I’m a big fan of thrillers. I’ll Never Tell, and You Can’t Catch Me by Catherine McKenzie are in this vein, so when I had the chance to read her latest, Please Join Us (thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley) I was ready to read! As the story begins, the protagonist Nicole Mueller appears to …
I love twisty psychological thrillers (think Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl), so when I read that David Ellis’s latest, Look Closer, was “part Gone Girl, part Strangers On A Train, I was READY! Thank you to Penguin Group/G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for this honest review. There is a wealthy …
I haven’t read ALL of the 21 books in Kathy Reichs’s series featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance (“Tempe” Brennan, but I have most, and always enjoyed them. So I was happy to receive a copy of Cold, Cold Bones from Scribner and NetGalley. Tempe divides her time between North Carolina and Canada, and in this one, …
I tend to enjoy stories where the setting is a character on its own, if you know what I mean (think Jane Harper’s novels set in arid Western Australia. Oh, and BTW, if you enjoy mysteries, you really should check her out — start with The Dry). In Lee Goldberg’s Movieland, while Malibu Creek State …
I’ve been a regular reader of Linwood Barclay’s books for several years, generally awarding 4 or 5 stars, so I was pleased to get a copy of Take Your Breath Away from William Morrow and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. But then I looked at the last book of his I reviewed, which …
When I got this book, I knew it was a police procedural/political thriller, but I didn’t realize it had been published in 1982, a full forty (gasp!) years ago. So I had a “hmmm” moment before I started to read. I wasn’t sure a story about a female police officer in Washington, D.C. in the …
Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier is a highly anticipated book, and it sounded like it was just my type of thing: a woman in danger, in a psychological thriller, the kind of book that you just CANNOT. PUT. DOWN. You know, pandemic escapism at its best. The story revolves around a couple, Lyla …
If you enjoy stories with unreliable narrators, possibly unstable women, annoying characters in general, and a nice dose of gaslighting, here’s a book for you! Or possibly you just want something twisty and turny to get your mind off the death of democracy and a worldwide pandemic for a day or two, well, buckle up! …
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: …
David Baldacci’s series featuring FBI agent Atlee Pine began in 2018, with Long Road to Mercy. Subsequent titles included A Minute to Midnight and Daylight, continuing the story of Atlee’s search for her twin sister Mercy. I was pleased to receive a copy of Mercy, #4 in the series, from Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley …
I’m fairly sure I hadn’t previously read anything by Joe Hart, but I was happy to get a copy of Or Else (thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. When they were kids, Andy Drake was friends with a girl named Rachel. As time went on, Rachel got into …
When I first read T. Jefferson Parker’s Laguna Heat back in 1985, I had recently moved to Santa Cruz and was ecstatic to be living in a small beach town again — because I grew up in South Orange County (specifically in and around Laguna Beach) and graduated high school in 1965. So I know …
Lisa Unger has another solid thriller out, with Last Girl Ghosted following Confessions on the 7:45 onto the list of woman-in-danger thrillers. I’m not the intended demographic, being totally not interested in dating apps, quickie hookups, or advice bloggers, but I was quickly taken in by the story. (TBH I did find myself getting annoyed …
Liane Moriarity is sort of a hot commodity these days, following the success of several books and subsequent TV versions of Big Little Lies (a friend called it “real estate porn”) and Nine Perfect Strangers. So I couldn’t pass up the chance to read a copy of Apples Never Fall from Henry Holt and NetGalley …
Nicci French is really two people…am I the only one who didn’t know that? Sean French has written 6 books, Nicci Gerard has written 8, and together (as Nicci French) they have written twenty-five. In any case, they have a new thriller coming out, and it’s a fun read! The main character is Tess, a …
Harleigh Collier, who goes by Leigh, is a hard-working professional woman, working her way up at a fancy high profile law firm. One Sunday evening, she is at her daughter’s school play and gets a call from one of the law firm’s senior partners, asking her to defend a wealthy client accused of multiple counts …
Cassie Woodson is a hot mess…think Cassandra Bowden in The Flight Attendant — after a drama-filled breakup that led to her humiliating firing from her job as an attorney at a top-level law firm, she has been forced to take a job as a legal temp, working long hours on a mind-numbing project reviewing documents, …
Catherine Steadman is an accomplished actress (memorably played Mabel Lane Fox in Downton Abbey) and author. I loved 2018’s Something In The Water, but 2020’s Mr. Nobody didn’t do it for me, so I was curious about the latest from this talented woman, and was happy to receive a copy of The Disappearing Act from …
Maybe it’s pandemic fatigue. Or maybe it’s just me. My expectations may be a bit high? But when Mary Kubica is referred to repeatedly as the “queen of the domestic thriller,” and I am so ready for a grabber — you know, the kind where you just want people to leave you the bleep ALONE …
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, …