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, …
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 …
I love Michael Robotham! In 2015, I read The Night Ferry, then in 2016 I was KNOCKED OUT by Close Your Eyes! 2017’s The Secrets She Keeps was not quite as terrific (for me) as the other two, so maybe that is how I missed 2019’s Good Girl, Bad Girl. It was the first in …
Another psychological thriller, unreliable narrator, woman in danger, etc. And, you know, there are certain clichés, motifs, tropes, call them what you will, true crime fans know these to be true, with one being that if a husband goes missing, it’s ALWAYS the wife (or vice versa). So when I started reading Goodnight Beautiful by …
It was a dark and stormy night…but wait, some background. A family has experienced an extremely traumatic incident that has deeply affected Molly Clarke, her (just barely) adult daughter Nicole, son Evan, and forgot-his-name-husband. It’s gotten so bad Nicole has told Molly she hates her, Evan refused to acknowledge Molly’s presence at his school’s football …
Who Did You Tell? by Lesley Kara is a combo: mystery/thriller and grief/recovery guide. The main character, Astrid, has moved home with her (helicopter) mother and is trying not to drink, being sober for over six months. And it’s a struggle: as she puts it, “If I have to come home and sit in this …
Publication Date August 4, 2020 As a fan of true crime, particularly the woman-in-danger subgenre, I was happy to receive a copy of Betsy Bonner’s The Book of Atlantis Black from Tin House Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This sad story creeped me out a bit. The author’s sister disappeared, and …
In 2018, I read and reviewed An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, noting “…I may be burned out due to reading too MANY of these plucky-heroine-in-danger stories, but I also was not impressed with the writing. It seemed geared for a relatively low reading level, strong on plot but weak (IMHO) on …
What incredible timing…the news today is full of the coronavirus (COVID-19) which allegedly originated with animals and came from Asia and everywhere I look, people are wearing masks, more or less freaking out, and are generally TENSE as we see the initial outbreak begin to expand, revealing how completely unprepared we are in this country …
Hot topics in fiction these days: the opioid crisis in this country (horrific), police procedurals (always popular), and family dynamics (an endless source of material). Liz Moore, author of Heft (which I could not read because the premise freaked me out) and The Unseen World, has written a seriously good (and very serious) novel that …
As I have mentioned in earlier reviews of Robert Dugoni’s books, 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 a fast clip) were In the Clearing, The Trapped Girl, Close to Home …
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 …
I’ve been a fan of espionage fiction FOREVER, but admit I haven’t read much espionage nonfiction—in fact, I sort of thought all the “good stuff” would never be approved for publication. So I was a bit ambivalent about Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox (which I received thanks to Knopf …
It’s winter. It’s dark and cold (or at least as cold as it ever gets at the beach on the Central Coast of California). For a few weeks, I’ve been craving one of THOSE books: the kind that grab you early on and keep you reading until you finish. And, thanks to Harper Collins/William Morrow …
Teresa Driscoll spent years as a reporter writing about crime, and she brings that experience into her writing (The Promise, The Friend, I Am Watching You). Apparently, there are characters from her earlier books in her latest one, I Will Make You Pay, but I haven’t read those and didn’t feel like I was missing …
I have a TBR list that is way too long, and Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs has been repeatedly sinking to the bottom of that list for way too long! I generally like the psychological suspense/woman in danger genre, so when Atria Books and NetGalley provided me with a copy in exchange for my honest …
Thanks to RandomHouse/Ballantine and NetGalley for a copy of The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney in exchange for an honest review. I’m very fond of woman-in-danger psychological thrillers, so I was eager to read this book. For some reason, I kept having trouble getting into it, but it turned out to be a fun read. …
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 …