Genre: Mystery/Thriller

#BookReview Someone in the Attic by Andrea Mara @PenguinRandomCA #SomeoneInTheAttic #AndreaMara #PenguinReads #PenguinRandomCA

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#BookReview Someone in the Attic by Andrea Mara @PenguinRandomCA #SomeoneInTheAttic #AndreaMara #PenguinReads #PenguinRandomCA Title: Someone in the Attic

Author: Andrea Mara

Published by: Viking on Aug. 20, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House

Book Rating: 8/10

You thought you were home alone.

Anya is enjoying a relaxing bath when she hears a noise coming from the ceiling. Through the open bathroom door, she sees the attic hatch swing down, and a masked figure drops to the floor. Thirty seconds later, Anya is dead.

You’re not afraid of being alone in the dark. You’re afraid you’re not alone.

Across town, Anya’s old school friend, Julia, sees an online video of a masked figure climbing out of an attic. She suddenly realizes why the footage is eerily familiar: it was filmed inside her house in a luxury gated community, designed to keep intruders out.

And now your worst fears are coming true.

Why would a stranger target Julia? Unless of course, it’s not a stranger at all.

Review:

Brisk, intense, and ominous!

Someone in the Attic is a tortuous, simmering thriller that introduces us to Julia, a young mother who, after recently returning to Ireland with her children and ex-husband to start a new life, quickly discovers that no one is who they claim to be, everyone has something to hide, danger lurks around every corner, and the past always seems to have a way of creeping back and colliding with the present.

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are consumed, troubled, and secretive. And the plot is an unnerving, suspenseful tale of deception, manipulation, suspicions, revelations, obsession, indiscretions, nefarious intentions, vengeance and murder.

Overall, Someone in the Attic is a sinister, atmospheric, twisty whodunit by Mara that does a wonderful job of highlighting just how easily people can be emotionally and psychologically exploited while at the same time reminding us just how vulnerable and susceptible our dependence on technology and social media truly makes us.

 

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 Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Andrea Mara

Andrea Mara is a number one international bestselling author. Several of her books have been shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year awards. She lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband and three young children. Someone in the Attic is her US debut.

Photo by Meabh Fitzpatrick.

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#BookReview Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AgonyHill #SarahStewartTaylor #FranklinWarrenSeries #MinotaurInfluencers

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#BookReview Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AgonyHill #SarahStewartTaylor #FranklinWarrenSeries #MinotaurInfluencers Title: Agony Hill

Author: Sarah Stewart Taylor

Series: Franklin Warren #1

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Set in rural Vermont in the volatile 1960s, Agony Hill is the first novel in a new historical series full of vivid New England atmosphere and the deeply drawn characters that are Sarah Stewart Taylor’s trademark.

In the hot summer of 1965, Bostonian Franklin Warren arrives in Bethany, Vermont, to take a position as a detective with the state police. Warren’s new home is on the verge of monumental change; the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems to Vermont, and the Cold War and protests against the war in Vietnam have finally reached the dirt roads and rolling pastures of Bethany.

Warren has barely unpacked when he’s called up to a remote farm on Agony Hill. Former New Yorker and Back-to-the-Lander Hugh Weber seems to have set fire to his barn and himself, with the door barred from the inside, but things aren’t adding up for Warren. The people of Bethany—from Weber’s enigmatic wife to Warren’s neighbor, widow and amateur detective Alice Bellows — clearly have secrets they’d like to keep, but Warren can’t tell if the truth about Weber’s death is one of them. As he gets to know his new home and grapples with the tragedy that brought him there, Warren is drawn to the people and traditions of small town Vermont, even as he finds darkness amidst the beauty.

Review:

Astute, sinister, and immersive!

Agony Hill is an engrossing, gritty novel that takes us to Bethany, Vermont, in 1965, where newly hired state police detective Franklin Warren suddenly finds himself mixed up in a complex investigation involving the death of a local farmer that may be the result of suicide, arson, or just plain murder.

The prose is authentic and rich. The characters are flawed, intelligent, and tenacious. And the plot unfolds and unravels quickly into a compelling mix of family, community, intrigue, drama, secrets, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, Agony Hill is a suspenseful, absorbing, atmospheric tale by Taylor that is a thoroughly enjoyable read and a fantastic start to this new Franklin Warren series.

 

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 gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sarah Stewart Taylor

Sarah Stewart Taylor grew up on Long Island and was educated at Middlebury College and Trinity College, Dublin. She lives with her husband and three children on a farm in Vermont where they raise sheep and blueberries.

Sarah is the author of THE MOUNTAINS WILD, an atmospheric thriller about a Long Island homicide detective named Maggie D'Arcy who returns to Ireland twenty-three years after the unsolved disappearance of her beloved cousin Erin in the Wicklow Mountains. When a young woman disappears and new evidence from Erin’s case is found, Maggie will have to uncover the truth about the Irish man she's never stopped loving and, in order to help Irish police save the missing woman, the truth about who Erin was and what happened to her.

It will be published by Minotaur Books on June 23, 2020.

Sarah is also the author of the Sweeney St. George mystery series, about an art historian who studies funerary art, "the art of death," from Minotaur Books. The first book in the series, O’ Artful Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Her non-fiction has been published in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many other publications.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #HouseOfGlass #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #HouseOfGlass #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: House of Glass

Author: Sarah Pekkanen

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny – in the midst of her parent’s bitter divorce – and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella’s mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there’s something eerie about the house itself: It’s a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny’s murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny’s boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella’s supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

Review:

Ominous, edgy, and intricate!

House of Glass is a fast-paced, compelling thriller that takes you on a journey into the life of best-interest lawyer Stella Hudson as she juggles a new case involving a philandering husband, an extremely wealthy wife, a doting grandmother, a pregnant nanny who may or may not have accidentally fallen to her death, and a nine-year-old client who hasn’t uttered a word since the tragic event.

The prose is crisp and tight. The characters are secretive, protective, and vulnerable. And the plot is a complex, menacing tale of family, friendship, deception, lies, drama, manipulation, secrets, revelations, suspicious personalities, violence, and murder.

Overall, House of Glass is another suspenseful, twisty, intense tale by Pekkanen that does a remarkable job of highlighting that people aren’t always who they seem to be and that desperate people often do desperate things.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Sarah Pekkanen

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

Photo Credit: Kristina Sherk

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#BookReview The Outlier by Elisabeth Eaves @PenguinRandomCA #TheOutlier #ElisabethEaves #PenguinReads #PenguinRandomCA

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#BookReview The Outlier by Elisabeth Eaves @PenguinRandomCA #TheOutlier #ElisabethEaves #PenguinReads #PenguinRandomCA Title: The Outlier

Author: Elisabeth Eaves

Published by: Random House Canada on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 344

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House

Book Rating: 8/10

An audaciously twisty psychological thriller in which finding the killer is only one of two mysteries its anti-heroine, Cate Winter, tries to unravel. The other: when pushed to extremes, what is she herself capable of?

Cate Winter, at 34, is a wildly successful neuroscientist and entrepreneur who has invented a cure for Alzheimer’s that will improve the lives of millions. On the verge of selling her biotech company for an obscene sum, she is also about to become very rich.

But Cate has a secret that keeps her deeply uneasy about everything she is and does: she grew up at the Cleckley Institute, a treatment facility for the rehabilitation of psychopathic children. And, as far as she knows, she is the institute’s only success: all of her peers have become thwarted, maladjusted or even criminal adults.

Then Cate discovers the existence of another ex-patient and outlier who might prove that her success isn’t a fluke. He has not only stayed out of jail, but he’s made a mark in business and science. Though his identity is confidential, she breaks the rules and drops everything to track him down. And when she finds him, living under an assumed name in Baja California, she is immediately obsessed. Like her, he is driven and brilliant, an innovator willing to do what it takes to perfect a new energy technology that will stop global warming. Here, at last, is her mirror, her ultimate collaborator, the possible answer to the enigma of her nature.

But in the wake of a mysterious death, Cate can’t avoid suspecting him. If he is involved, do his ends justify his means? Ruthless herself, she’s about to find out whether there are any moral lines she won’t cross.

Review:

Brisk, intricate, and suspenseful!

The Outlier is a thought-provoking, ominous tale that transports you into the life of Cate Winter, a high-achieving psychopath who, after selling her biotech company for millions, is determined to do whatever it takes to identify and track down the only other successful resident, who didn’t turn to a life of crime, from the research institute she grew up in.

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

Overall, The Outlier is a sinister, entertaining, edgy debut by Eaves that explores the line between nature and nurture and does a wonderful job of combining ecological issues, poor choices, questionable motivations, and morality all in one eerily creepy storyline.

 

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 Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Elisabeth Eaves

ELISABETH EAVES is a debut novelist and an award-winning travel writer and journalist who has cov­ered nuclear weapons, biological threats, and climate change for numerous publications including The New Yorker, Forbes, and the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. She is the author of two critically acclaimed nonfiction books: Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents, which the New York Times Book Review called “a heady, head­long chronicle of a decade and a half spent adrift” and de­clared a Notable Book; and Bare: The Naked Truth About Stripping, which The Washington Post called “a first-rate, first-person work of social anthropology.” Born and raised in Vancouver, Elisabeth lives with her husband in Seattle.

Photo by Mary Grace Long.

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#BookReview Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs @SimonSchusterCA #FireAndBones #KathyReichs #TemperanceBrennanSeries #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs @SimonSchusterCA #FireAndBones #KathyReichs #TemperanceBrennanSeries #SimonSchusterCA Title: Fire and Bones

Author: Kathy Reichs

Series: Temperance Brennan #23

Published by: Scribner on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, surprise-packed thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself at the center of an arson investigation, a deepening mystery, and a stunning culmination of violence and deception.

It’s never easy working fire scenes, Tempe thinks. Called to Washington, DC to analyze the victims of a building set ablaze amid mysterious circumstances, she sees all of her misgivings justified. The building site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and the residence’s ownership becomes even more suspicious when Tempe delves into the building’s past.

The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the thirties and forties the property belonged to a member a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his farm in Fairfax County, Virginia. Coincidence? Targeted attacks? So many questions.

As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim. Slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin raising flags. Have too many of her moves while in Washington been anticipated in advance?

Long after that first fire is extinguished its flames of consequence spread outward, and eventually Tempe finds herself fighting for her life.

Review:

Intricate, sharp, and sinister!

Fire and Bones is a menacing, disturbing tale that sees esteemed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan heading to Washington, DC to help out on an investigation into a building fire involving multiple casualties and a history of nefarious dealings.

The writing is tight and clever. The characters are meticulous, diligent, and driven. And the plot is an ominous, compelling mix of twists, turns, red herrings, resentments, secrets, deduction, mayhem, retribution, violence, and murder.

Overall, Fire and Bones is a taut, tense, gripping tale inspired by real-life events that is unbelievably the twenty-third book in the Temperance Brennan series. I have yet to read a novel by Reichs that isn’t suspenseful, pacey, and extremely satisfying, and this one, once again, didn’t disappoint.

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina.

Photograph © Marie-Reine

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#BookReview The Stranger in Her House by John Marrs @johnmarrs1 @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheStrangerInHerHouse #JohnMarrs #FireflyDist

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#BookReview The Stranger in Her House by John Marrs @johnmarrs1 @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheStrangerInHerHouse #JohnMarrs #FireflyDist Title: The Stranger in Her House

Author: John Marrs

Published by: Thomas & Mercer on Feb. 13, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 347

Format: Paperback

Source: Firefly Distributed Lines

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A stranger has infiltrated your family…and now he’s taking over.

Paul’s just here to help, or so he claims—sent by a charity for vulnerable people to do odd jobs for elderly widow Gwen. But for Gwen’s daughter Connie, there’s just something about Paul that rings alarm bells from day one. He’s a little too kind, a little too involved…Worse still, Gwen seems to have fallen under his spell.

The last thing Connie wants is a stranger meddling in the safe routine she’s built around Gwen. She loves being the one Gwen turns to for cooking, cleaning and company. But the more Paul visits, the more Gwen is relying on him. By the time he conveniently finds himself between homes and has no choice but to move in, Connie is certain he’s trying to push her out completely.

It’s her word against his, though, and as her attempts to unmask him become ever more desperate she’s not the only one left wondering if she’s lost her grip on reality. But when events start spiralling rapidly out of her control, should Connie wage all-out war on Paul and risk losing Gwen forever—or has that been his plan all along?

Review:

Ominous, intense, and absorbing!

The Stranger in Her House is an eerily gripping, suspenseful tale that takes you into the life of Connie, a young woman taking care of her elderly, declining mother who, after accepting the help of a local handyman, suddenly finds her life turned upside down when it quickly becomes apparent that his motivations are not as honest and pure as they first appeared and he’ll do whatever it takes, even kill, to get what he wants.

The prose is tight and edgy. The characters are secretive, consumed, and duplicitous. And the plot is a twisty tale full of drama, deception, lies, obsession, manipulation, tragedy, childhood trauma, dark secrets, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Stranger in Her House is another engrossing, sinister, tortuous novel by Marrs that kept me riveted from the very first page and is definitely the perfect choice for anyone who loves a menacing, highly entertaining, tension-filled read.

 

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to Firefly Distributed Lines for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review.

 

About John Marrs

John Marrs is the author of #1 Best Sellers The One, The Good Samaritan, When You Disappeared, The Vacation, Her Last Move, The Passengers, The Minders and What Lies Between Us. Keep It In The Family and The Marriage Act are released soon.
What Lies won the International Thriller Writers' Best Paperback of 2021 award.
The One has been translated into 30 different languages and is to be turned into an eight-part Netflix series starting in autumn 2020.
After working as a journalist for 25-years interviewing celebrities from the world of television, film and music for national newspapers and magazines, he is now a full-time writer.

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#BookReview Return to Blood by Michael Bennett @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #ReturnToBlood #MichaelBennett #HanaWestermanThriller #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Return to Blood by Michael Bennett @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #ReturnToBlood #MichaelBennett #HanaWestermanThriller #PGCBooks Title: Return to Blood

Author: Michael Bennett

Series: Hana Westerman Thriller #2

Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press on May 31, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

From the author of Better the Blood, the gripping second novel in a crime series starring Maori detective Hana Westerman, in which the discovery of human bones in the dunes of New Zealand upends a long-ago murder conviction.

After the perils of a case that landed much too close to home, Hana Westerman turned in her badge and abandoned her career as a detective in the Auckland CIB. Hoping that civilian life will offer her the opportunity to rest and recalibrate, she returns to her hometown of Tata Bay, where she moves back in with her beloved father, Eru. Yet the memories of the past are everywhere, and as she goes for her daily run on the beach, Hana passes a local monument to Grace, a high school classmate who was murdered more than twenty years ago and hidden in the dunes overlooking the sea. A Maori man with a previous record was convicted of the crime, although Eru never believed he was guilty. When her daughter finds another young woman’s skeleton in the sands, Hana soon finds herself awkwardly involved. Investigators suspect that this is Kiri Thomas, a young Maori woman who disappeared four years earlier, after battling years of drug addiction. Hana and her daughter Addison are increasingly captivated by the story behind this unsolved crime, but without the official police force behind her, Hana must risk compromising her own peace and relationships if justice is to be served.

Expanding the range of vivid characters who made Michael Bennett’s first book, Better the Blood, so appealing, and offering a shocking twist at the end, Return to Blood takes readers further into Maori culture and traditions as it engages us more deeply into the story of Hana Westerman.

Review:

Shrewd, menacing, and gritty!

In this latest novel by Bennett, Return to Blood, we head back to New Zealand where Hana Westerman, now retired from the Auckland police force and living a quieter life back in her hometown of Tātā Bay, finds herself quickly immersed in a murder investigation when her daughter stumbles across the bones of a young woman on the exact stretch of beach where one of Hana’s high school classmates was found dumped more than twenty years ago.

The writing is sharp and tight. The characters are vulnerable, complex, and intriguing. And the plot is a sinister tale full of deception, manipulation, misdirection, secrets, mayhem, revelations, Maori culture, and murder.

Overall, Return to Blood is an ominous, sophisticated, entertaining addition to a series that, with its flawed characters, great pace, and constant sense of urgency, has now found a permanent place on my must-read list.

 

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 gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaue)is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and author whose films have been selections at major festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and New York. His nonfiction book, In Dark Places, which explored an infamous miscarriage of justice, won awards, and his young adult graphic novel, Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas, was a finalist for the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

Goodreads

#BookReview The Lost Victim by Robert Bryndza @RobertBryndza #TheLostVictim #RobertBryndza #KateMarshall #KateMarshallSeries

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#BookReview The Lost Victim by Robert Bryndza @RobertBryndza #TheLostVictim #RobertBryndza #KateMarshall #KateMarshallSeries Title: The Lost Victim

Author: Robert Bryndza

Series: Kate Marshall #5

Published by: Raven Street Publishing on Jul. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 326

Format: Hardcover

Source: Robert Bryndza

Book Rating: 10/10

When school girl Janey Macklin disappeared from the seedy side of London in 1988, her case went cold, with no body and no witnesses. Now, thirty years later, private detective Kate Marshall has been approached by a true crime podcast producer with an intriguing question they need her help answering: What if Janey was killed by Peter Conway, the notorious Nine Elms Cannibal?

The contract would be the most lucrative of Kate’s career, but it comes with a price of its own, dredging up a sordid, complicated past that she would sooner forget . . . one that the paparazzi are determined to keep in the headlines.

As Kate and her partner, Tristan, scour King’s Cross for clues, no two leads seem to point in the same direction. The last person to see Janey alive has already been tried, convicted, and then acquitted of her murder, Peter Conway is in poor health and fading fast, and the line between their clients and their suspects is blurring with each new revelation about the case.

With little to work from, can Tristan and Kate wade through clandestine phone calls, decades-old secrets, and deteriorating DNA evidence to solve Janey’s murder, or will she remain one of London’s countless missing persons, forever lost to time?

Can be read as a stand-alone.

Review:

Mesmerizing, dark and unpredictable!

The Lost Victim is an eerie, twisty thrill ride that takes us back to the UK, where Private Investigator Kate Marshall and her partner Tristan Harper now find themselves on the thirty-year-old cold case of a missing teen that will not only see them heading to the streets of London but will have Kate confronting the demon from her past one last time.

The writing is insightful and edgy. The characters are multifaceted, diligent, and clever. And the plot is an ominous, compelling mix of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, deduction, duplicity, mayhem, manipulation, malicious intentions, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Lost Victim is another intricate, engrossing, highly entertaining thriller by Bryndza that once again highlights his exceptional ability to write police procedurals that have well-drawn characters and disturbingly realistic storylines. It is the fifth novel in the Kate Marshall series and definitely one of my new all-time favourites.

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to Robert Bryndza for providing me with a copy in exchange for an review.

 

About Robert Bryndza

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

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

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

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

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

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#BookReview Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne @StMartinsPress #LennyMarksGetsAwayWithMurder #KerrynMayne #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne @StMartinsPress #LennyMarksGetsAwayWithMurder #KerrynMayne #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder

Author: Kerryn Mayne

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life.

She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit(currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friendsreruns.

And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.

Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail–and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life–but what if her past catches up to her first?

Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, Kerryn Mayne’s stunning debut is an irresistible novel about truth, secrets, vengeance, and family lost and found, with a heroine who’s simply unforgettable.

Review:

Surprising, captivating, and sweet!

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is a heartfelt, absorbing tale that takes you into the life of Lenny Marks, a socially awkward, Hobbit-loving teacher who, after receiving a letter from a parole board, struggles to come to grips with a past she thought she knew with the darker one that seems to be slowly seeping into her consciousness from memories she has suppressed for a very long time.

The writing is tender and light. The characters are quirky, endearing, and well-developed. And the plot is a compelling, hopeful tale of life, loss, secrets, resilience, abuse, friendship, revelations, childhood trauma, violence, self-identification, and moving on.

Overall, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is a twisty, charming, moving tale by Mayne that is a wonderful reminder that even after suffering the most unimaginable cruelty and tragedy, humanity still has the innate ability to hope, heal, and live healthy lives.

 

This book is available now. 

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

 

       

 

 

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

 

About Kerryn Mayne

Kerryn Mayne is an author, former wedding photographer, and current police officer. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she is writing about it or preparing an endless stream of snacks for her four children. Kerryn lives in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne with her husband, children and a highly suspect lovebird. She only owns 11 copies of The Hobbit (for now). Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is her debut novel.

Photo Credit: Kelly Dwyer Portraiture

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#BookReview Bad Tourists by Caro Carver @SimonSchusterCA #BadTourists #CaroCarver #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Bad Tourists by Caro Carver @SimonSchusterCA #BadTourists #CaroCarver #SimonSchusterCA Title: Bad Tourists

Author: Caro Carver

Published by: Avid Reader Press on Jul. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Three tight-knit friends embark on an extravagant divorce trip to the Maldives where they can unwind and celebrate a new chapter in midlife—until they realize the resort of their dreams is harboring a killer.

Best friends Darcy, Camilla, and Kate escape for a post-divorce retreat in the Maldives, the perfect place to relax, reset, and embrace a fresh start in life. Darcy is learning how to be a free woman at forty-two. Camilla has found the perfect calling as a fitness and wellness influencer with a devoted following. And Kate is finally working on the book she was meant to write after years of telling other people’s stories.

Their dream getaway? The exclusive and isolated Sapphire Island Resort. With luxurious private villas, crystal-clear waters, and sun-drenched white sand beaches, relaxation is guaranteed. But this is no ordinary friendship, and they’re not the only guests on the island with secrets. Who left the body on the beach—and who’s next?

A propulsive and deliciously dark tale about female friendship, loyalty, and lies, Bad Tourists is a white-hot thriller from the first page to its mind-blowing finish.

Review:

Intense, chilling, and complex!

Bad Tourists is a layered, unsettling thriller that delves into the devastating emotional, psychological, and physical effects caused by violence on its victims, as well as their loved ones and highlights just how easily the most heinous of evil can live comfortably amongst us merely hidden behind masks of normality.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are secretive, cunning, and vulnerable. And the plot, told from multiple perspectives, builds quickly creating intensity and suspense as it unravels all the relationships, motivations, personalities, deception, and devious behaviours within it.

Overall, Bad Tourists is, ultimately, a story of lies, secrets, revelations, depravity, manipulation, friendship, violence, and murder. It’s a tight, clever, disturbing thrill ride by Carver that had just the right amount of twists, turns, and surprises to keep me absolutely engrossed from start to finish.

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Caro Carver

Caro Carver lives in Scotland with her husband and four children. She is Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, teaches for the Faber Academy and the Curtis Brown Academy, and regularly speaks on panels and hosts events on writing. Caro is happiest when traveling and takes inspiration from her travels to write her books. Bad Tourists is her first book written under the pseudonym of Caro Carver. She is also published as C.J. Cooke for her gothic thrillers.

Photo by Jared Jess-Cooke.

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