from her stalled acting career and uniquely humiliating waitressing job, but once aboard the luxurious Lion’s Den, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems.

The dream vacation quickly devolves into a nightmare as Belle and the handful of other girlfriends Summer has invited are treated more like prisoners than guests by their controlling host, and Belle comes to see Summer for what she truly is: a vicious gold digger who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Belle soon realizes she’s going to have to keep her wits about her — and her own big secret close to her chest — if she wants to make it off the yacht alive.

Review:

Salacious, mysterious, and addictive!

The Lion’s Den is a passionate, alluring tale that takes us into the lives of the rich, glamorous and famous and their not so wealthy friends, and reminds us that not everything is always as it seems and as well as having designer clothes, expensive cars, and fancy yachts they also seem to have an abundance of power, temptation, jealousy, scandal, sex, rivalry, jealousy, deception, tragedy, violence, and murder.

The writing is smooth and fluid. The characters are self-indulgent, secretive, and ambitious. And the plot is a sinister tale that’s humorous, clever, unpredictable, suspenseful and incredibly absorbing.

Overall, I would have to say that The Lion’s Den is a scintillating, enjoyable, outrageously entertaining treat by St. John that’s perfect for anyone who loves a story with a little backstabbing, glamour, gossip, sexual hijinks, and revenge.

 

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.

 

GIVEAWAY!

I’m giving two people a chance to win a copy of The Lion’s Den. To enter please visit my Instagram page HERE! 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for sponsoring the giveaway! All giveaway information can be found in the Instagram Giveaway Post. Books will be mailed by the publisher to the randomly chosen winners. Good luck!

 

About Katherine St. John

Katherine St. John is a native of Mississippi and graduate of the University of Southern California. Over the years she has worked as an actress, screenwriter, director, photographer, producer, singer/songwriter, legal assistant, bartender/waitress, yoga instructor, real estate agent, and travel coordinator… but finds she likes writing novels best. Katherine currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview The Dilemma by B. A. Paris @BAParisAuthor @StMartinsPress #TheDilemma

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#BookReview The Dilemma by B. A. Paris @BAParisAuthor @StMartinsPress #TheDilemma Title: The Dilemma

Author: B.A. Paris

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jun. 30, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Knowing the truth will destroy her. Keeping it secret will destroy him.

It’s Livia’s 40th birthday, and her husband Adam is throwing her the party of a lifetime to make up for the wedding they never had. Everyone she loves will be there, except her daughter Marnie, who’s studying abroad. But Livia is secretly glad Marnie won’t be there.

Livia has recently uncovered a secret about their daughter which, if revealed, will shake the foundation of their family to its core. She needs to tell Adam, but she’s waiting until the party is over so they can have this last happy time together.

Adam, meanwhile, has his own surprise for Livia: he’s arranged for Marnie to secretly fly back for the party. But before Marnie arrives, Adam hears some terrible news. Now he too is faced with a dilemma: Does he share what he’s learned with his wife? Is hiding the truth the same as telling a lie? And how far are Adam and Livia willing to go to protect the ones they love—and give each other a last few hours of happiness?

Review:

Pensive, unsettling, and emotional!

The Dilemma is a poignant, intense, domestic drama that immerses you into the lives of the Harman family as they each grapple with weighty decisions, make potentially unforgivable choices, keep devastating secrets, and receive news that will shatter their lives forever.

The writing is gripping and unnerving. The characters are anxious, secretive, and troubled. And the plot told from two different perspectives uses an alternating, back-and-forth style to create tension and unease as it subtly unravels all the personalities, relationships, behaviours, and histories within it.

Overall, The Dilemma is, ultimately, a novel about life, love, loss, marriage, friendship, parenting, expectations, secrets, betrayal, fear, anguish, tragedy, and repercussions. It’s not the usual psychological thriller we’ve come to expect by Paris but is nevertheless an edgy, tight, emotionally compelling, thought-provoking tale.

 

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 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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#BookReview A Woman Alone by Nina Laurin @NinaLaurinBooks @GrandCentralPub @HBGCanada #AWomanAlone

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#BookReview A Woman Alone by Nina Laurin @NinaLaurinBooks @GrandCentralPub @HBGCanada #AWomanAlone Title: A Woman Alone

Author: Nina Laurin

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jun. 23, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins

Format: Paperback

Source: HBG Canada, Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A house with the darkest of secrets.
A woman who is the only one who knows.

It’s another bright, sunny day in Venture, Illinois, the sort of place where dreams come true and families can get a fresh start. Cecelia Holmes deserves it after the home invasion that shattered her previous life. Now everything seems perfect – her high-security SmartHome, her doting husband, her sweet daughter.

Until she begins to feel spied on. Her husband doesn’t believe her. Her neighbors ignore her. So when she discovers a shocking secret about the prior occupant of their house, she feels that she has no one to turn to. And now Cecelia must face her fears alone…

Review:

Brisk, intense, and clever!

A Woman Alone is a suspenseful, psychological thriller that introduces us to Cecelia Holmes, a young wife who after suffering a traumatic experience moves with her husband and three-year-old daughter into a new home in Venture, Illinois, a smart community where your every whim and need is controlled by AI technology and your safety and security is at utmost importance until the day the computers begin to malfunction, secrets begin creeping out of the woodwork, and danger lurks around every corner.

The writing is crisp and edgy. The characters are unreliable, distressed, and secretive. And the plot is a disturbingly eerie tale of control, betrayal, obsession, deception, familial drama, isolation, revenge, violence, and murder.

Overall, A Woman Alone is a twisty, creepy, sinister page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish and is a wonderful reminder of just how vulnerable and susceptible our dependence on technology truly makes us.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

 

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

 

About Nina Laurin

Nina Laurin studied Creative Writing at Concordia University in Montreal, where she currently lives. She arrived there when she was just twelve years old, and she speaks and reads in Russian, French, and English but writes her novels in English. She wrote her first novel while getting her writing degree, and Girl Last Seen was a bestseller a year later in 2017.

Nina is fascinated by the darker side of mundane things, and she’s always on the lookout for her next twisted book idea.

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#BookReview The Mobster’s Lament by Ray Celestin @PGCBooks @MantleBooks #TheMobstersLament

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#BookReview The Mobster’s Lament by Ray Celestin @PGCBooks @MantleBooks #TheMobstersLament Title: The Mobster's Lament

Author: Ray Celestin

Series: City Blues Quartet #3

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Jun. 1, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 576

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Award-winning author Ray Celestin’s The Mobster’s Lament is both a gripping crime novel and a vivid, panoramic portrait of 1940s New York as the mob rises to the height of its powers.

From the acclaimed author of The Axeman’s Jazz and Dead Man’s Blues, Ray Celestin’s gripping third book follows a gangster’s last chance to escape the clutches of New York’s mafia families, but as a blizzard descends on NYC, a ruthless serial killer is tracking his every move.

New York, 1947. Mob fixer Gabriel Leveson’s plans to flee the city are put on hold when he is tasked with tracking down stolen mob money by ‘the boss of all bosses,’ Frank Costello. But while he’s busy looking, he doesn’t notice who’s watching him.

Meanwhile, Private Investigator Ida Young and her old partner, Michael Talbot, must prove the innocence of Talbot’s son Tom, who has been accused of the brutal murders of four people in a Harlem flophouse. With all the evidence pointing towards him, their only chance of exoneration is to find the killer themselves.

Whilst across town, Ida’s childhood friend, Louis Armstrong, is on the brink of bankruptcy, when a promoter approaches him with a strange offer to reignite his career.

Both a gripping neo-noir crime novel and a vivid, panoramic portrait of New York, The Mobster’s Lament takes you to the heart of a city where the Mob has risen to the height of its powers.

Review:

Gritty, atmospheric, and action-packed!

The Mobster’s Lament is a pacey, enthralling thriller set in New York City in the late 1940s when America was still recovering from war, politicians were as dirty as they come, Italian gangsters were running the streets, the Copacabana nightclub was the place to see and be seen, and Jazz was still dominating the airwaves.

The prose is crisp and clear. The characters are focused, driven, and multilayered. And the plot is a fast-paced, riveting tale full of twists, turns, action, intrigue, power, corruption, deduction, duplicity, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Mobster’s Lament is another sinister, compelling, exceptionally absorbing, gangster tale by Celestin that does a fantastic job of blending real-life historical figures, insightful information, and gripping fiction into an unputdownable story.

This book is available now.

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

                 

 

 

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

 

About Ray Celestin

Ray Celestin is a novelist and screenwriter based in London. His debut novel, The Axeman’s Jazz, won the CWA New Blood Dagger for best debut crime novel of the year, and was featured on numerous ‘Books of the Year’ lists. His follow-up, Dead Man’s Blues, won the Historia Historical Thriller of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for a number of other awards, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. The novels are part of a series – ‘The City Blues Quartet’ – which charts the twin histories of jazz and the mob through the middle 50 years of the twentieth century. The Mobster’s Lament is the third instalment in this series.

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