Author Karen Cleveland has a solid background for writing thrillers that revolve around intelligence agencies and personnel: she was a Fulbright Scholar, earned a master’s degree from Trinity College in Dublin and Harvard, and was a CIA analyst for eight years, focused on counterterrorism – and she also worked with the FBI. So, bottom line: …
I haven’t read many of Jacquelyn Mitchard’s novels (although I recall Deep End of the Ocean — I looked it up and it was 1997, which shocked me!), but I am happy that I received a copy of The Good Son from Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. This story …
It all sounded so promising: in Courtney Evan Tate’s new novel The Last To See Her, a woman disappears, there’s a cheating spouse, etc. And while this book really did hold my interest, I REALLY hated the ending, plus none of the characters felt real or really made me care what happened to them. Buti, …
Early in 2020, I reviewed A Cold Trail, #7 in Robert Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series. As I noted them, I first “met” Seattle Homicide Detective Tracy Crosswhite in My Sister’s Grave and I loved her, so I then eagerly read Her Final Breath. Following along in short order (he definitely can crank out books at …
About a year ago, I read and reviewed Judgment by Joseph Finder, a standalone novel featuring Judge Juliana Brody, a happily married up-and-coming judicial star who goes to a legal conference and does something out of character: she has a one-night stand. All kinds of legal (and other) wrangling went on as a result, and I …
I enjoyed both Bring Me Back and Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris, so I am grateful to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of her latest book, The Dilemma, in return for my honest review. I read this one yesterday, and I keep thinking about it, which ought to be worth …
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 …
A Haiku Review of One Fatal Mistake by Tom Hunt Her son kills a man Together they coverup Then all hell breaks loose Thanks to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in return for this honest haiku – I mean review. A good, quick read. Kept me occupied all afternoon and …
Beautiful Bad sounded like just my thing: psychological thriller, plucky heroine, remote locations, etc. So I was happy to provide an honest review in return for a copy from Harlequin/Park Row and NetGalley. This one has several of the things I like (listed above), and a few that maybe I have just gotten tired of, …
If you want a comprehensive book on the Menendez murders, your wait is over! I just read The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation by Robert Rand (thanks to BenBella Books and NetGalley) and now I know way more about this case than …
Publication date: October 9, 2018 I have LOVED Tana French’s series of books featuring various characters from the Dublin Murder Squad, so when Penguin Group Viking and NetGalley provided me with the opportunity to read The Witch Elm in return for my honest review, I was ecstatic. It is a standalone novel, unrelated to the …
I love fiction that includes some political intrigue/espionage, and if it is a mystery/thriller that’s all the better! Cold War timeframe is great if done well (I loved Jake Tapper’s Hellfire Club, for example). Dan Fesperman’s Safe Houses seemed right up my alley, especially as it was praised by Lee Child as being “One of …
I truly enjoyed Camilla Way’s book Watching Edie, so I decided that I should just carve out a DAY to wallow in her latest, The Lies We Told, which I received from Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for writing this honest review. If you are a fan of psychological thrillers, YOU HAVE …
I received a copy of Lisa Patton’s new book RUSH from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in return for my honest review. I thought it sounded like it would be light entertainment – what some call a “beach read.” Sounded perfect—I mean, I LIVE at the beach and with the crap going on in our …
Intriguing premise, 5 women on a reality show called Goal Diggers – right? Although I can’t bear to watch shows like Real Housewives or KUWTK, the fact that this was described as “Big Little Lies meets Real Housewives” made me somewhat optimistic that it might be a guilty pleasure kind of read – sort of …
I love “unputdownable psychological thrillers,” and because I was a huge fan of B.A. Paris’s Behind Closed Doors (2016), I was happy to receive a copy of her latest book, Bring Me Back, from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in return for my honest review. Similar to Behind Closed Doors, this story revolves …
For some reason, I’d stopped reading Lisa Scottoline. As I recall, the last one I read seemed formulaic and just didn’t grab me. But, when I read about After Anna, a standalone “domestic thriller,” I was looking forward to digging into the copy I received from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in return for my …
Perhaps I should wait to write this, because I just finished reading it fifteen minutes ago and my head is still spinning. I scanned the reviews and found tons of 5-stars, and then several one-stars. I loved it, so I thought WTF? And then realized a few of those 1-stars were admittedly written by …
Just about a year ago, I read and reviewed Almost Missed You, the debut novel by Jessica Strawser (whose day job is Editorial Director for Writer’s Digest magazine, so expectations were high) . I liked it. A LOT. Five stars, although noting it was more a beach read than “literature.” I hadn’t quite decided whether Jessica …