Genre: Mystery/Thriller

#BookReview Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier @JenniferHillier @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers

#BookReview Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier @JenniferHillier @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers Title: Little Secrets

Author: Jennifer Hillier

Published by: Minotaur Books on Apr. 21, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 10/10

From the author of Jar of Hearts, a mother driven to the edge by the disappearance of her son learns her husband is having an affair with the woman who might have kidnapped him.
Four hundred and eighty seconds. That’s how long it took for someone to steal Marin Machado’s four-year-old son.

Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They’re admired in their community and are a loving family. Up until the day Sebastian is taken.

A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. The only thing keeping her going is the unlikely chance that one day Sebastian reappears. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding him, she discovers that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman.

Kenzie Li is an artist and grad student—Instagram famous—and up to her eyeballs in debt. She knows Derek is married. She also knows he’s rich, and dating him comes with perks: help with bills, trips away, expensive gifts. He isn’t her first rich boyfriend, but she finds herself hoping he’ll be the last. She’s falling for him—and that was never part of the plan.

Discovery of the affair sparks Marin back to life. She’s lost her son; she’s not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix. But as she sets a plan in motion, another revelation surfaces. Derek’s lover might know what happened to their son. And so might Derek.


Review:

Intricate, chilling, and brilliantly plotted!

Little Secrets is a highly suspenseful, domestic thriller that delves into the psychological and emotional devastation caused by the disappearance of a child and highlights the resulting finger-pointing, fragility and dynamics between friends, family members, and spouses it ultimately triggers.

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are troubled, complex, and secretive. And the plot alternating between timelines, before-and-after the incident, builds quickly as it twists, turns, shocks, surprises, and unravels all the behaviours, motivations, personalities, and relationships within it.

Little Secrets at its core is a novel about family, friendship, secrets, manipulation, coercion, greed, obsession, kidnapping, lust, and infidelity. It’s a highly suspenseful, absorbing tale that highlights everything is not always as it seems and is without a doubt one of the most gripping page-turners you won’t want to miss.

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

 

About Jennifer Hillier

JENNIFER HILLIER was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, lived in the Seattle area for years, and has just moved back to Toronto with her husband and son. Jennifer is the author of Wonderland, Creep, and Jar of Hearts.

Photograph by Darren Blohowiak.

#BookReview Die Next by Jonathan Stone @jonstonebooks @GrandCentralPub @HBGCanada #DieNext

#BookReview Die Next by Jonathan Stone @jonstonebooks @GrandCentralPub @HBGCanada #DieNext Title: Die Next

Author: Jonathan Stone

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Apr. 14, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 7.5/10

From bestselling author Jonathan Stone comes a pulse-pounding thriller for the digital age that will make you question everything that you have ever saved on your phone.

In a crowded coffee shop, Zack Yellin swaps identical-looking cell phones with the businessman next to him. It’s an honest mistake-and a deadly one. Because the “businessman” is actually a professional-and highly volatile-hit man named Joey Richter, and his phone is filled with bombshell evidence.

If Zack takes Joey’s phone to the police, will they believe his swapped cell phone story? Would they even be able to protect him? Because the hit man now has Zack’s phone with the phone numbers and addresses of Zack’s new girlfriend Emily, his best friend Steve, and all the texts and information from Zack’s life.

Whether Zack keeps the phone or ditches it, Joey will kill him for what he now knows. In cat-and-mouse twists, turns, and continually mounting terror, one thing is clear: Zack is next on the hit man’s list.


Review:

Propulsive, ominous, and entertaining!

Die Next is an action-packed, sinister tale that introduces us to Zack Yellin, an unmotivated, unemployed young man whose life is irrevocably changed when he accidentally swaps phones with a hired killer and ultimately puts not only his own life in danger but that of his girlfriend and best friend. 

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are impulsive, intelligent, and determined. And the plot is a gripping tale full of twists, turns, desperation, corruption, revenge, violence, and murder.

Overall, Die Next is a fast-paced, suspenseful, intense read by Stone that does a great job of highlighting just how quickly life can spin out of control based on the choices we make.

 

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

 

About Jonathan Stone

Jonathan Stone, author of the Julian Palmer novels, is a graduate of Yale University, where he was a Scholar of the House in Fiction Writing and twice won the English Department's John Hubbard Curtis Prize for Best Imaginative Writing. He works in advertising and lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BlogTour #BookReview Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks @MariahFrederick @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #DeathofanAmericanBeauty

#BlogTour #BookReview Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks @MariahFrederick @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #DeathofanAmericanBeauty Title: Death of an American Beauty

Author: Mariah Fredericks

Series: Jane Prescott #3

Published by: Minotaur Books on Apr. 14, 2020

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 272

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Death of an American Beauty is the third in Mariah Fredericks’s compelling series, set in Gilded Age New York, featuring Jane Prescott.

Jane Prescott is taking a break from her duties as lady’s maid for a week, and plans to begin it with attending the hottest and most scandalous show in town: the opening of an art exhibition, showcasing the cubists, that is shocking New York City.

1913 is also the fiftieth anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation speech, and the city’s great and good are determined to celebrate in style. Dolly Rutherford, heiress to the glamorous Rutherford’s department store empire, has gathered her coterie of society ladies to put on a play—with Jane’s employer Louise Tyler in the starring role as Lincoln himself. Jane is torn between helping the ladies with their costumes and enjoying her holiday. But fate decides she will do neither, when a woman is found murdered outside Jane’s childhood home—a refuge for women run by her uncle.

Deeply troubled as her uncle falls under suspicion and haunted by memories of a woman she once knew, Jane—with the help of old friends and new acquaintances, reporter Michael Behan and music hall pianist Leo Hirschfeld—is determined to discover who is making death into their own twisted art form.


Review:

Authentic, atmospheric, and mysterious!

In this latest novel by Fredericks, Death of an American Beauty, we head back to Manhattan during the early twentieth century and into the life of lady’s maid, Jane Prescott whose highly-anticipated vacation is suddenly turned upside down when a resident of her uncle’s refuge for reformed prostitutes is found viciously murdered, and the American Beauty Pagent is in urgent need of a last-minute seamstress.

The prose is meticulous and rich. The characters are independent, intelligent, and resourceful. And the plot is a well-paced whodunit full of amateur sleuthing, red herrings, suspects, deduction, familial dynamics, duty, friendship, secrets, racial inequality, sexism, romance, violence, and murder.

Death of an American Beauty is the third book in the Jane Prescott series, and if you love historical mysteries, this novel won’t disappoint. It is a menacing, entertaining, vivid tale that is certainly well worth a read.

 

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

 

About Mariah Fredericks

Mariah Fredericks was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives with her family. She is the author of several YA novels. Death of an American Beauty is her third novel to feature ladies' maid Jane Prescott.

 

#BookReview A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones @Darynda @smpromance @StMartinsPress #SunshineVicram #smpromance

#BookReview A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones @Darynda @smpromance @StMartinsPress #SunshineVicram #smpromance Title: A Bad Day for Sunshine

Author: Darynda Jones

Series: Sunshine Vicram #1

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 7, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Romantic Suspense

Pages: 400

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram finds her cup o’ joe more than half full when the small village of Del Sol, New Mexico, becomes the center of national attention for a kidnapper on the loose.

Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, its strong cups of coffee—and a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff–an election her adorably meddlesome parents entered her in–and she expects her biggest crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of it’s reminding Sunny why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that trouble at her daughter’s new school and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and Sunshine has her hands full.

Enter sexy almost-old-flame Levi Ravinder and a hunky US Marshall, both elevens on a scale of one to blazing inferno, and the normally savvy sheriff is quickly in over her head. Now it’s up to Sunshine to juggle a few good hunky men, a not-so-nice kidnapping miscreant, and Doug the ever-pesky flasher. And they said coming home would be drama-free.


Review:

Quirky, clever, suspenseful, and outrageously funny!

A Bad Day for Sunshine is a sexy, compelling read that transports you to Del Sol, New Mexico, where strange and unusual things are known to happen, and new police chief, Sunshine Vicram, is having quite the first day with a runaway vehicle, a missing teenage girl, a lost, special needs boy, the kidnapping of a valuable rooster, as well as the unexpected presence of her unrequited love interest and the haunting memories of a past she’d like to forget.

The prose is witty and sharp. The characters are unique, multilayered, and endearing. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel quickly into a humourous, yet thrilling tale filled with family, friendship, heartbreak, secrets, jealousy, obsession, mystique, violence, spirited hijinks, hilarious mishaps, and small-town antics.

Overall, A Bad Day for Sunshine is an intricate, fresh, edgy mystery that kept me entertained and amused from the very first page. It’s the first novel I’ve read by Jones, but based on this creative, fantastic start to this new Sunshine Vicram series, I can guarantee you 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 for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Darynda Jones

NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious RITA, a Golden Heart, and a Daphne du Maurier. As a born storyteller, she grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike. She currently has two series with St. Martin's Press, the Charley Davidson Series and the Darklight Trilogy. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of more than 25 years and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview A Killer’s Wife (Desert Plains #1) by Victor Methos @VictorMethos @AmazonPub @ThomasAllenLTD

#BookReview A Killer’s Wife (Desert Plains #1) by Victor Methos @VictorMethos @AmazonPub @ThomasAllenLTD Title: A Killer's Wife

Author: Victor Methos

Series: Desert Plains #1

Published by: Thomas & Mercer on Mar. 1, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 362

Format: Paperback

Source: Thomas Allen & Son

Book Rating: 9/10

From the bestselling author of The Neon Lawyer comes a gripping thriller about a prosecutor confronted with the darkest part of her past and the worst fears for her future…

Fourteen years ago, prosecutor Jessica Yardley’s husband went to prison for a series of brutal murders. She’s finally created a life with her daughter and is a well-respected attorney. She’s moving on. But when a new rash of homicides has her ex-husband, Eddie, written all over them—the nightmares of her past come back to life.

The FBI asks Jessica to get involved in the hunt for this copycat killer—which means visiting her ex and collaborating with the man who tore her life apart.

As the copycat’s motives become clearer, the new life Jessica created for herself gets darker. She must ask herself who she can trust and if she’s capable of stopping the killer—a man whose every crime is a bloody valentine from a twisted mastermind she’s afraid she may never escape.


Review:

Addictive, suspenseful, and twisty!

In this absorbing first installment in the Desert Plains series, A Killer’s Wife, Methos has written a sharp, sinister thrill ride featuring the resilient and tough prosecutor, Jessica and the dependable FBI Agent, Baldwin as they join forces to hunt a cold, calculating serial killer with a penchant for reenacting the most heinous of crimes.

The writing is taut and intense. The characters are meticulous, persistent, and tormented. And the plot is an engrossing, eerie whodunit full of twists, turns, lies, deception, familial drama, obsession, depravity, violence, and murder.

Overall, A Killer’s Wife is a fast-paced, tortuous, disturbing tale that does an exceptional job of reminding us that evil often lives comfortably amongst us merely concealed behind masks of normality.

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to Thomas Allen & Son for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Victor Methos

Victor Methos is the bestselling author of over 50 novels and is nominated for the prestigious Edgar Award for best novel by the Mystery Writers of America. He attended law school at the University of Utah and has been both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, having conducted more than 100 trials ranging from homicides and death penalty cases, to defending the rights of Native American tribes to practice their religion freely, and fighting for the rights of the mentally and physically disabled.
Methos' books have sold more than a million copies worldwide and have been #1 bestselling hits in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia and throughout the world. He currently splits his time between Utah and Las Vegas.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview Cross Her Heart (Bree Taggert #1) by Melinda Leigh @MelindaLeigh1 @AmazonPub #montlakeromance

#BookReview Cross Her Heart (Bree Taggert #1) by Melinda Leigh @MelindaLeigh1 @AmazonPub #montlakeromance Title: Cross Her Heart

Author: Melinda Leigh

Series: Bree Taggert #1

Published by: Montlake Romance on Mar. 17, 2020

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 327

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Amazon Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

A homicide detective’s violent family history repeats itself in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, secrets, and retribution.

For more than twenty-five years, Philadelphia homicide detective Bree Taggert has tucked away the nightmarish childhood memories of her parents’ murder-suicide…Until her younger sister, Erin, is killed in a crime that echoes that tragic night: innocent witnesses and a stormy marriage that ended in gunfire. There’s just one chilling difference. Erin’s husband, Justin, has vanished.

Bree knows how explosive the line between love and hate can be, yet the evidence against her troubled brother-in-law isn’t adding up. Teaming up with Justin’s old friend, former sheriff’s investigator and K-9 handler Matt Flynn, Bree vows to uncover the secrets of her sister’s life and death, as she promised Erin’s children. But as her investigation unfolds, the danger hits close to home. Once again, Bree’s family is caught in a death grip. And this time, it could be fatal for her.


Review:

Twisty, menacing, and intense!

In this compelling first installment in the Bree Taggert series, Cross Her Heart, Leigh has written a well-paced whodunit where cases from the past and the present collide, suspects are numerous, and danger lurks around every corner.

The writing is smooth and tight. The characters are dependable, persistent, and troubled. And the plot is a captivating police procedural with lots of twists, turns, red herrings, familial drama, deception, jealousy, obsession, abuse, murder and a dab of romance.

Overall, Cross Her Heart is a suspenseful, entertaining, sinister tale that’s an encouraging start for this new series with its intriguing characters, and engaging storyline.

 

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Melinda Leigh

#1 Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon bestselling author Melinda Leigh is a fully recovered banker who learned that writing books is way more fun than analyzing financial statements. Melinda's debut novel, SHE CAN RUN, was nominated for Best First Novel by the International Thriller Writers. Since then, she has garnered numerous writing accolades, including two RITA® Award nominations and an induction into the NJ Romance Writers Hall of Fame. Her novels have sold more than 7.5 million copies across the world. Melinda loves martial arts, rescue dogs, and sea turtles.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress

#BookReview The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress Title: The Woman in the Mirror

Author: Rebecca James

Published by: Minotaur Books on Mar. 17, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8/10

Rebecca James unveils a chilling modern gothic novel of a family consumed by the shadows and secrets of its past in The Woman in the Mirror.

For more than two centuries, Winterbourne Hall has stood atop a bluff overseeing the English countryside of Cornwall and the sea beyond.

In 1947, Londoner Alice Miller accepts a post as governess at Winterbourne, looking after Captain Jonathan de Grey’s twin children. Falling under the de Greys’ spell, Alice believes the family will heal her own past sorrows. But then the twins’ adoration becomes deceitful and taunting. Their father, ever distant, turns spiteful and cruel. The manor itself seems to lash out. Alice finds her surroundings subtly altered, her air slightly chilled. Something malicious resents her presence, something clouding her senses and threatening her very sanity.

In present day New York, art gallery curator Rachel Wright has learned she is a descendant of the de Greys and heir to Winterbourne. Adopted as an infant, she never knew her birth parents or her lineage. At long last, Rachel will find answers to questions about her identity that have haunted her entire life. But what she finds in Cornwall is a devastating tragic legacy that has afflicted generations of de Greys. A legacy borne from greed and deceit, twisted by madness, and suffused with unrequited love and unequivocal rage.


Review:

Intense, sinister, and mystical!

In this debut novel by James, The Woman in the Mirror, she transports us to the rugged cliffside of Cornwall, England during 1947, as well as present-day, and into a family manor where powerful emotions swirl, tragic memories reside, and long-buried skeletons and secrets are in abundance.

The prose is ominous and dark. The characters are complex, lonely, and troubled, with the setting, Winterborne Hall, being a character itself with its dereliction and isolation. And the plot told from alternating timelines is a gripping, suspenseful tale full of familial drama, heartache, tension, obsession, death, revenge, cruelty, desperation, and violence, all interwoven with a sliver of the supernatural.

Overall, The Woman in the Mirror is a gothic, atmospheric, eerie tale that captivates from the very first page and ultimately leaves you chilled, mystified, and entertained.

 

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

 

About Rebecca James

Rebecca James worked in publishing for several years before leaving to write full-time, and is now the author of several novels written under a pseudonym, as well as The Woman in the Mirror under her own name. Her favorite things are autumn walks, Argentinean red wine and curling up in the winter with a good old-fashioned ghost story. She lives in Bristol with her husband and two daughters.

Photograph by Marte Lundby Rekaa

#BlogTour #BookReview Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks @arrowpublishing @HeidiPerksBooks #ThreePerfectLiars

#BlogTour #BookReview Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks @arrowpublishing @HeidiPerksBooks #ThreePerfectLiars Title: Three Perfect Liars

Author: Heidi Perks

Published by: Century on Mar. 12, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Arrow Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

When a body is pulled out of an office fire, three women are first in line for questioning.
All of them have reasons for wanting revenge against the company’s CEO.

It could be Laura, who has returned to work to find that her maternity cover isn’t leaving. The CEO insists he’s doing what’s best for the company. Laura isn’t convinced he’s telling the truth.

Or there’s Mia. Brought in as temporary cover for Laura, she has quickly made herself indispensable – and popular with her colleagues. But if people knew why she was so desperate to keep her job, they might not welcome her so freely.

Then there’s Janie, wife to the CEO, who gave up her courtroom career to support her husband and his business. She has her own secret to protect – and will go to any length to keep it safe.

They never thought it would come to this.


Review:

Ominous, slow-burning, and secretive!

Three Perfect Liars is a compelling, malicious, character-driven thriller that takes you into the lives of three main characters. Janie, a big-city defence attorney, turned stay-at-home mom; Mia, a temporary employee with a hidden agenda; and Laura, a new mom returning to work where her replacement seems to be bound and determined to steal her job.

The writing is tight and tense. The characters are consumed, secretive, and troubled. And the plot told using a mixture of narrative, police interviews, and alternating timelines, before-and-after the fire is a suspenseful tale full of well-timed twists, unforeseen surprises, deception, insecurities, lies, obsession, manipulation, violence, arson, and murder.

Overall, Three Perfect Liars is an addictive, clever, tortuous tale by Perks that highlights the complex relationships that exist within a company and reminds us that revenge often has no limits.

 

This novel is available now.

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

          

 

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House UK – Arrow Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Heidi Perks

Heidi Perks was born in 1973. She lives by the sea in Bournemouth with her husband and two children.
Heidi graduated from Bournemouth University in 1997 with a BA (Hons) in Retail Management, and then enjoyed a career in Marketing before leaving in 2012 to focus on both bringing up her family and writing.
Heidi successfully applied for a place on the inaugural Curtis Brown Creative online Novel Writing Course and after that dedicated her time to completing her first novel, Beneath The Surface.
She has a huge interest in what makes people tick and loves to write about family relationships, especially where some of the characters are slightly dysfunctional.

 

#BookReview Lost Boy Found by Kirsten Alexander @kirstenalex @GrandCentralPub @HBGCanada #LostBoyFound

#BookReview Lost Boy Found by Kirsten Alexander @kirstenalex @GrandCentralPub @HBGCanada #LostBoyFound Title: Lost Boy Found

Author: Kirsten Alexander

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Mar. 10, 2020

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

Perfect for fans of the NYT bestseller Sold on a Monday, this Southern historical novel based on the true story of a boy’s mysterious disappearance examines despair, loyalty, and the nature of truth. Originally published in Australia as Half Moon Lake.

In 1913, on a summer’s day at Half Moon Lake, Louisiana, four-year-old Sonny Davenport walks into the woods and never returns.

The boy’s mysterious disappearance from the family’s lake house makes front-page news in their home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential, and will do anything to find their son. For two years, the Davenports search across the South, offer increasingly large rewards and struggle not to give in to despair. Then, at the moment when all hope seems lost, the boy is found in the company of a tramp.

But is he truly Sonny Davenport? The circumstances of his discovery raise more questions than answers. And when Grace Mill, an unwed farm worker, travels from Alabama to lay claim to the child, newspapers, townsfolk, even the Davenports’ own friends, take sides.

As the tramp’s kidnapping trial begins, and two desperate mothers fight for ownership of the boy, the people of Opelousas discover that truth is more complicated than they’d ever dreamed.


Review:

Engaging, unsettling, and thought-provoking!

Lost Boy Found is a compelling story that sweeps you away to Louisana during the early 1900s and delves into the anxiety and terror experienced when a mother’s worst nightmare comes true and explores the physical, psychological and emotional extremes parents are willing to take in order to find their child and bring them home safely.

The writing is descriptive and didactic. The characters are despondent, anxious, and relentless. And the plot is a harrowing tale about life, loss, heartbreak, familial dynamics, hope, manipulation, corruption, prejudice, class division, ethics, and morality.

Overall, Lost Boy Found is a heart-sickening, twisty tale by Alexander that does a beautiful job of expressing the emotional devastation and shocking injustice that actually occurred in the real-life tragedy that inspired it.

 

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 Kirsten Alexander

Kirsten Alexander is the author of two novels, Half Moon Lake (PRH, Australia & NZ, 2019; published as Lost Boy Found by Grand Central/Hachette, US & Canada 2020) and Riptides (PRH, 2020). She is writing her third novel.

She is also co-founder of short story site Storymart: www.storymart.com

Kirsten has worked as a nonfiction book editor, copywriter (inhouse four years for Aesop, also for Crumpler, M.L. Vintage, House + Universe), and occasional article writer (for the Age, the Daily Beast, Notebook, the Melbourne Weekly, Atticus Review and others). She’s worked as a reviewer for ABC Radio National’s The Book Show, a magazine section editor, and content manager for several websites.

She was co-founder and editor of three-volume digital journal Open Field.

Kirsten was born in San Francisco, raised in Brisbane, and lives in Melbourne with her partner and two sons.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BlogTour #BookReview When You See Me by Lisa Gardner @LisaGarnderBks @arrowpublishing #WhenYouSeeMe

#BlogTour #BookReview When You See Me by Lisa Gardner @LisaGarnderBks @arrowpublishing #WhenYouSeeMe Title: When You See Me

Author: Lisa Gardner

Series: Detective D.D. Warren #11

Published by: Century on Feb. 20, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Arrow Publishing

Book Rating: 10/10

A body is found in the hills – but the truth still lies buried…

In a small town in the Deep South, Flora Dane is part of a task force committed to hunting down every last trace of notorious serial kidnapper Jacob Ness. As his last victim, imprisoned by Ness in a small box for over a year, she knew him better than most. Even after his death, his evil still lingers.

But this is the kind of town that doesn’t take kindly to strangers asking questions.

The kind of town where dark secrets lurk just beneath the surface.

The kind of town she might not leave alive.


Review:

Propulsive, Riveting, and disturbing!

In this latest novel by Gardner, When You See Me, Detective D.D. Warren, FBI Agent Kimberly Quincy, and survivor-turned-vigilante Flora Dane head to the Georgia Hills where authorities believe bones of an early Jacob Ness victim have been found. But as the investigation unfolds and more bones are discovered it would seem that things in the charming town of Niche aren’t quite what they first appeared and a much darker, sinister danger seems to be at play.

The writing is gritty and tight. The characters are diligent, scarred, and relentless. And the plot told from multiple perspectives keeps you on the edge of your seat as it submerges you into a menacing tale full of twists, turns, secrets, red herrings, deception, manipulation, deduction, attraction, mayhem, violence, and murder.

Once again, When You See Me has proven that when it comes to writing exceptionally complex, fast-paced, deftly plotted, police procedurals with exceptional character development and nefarious storylines Gardner is definitely one of the best.

This book is available now.

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

               

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House UK – Arrow Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lisa Gardner

New York Times bestselling crime novelist Lisa Gardner began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. A self-described research junkie, she has parlayed her interest in police procedure, cutting edge forensics and twisted plots into a streak of eleven bestselling suspense novels.

Lisa lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with her family, as well as two highly spoiled dogs and one extremely neurotic three-legged cat. Lisa graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in international relations.