I was happy to receive a copy of Ruth Ware’s new novel, The Turn of the Key, from Gallery/Pocket Books/Scout Press and NetGalley in return for my honest review. I enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10 and didn’t really care for The Death of Mrs. Westaway, so I was pretty neutral in my expectations for …
AsI have stated before, I have been a diehard fan of Robert Crais/Elvis Cole/Joe Pike for THIRTY YEARS. Seriously, when The Monkey’s Raincoat was published in 1987, I was working in a public library, grabbed it as soon as it came in, and was HOOKED. Since then, this has been one of the most reliable …
Chances Are, by Richard Russo, is one of those great summer reads for Boomers: set on an island, with reminiscences galore, back to the late 60s-early 70s, with references to Vietnam, college adventures and relationships, and then the counterpoint of the kind of wistfulness that people in their mid-sixties get when they look back at …
I love Laura Lippman (particularly her Tess Monaghan mystery series), so I was happy to receive a copy of her latest book, Lady in the Lake, thanks to Harper Collins/William Morrow and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Lippman has taken her Baltimore roots and her experience as a newspaper journalist and based her …
My true crime interest in general and the fact that I have family members living in north San Diego County ensured that I REALLY wanted to read She’s So Cold by Donald McInnis, and thanks to J&E Publications and NetGalley, I received a copy in exchange for this honest review. Back in 1998, a 12-year-old …
The Missing Wife by Sam Carrington sounded like another woman-in-danger-psychological-thriller novel. It has an interesting premise: Louisa is turning forty, living with her husband and their teenage daughter, and her newborn son (surprise!) She is exhausted, having trouble remembering and focusing (including on important things, like “did I feed the baby?” And “where did I …
It’s all about HER! Vivian Morris is the complete focus of Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, City of Girls. It is presented as a memoir told by Vivian to a woman named Angela, whose father was an important man in Vivian’s life (at first I somehow thought Angela might be Vivian’s daughter – but no, despite …
These days, I find myself wavering between obsessively watching/listening to the news (I HAVE to know! What’s going on?) and wallowing in despair, avoiding news. Either way, I truly fear the direction we are headed in, in large part due to the lack of critical thinking and understanding of current events I see everywhere. Back …
Somehow, the two books I read this weekend both focus on elevators. And both were creepy AF. In Megan Goldin’s debut novel The Escape Room, four young investment bankers are summoned to what appears to be some kind of team-building event set in a Manhattan skyscraper. They board an elevator, thinking they are being whisked …
Somehow, the two books I read this weekend both focus on elevators. And both were creepy AF. Linwood Barclay has a reliably entertaining Promise Falls series, but has taken a slight detour for a standalone thriller entitled Elevator Pitch (thanks to Harper Collins/William Morrow and NetGalley for an advance copy inexchange for this honest review). …
What a great read! I had just read a blurb about The Guest Book by Sarah Blake when I received an ARC (thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley), and was totally in the mood for a multigenerational family saga. The family is the Miltons. The patriarch is Ogden who, along with his wife Kitty, totally …
True crime has been a guilty pleasure of mine for at least 30 years…I remember working in a public library and happily discovering the 364.1523 shelves (where even today I still browse, although TBH public library budgets often prevent a lot of trashy ephemeral reading material from making it to the shelves). These days, true …
Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels are among my favorite mysteries, with JB being an especially fun character. So, along with many others, my initial thought when I knew there was (FINALLY!) a new Jackson Brodie novel, was “how soon can I get my hands on it?” Thanks to Little, Brown & Company and NetGalley, I …
I knew when I saw If She Wakes by Michael Koryta that I wanted to read it. I own (and enjoyed) How It Happened and Those Who Wish Me Dead, so I appreciated the chance to read the latest offering thanks to Little, Brown & Company and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. In …
There aren’t many authors whose latest book I eagerly await, and who maintain a consistently high level in terms of plot, character, and entertainment value. John Sandford has been one of those (along with Michael Connelly, Michael Robotham, Robert Crais, and Elizaeth George (OK, a few clunkers in the Lynley series, but overall still a …
I confess, the cover caught my eye. Then I saw the blurb that said “A thrilling debut novel for fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng.” That did it, I was hooked. And once I started reading, I was all in. Now I want to suggest it for a book club, but how to describe …
Harlan Coben’s latest, Run Away, is another reliably entertaining thriller from a prolific author. In this one, Manhattan-based member of the elite Simon Greene lives a privileged life with his wife Ingrid and their 3 children: Sam, Anya and Paige. These kids have always had everything they wanted in terms of material possessions, but once …
The Night Before is one of many recent psychological thrillers, with the whole woman-in-danger thing, but on steroids. The publisher’s blurb was vague, and that is probably a good thing, as it made the surprises more effective. As the story opens, a woman named Laura is getting ready for a blind date, and she isn’t …
When I read Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, I THOUGHT I didn’t really like it, but because I kept thinking about it, I came to realize it was very effective, even if the actual read wasn’t happiness-inducing. So reading the blurb that said Richard Roper’s How Not To Die Alone was “for fans …
I don’t recall reading anything by Adam Mitzner, and I have no idea why! It seems he has written other financial/legal/social issue thrillers prior to A Matter of Will, but it was my first Mitzner book, and thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley I had the opportunity to read it and review it in …