Falls to Pieces is a suspense novel by a new-to-me author. It was full of twists and turns and kept me interested until the end. I had some issues witFalls to Pieces is a suspense novel by a new-to-me author. It was full of twists and turns and kept me interested until the end. I had some issues with the story line and the action dragged in parts but overall it was an interesting book.
For me, the best parts of the story were the beautiful setting in Hawaii and the clues that were scattered all through the story with many of them being red herrings. The negatives of the book were 1) I didn't like the main character Kati. I know that she was hiding from her past but she had a real difficult time telling the truth no matter what the situation was. She was definitely an unreliable narrator and I had a hard time following her thought process. 2) There were just too many characters. Too many police, reporters, friends and enemies of the dead lawyer. It really got difficult by the middle of the book to keep up with everyone and figure out if they were helping Kati or working to make her look guilty.
This book is a quick read and despite the things that I didn't like about it, there was a surprise ending that I didn't see coming that makes the book well worth reading. ...more
I always enjoy finding a new to me author and I wasn't disappointed in my first read by Sarina Bowen. It was a twisty thriller that had me guessing unI always enjoy finding a new to me author and I wasn't disappointed in my first read by Sarina Bowen. It was a twisty thriller that had me guessing until almost the end. It's told in three points of view that all meld together to give the reader a surprising and satisfactory ending.
Rowan is a 40ish single mother and talented architect working on restoring a historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. Her public persona is of someone very polished and an expert in her field. Inside she's a mess. She has a 15 year old daughter who is a normal teenager and giving her mother trouble at every turn. Her recent boyfriend has just dumped her via text and she can't get over the rejection. So she spends a lot of her off time tracking him all over Portland. She knows it's not the right thing to do but she just can't help herself. One evening she sees that he's parked by the mansion she is restoring so she takes a walk to find out who he is with at their favorite place to park. What she finds is his dead body. Because she was the first witness to his body, the police decide that she is the main suspect in his murder. To top it off, her ex-husband is now out of prison and living in the same area. When they decide that Rowan isn't the murder suspect, the police turn their attention to her ex. As Rowan works to try to figure out who killed her boyfriend and gets closer to the truth, she finds herself in danger. Will she be the next to die?
This was a well written and interesting novel. My main problem with it is that I didn't really like the main character. She considered herself a mess and she really was and I got pretty irritated with her lots of times during the story. However, other readers may see her differently so do yourself a favor and give this book a try....more
I've read several books by Kelly Simmons and she always gives her readers an exciting page turning book with great characters and a suspenseful plot.
VI've read several books by Kelly Simmons and she always gives her readers an exciting page turning book with great characters and a suspenseful plot.
Vann is 13 years old and a very intelligent and determined young girl. She and her parents have a home on the Chesapeake Bay where they spend their summers. At the end of the summer, she found her mother's dead body on the shore. The police and coroner determined that she had died by drowning but Vann just doesn't agree. She and her father decide to stay in their summer house throughout the winter to help them deal with the death. Vann goes to the police department and asks for information about her mother's death. She explains to Nate Hunter, the current chief of police, that the department needed to re-open the case and insists that there was no way her mom drowned and that the police missed several important clues in their investigation. Nate, just moved from Baltimore, agrees to look into the case and the more information he uncovers, the more convinced her is that a crime had been committed. Despite the demons in Nate's past, he is willing to listen to Vann and help her deal with her mother's death. There are several secondary characters who help round out the story.
My favorite character was Vann. She was smart and tenacious and didn't care whether the police got angry with her - she was determined to prove that her mother was murdered and didn't drown and nothing was going to stop her.
I found parts of the book kind of confusing -- the diary entries from a long time resident and neighbor were interspersed with the story and it took awhile to figure out why they were important. The ending was also a bit confusing. Overall, it was a fun book to read with a main character - a teenager that you won't soon forget.
This is an intense suspense novel. It's a long book but that didn't slow me down. I had to find out who did what and even though there a lot of misleaThis is an intense suspense novel. It's a long book but that didn't slow me down. I had to find out who did what and even though there a lot of misleading clues, the reveal of the killer didn't happen until the last few pages and I never saw it coming.
I have read several books by this author and in my opinion, this is her best book yet. It's full of secrets that are slowly revealed. The suspense level is very high and the story is a real roller coaster ride. It's full of clues that are often pointed at the wrong person and you have no idea of who the murderer is until the very end. The characters are very well written. My favorite character was Riley. She was a newspaper reporter who was always looking for the next big story but also was kind and empathetic towards other people. This is a book that you don't want to miss. ...more
The Arizona Triangle is a debut novel and the beginning of a new detective series. The main character is Justine (Jo) a 40ish year old gay woman who wThe Arizona Triangle is a debut novel and the beginning of a new detective series. The main character is Justine (Jo) a 40ish year old gay woman who works for an all female detective agency based in Tucson, Arizona.
Jo was a tough as nails detective who really enjoyed her work until she's asked to go back to her home town and try to find her childhood best friend who has vanished. Even though Jo and Rose had a blow up in high school and hadn't even spoken again, Rose's mother requests that Jo look into the disappearance. Jo feels that Rose wouldn't appreciate her being involved in the case but she agrees to help. Once she gets to her home town, she finds out that her high school boyfriend Tyler is the lead investigator for the police department. Ironically, it was Tyler who caused the final argument between the two friends. Jo questions Rose's brothers, her friends and her students. She finds out that Rose was claiming to be part Navajo and this lie had recently caused her to be fired from her teaching job. She was a poet and spent most of her time in a local art community and as Jo got answers to questions, she learned some very unsettling things about her friend's past. The closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous life becomes for her. Will she continue to try to determine what happened to Rose even though her own life is in danger?
This was an interesting well written mystery and I didn't see the end coming. The blurb compares this book to Sue Grafton books. I agree that it could have been Kinsey in a world of cell phones and computers but I thought that The Arizona Triangle was much darker than the Sue Grafton books. Overall it was an interesting and well written mystery and I'm looking forward to future books in the series. ...more
Four friends go on vacation in Thailand for a few days of fun and relaxation in the sun but thanks to a person who somehow joins their group and won'tFour friends go on vacation in Thailand for a few days of fun and relaxation in the sun but thanks to a person who somehow joins their group and won't go away, their vacation turns into a few days of confusion and murder. I thought that this was a fast paced thriller and I really enjoyed it. There were a few things that I didn't like but I'll address them later in the review.
Two couples in their early 30s - Saskia & Theo and Lucas & Holly - plan a holiday trip to Thailand. Theo has lots of money, while Lucas and Holly are counting every penny. Since Lucas made the arrangements for the trip, he booked an expensive hotel but when they got to the hotel, there was a mix up and no room was available so they spent the night at a hostel. That in itself would be scary because there was another person staying in the room with them and they really had no place to hide their passports and money. Once they got back to the expensive hotel, it looked like their fun would begin but a man that they met at the Buddhist temple, Caleb, attaches himself to their group. It's apparent that he is trouble but we don't find out until much later on what his back story is and who he knows from the original group. It turns out that all 5 of the people are hiding secrets - some worse than others. When things begin to unravel and secrets come to light - their group of 5 will be reduced by one. You don't know until almost the end who is murdered and why. I can't say much more about the plot without possibly giving away a spoiler. What I will say is that I thought that this was an excellent page turner of a story.
I really wasn't sure how these two couples stayed friends - along with the differences in the money they had very different goals in life. I thought that the rich couple was pretentious and enjoyed showing off to the other couple. One other thing, they either never travelled to a foreign country or they were just plain stupid -- there is no way that a seasoned (or smart) traveler would leave their purse in a crowded tourist attraction. Despite problems with the characters at different times during the book, I thought that this was a real page turner and I had trouble putting it down until the end. Phoebe Morgan is a new author for me and I plan to read some of her earlier books. ...more
This is a really creepy book with a main character who manipulated everyone around her and looked at the world totally differently than a normal persoThis is a really creepy book with a main character who manipulated everyone around her and looked at the world totally differently than a normal person. It's a sequel to Baby Teeth which is about Hanna as a child. She's 24 now and from the outside looks like a normal person. But when her innermost thoughts are shown, we are quickly convinced that she is not a normal every day person.
When Hanna was 7 years old, she tried to kill her mother. Now she's 24 and married to an older man with a teen-age daughter. She loves her career as phlebotomist—a job perfectly suited to her occasional need to hurt people. She spends a lot of time writing letters to her brother Goose and her letters as well as Goose's letters are part of the story and the author uses them to show Hanna's though process. From the outside, it appears that Hanna has grown up and with intense therapy has left behind her sociopathic ways. She along with her husband and teenage daughter have a good life together until her step daughter begins to change in ways that Hanna doesn't approve. It's also very apparent that her husband is more concerned with the happiness of his daughter than he is the happiness of his wife. All of this puts Hanna in a spot where she is forced to go back to her old ways of thinking as she works to regain her place as the central and most important person in the family. ' And the only thing worse than a baby sociopath is a fully grown one.�
Hanna is a very multi-dimensional character. She appears fairly normal on the surface but she constantly evaluates her responses so that she will be better perceived. If her real feelings had come out, she'd scare people away. There's a big twist at the end of the story that I didn't see coming and that made it even more enjoyable for me. Hanna is a psychopath with strange ways of looking at life and the people around her - but she was a great well-written character and actually very likable. The author did a fantastic job of explaining the two sides of Hanna - the normal acting outside that she showed to the world and the deep and unsettling thoughts that controlled her mind. This was a great read! ...more
This one of the best suspense books that I've read in a long time. The twists and turns kept coming and I didn't have it figured out until late in theThis one of the best suspense books that I've read in a long time. The twists and turns kept coming and I didn't have it figured out until late in the book and even when I did, there was a major twist in the last several chapters that I never saw coming.
I can't tell you too much about the plot because I don't want to give anything away but here is a short synopsis. The two main characters are Stephanie and Jasmine. They don't know each other and their lives are very different. Stephanie is a news director on her way to a business conference in San Diego. Jasmine is a waitress who wants to get as far away from her abusive husband as she can. The first time their paths cross, they meet on a airline flight and talk during their flight to Denver. Once they land, the story takes a big shift and life has all kinds of changes ahead. A few days after they land, Stephanie's friends start getting some very strange texts from her about a man that she met at the conference. The texts get so bizarre that her friends begin to worry about her. No matter what they perceive has happened, the truth is much more convoluted.
Stephanie and Jasmine were both well written characters -- one of them was easy to love and other was easy to hate. The plot was a real roller coaster ride and held my interest from the first page to the last. It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel for this author. Based on this book, I can't wait to see what she writes in the future. ...more
This well told psychological suspense story started off slow but picked up speed quickly. It's told in alternating chapters by the two sister and the This well told psychological suspense story started off slow but picked up speed quickly. It's told in alternating chapters by the two sister and the parents. The two sisters chapters go between present day and the day of the plane crash but we only have chapters from the parents during and immediately after the crash.
Twenty five years before the beginning of the novel, Fiona and Violet Seng were in a plane crash with their parents in a small Cessna. The plane crashed in the middle of nowhere in the Washington State wilderness. and the parents were killed. The two young girls fended for themselves for twelve weeks before they were rescued. This 12 week period is what they refer to in later years as the alone time. Now they are grown but the trauma of the crash still affects each of them. Fiona lives a very solitary life and is an artist who re-purposes leaves and feathers and other natural items into art work. Violet has led a life of addiction and bad boyfriends but is now back in college hoping to become a writer. They work very hard to keep the story of the crash quiet but when they find out that someone is planning a documentary about it, they realize that they need to find a way that their version of the truth of the accident stays the way it has been for all of those years...but it seems that there is new information that is causing their version of what happened to look like a lie. After being estranged from each other for several years, the two sister realize that they need to work together to keep the real truth from being exposed. They've never really talked to each other about their 'alone time' but now is the time to find out what really happened to them and their parents. The truth of what really happened comes out slowly as the two sisters begin to remember things about that time and there are several surprises along the way. What is the real truth??
This book was a roller coaster ride that got bogged down in the middle but in the last 25% picked up speed again to a satisfying ending. I plan to check out some of the author's previous book that are highly reviewed on goodreads.
Dreaming of Water is another roller coaster of a book by A.J. Banner that kept me rapidly turning pages and reading way past my bedtime. The main charDreaming of Water is another roller coaster of a book by A.J. Banner that kept me rapidly turning pages and reading way past my bedtime. The main character is well written and I could feel her desire to find out the truth of her sister's death. She faced a stone wall trying to get information from her parents but she was determined to solve the mystery -- she was a really tenacious woman. Plus the setting was so well described that I felt like I was in the Pacific northwest at the beach when I was reading it. For me, this book had all of the elements to make it a fantastic book that will end up in my top 20 books list for 2024.
Astrid swore to never return to Heron Bay after the drowning of her younger sister 17 years earlier and the continuing guilt that she felt because she was babysitting her sister when she disappeared. Before her sister's death, staying at her Aunt Maude's in Heron Bay made her summers special and she loved the time that she spent there. Now she's working as a court-qualified forensic document examiner in California. She and her husband have just split up and she is having trouble accepting the fact that he is now living with her ex-best friend. When Astrid receives a phone call from her Aunt asking her to return because she has found out some information about her sister's death, she decides to take a few days and go to Heron Bay. When she arrives at her aunt's house, her aunt is on the floor in a coma -- did she fall or did someone push her? After the cryptic message from her Aunt, Astrid decides that it's time to find out what really happened to her sister -- did she drown or did someone hold her under the water in the small reflecting pool? First she questions her parents but they both live different and separate lives and neither one of them even wants to talk about it. The more she investigates, the more the sad memories of those days and of her lost sister return but she remains determined to find out the truth no matter the cost.
Along with the mystery and suspense, there is a bit of romance to lighten the mood of the book. This is another fantastic book from this author. The plot kept me guessing until the end but once the 'bad guy' was revealed, it all made sense. Clear your calendar before you start reading because you won't want to put it down. Fantastic book! ...more
This well written novel goes into the lives of four very different women and how they are affected by a long ago mystery. The author does a great job This well written novel goes into the lives of four very different women and how they are affected by a long ago mystery. The author does a great job of keeping the suspense high as her readers keep turning the pages to find out how it ends. The ending was a surprise for me because I sure didn't see it coming and even though I thought I had it figured out several times, I would soon realize how wrong I was.
Cleo, Jemma and Alex were friends in school and are all holding on to a secret from their senior year. Is the secret related to what Edie is looking for with her lottery? The friends realize that they need to stick together to keep their secret from being revealed and even though they haven't seen each other in years, they quickly begin to depend on each other. I thought that the three friends were very well written and handled their problems in a realistic way. I had sympathy for all of them as they struggled to keep their lives together despite problems and enjoyed seeing them re-kindle their friendship after so many years.
The novel was a little confusing at first - it jumps back and forth between time lines and characters but once I got used to the flow, I realized that this was the best way to tell this story to keep it full of suspense.
This is a debut novel for this author and based on this book, I'm really looking forward to her future novels.
Alec Z. Carelli is looking for a good topic for his next true crime book. Even though he had some early success, his last books had failed so he knowsAlec Z. Carelli is looking for a good topic for his next true crime book. Even though he had some early success, his last books had failed so he knows that he needs to find a big story that hasn't been overexposed. He finds his story in a small town where a decade earlier three sixteen year old girls, burnt one of their school mates to death. Alec is thrilled to find his story and knows that if he writes it well, he will gain fame as a writer plus make some much needed cash. So he moves to the small town and works to interview the families of the accused girls as well as the family of the murdered girl. He gives us some interesting information about the history of the girls and their families but goes into way too much information about the history of the town and numerous minor characters who really have nothing to do with the story. The book does get bogged down in some of these long explanations of things that don't matter. He also spends a lot of time quoting podcasts on the crime that seemed unneeded.
I found it interesting the way the author wrote a book about an author writing a book. True crime stories are very popular right now and it was the perfect genre for the book within the book. However, early on we begin to wonder how much of the story really is TRUE crime and how much of it is made up by Carelli to make his story more intriguing and ultimately more popular with the public. Personally, I thought the book was too long but I think the author needed to include all of the unneeded details provided by the true crime author to show that he really didn't dig deep into his story but only relied on surface details. This was an interesting story that highlighted the current interest in True Crime stories even without knowing what is true and what is made up. ...more
Revelle speaks 11 languages and spends her days as an interpreter for witnesses, victims and accused in London police stations, courts and hospitals. Revelle speaks 11 languages and spends her days as an interpreter for witnesses, victims and accused in London police stations, courts and hospitals. Her words are normally the only words understood by the authorities and it's important for her to be very concise in her translations. It's a very stressful job but her entire life is stressful because she is in the process of adopting a pre-school boy who has had a rough upbringing. When she deliberately translates something wrong and allows an innocent man to go to prison, she is sure that she'll never be found out...but someone knows what she did.
The premise of the story and the suspense of who is trying to get back at Revelle is very good. My problem is that I didn't like Revelle much. Despite the fact that she had a job that required perfection, she always seemed a bit confused and unsure of herself both at her job and her parenting of the child she wants to adopt. However, the suspense behind who was threatening her was intense and kept me reading the book until the end. ...more
It's been awhile since a book kept me up way past my bedtime and then kept me from sleeping because I was worried about the characters. Dark Corners wIt's been awhile since a book kept me up way past my bedtime and then kept me from sleeping because I was worried about the characters. Dark Corners was one of those books that built up slowly but made sure that you knew that terrible things were going to happen. It dropped clues throughout the book but I was still very surprised by the ending. Looking back at the clues, it all made sense but I was just amazed at the perfect and unexpected ending.
Rachel Krall does a podcast about crime. In the previous year, she managed to uncover information that got a man released from prison which made her very well known. When the FBI is struggling with a case, they ask her to come to Florida and meet with Terrance Bailey who is about to be released from prison. Even though he was only accused of breaking and entering, the FBI and local police are sure the he is a serial killer. They hope that Rachel talking to him may get them some additional information but all it appears to do is to get her into danger. The FBI tries to send her home but she is really curious about the case and wants to get some additional information. She decides to attend BuzzCon, a convention for internet influencers to try to find out more about a missing girl who was an influencer and tied to the case with Bailey. BuzzCon is full of fierce rivalry between the influencers but is it tied to the deadly disappearance of one of its members? The FBI decides that Bailey must have an accomplice on the outside and realize that Rachel is in danger but she continues her undercover work without their approval. It's interesting that she is able to get more information and more people to talk to her than the police could. She shares her information with the FBI and they finally realize how much help she really is but also know how much danger she's in. Will her false identity at the conference keep her under the killer's radar or will he find out who she really is?
This is a twisty, psychological suspense story that kept me guessing. Rachel was a great main character. Her empathy helped her get a lot of information that other people were unable to get. It was also a nice break in her tumultuous life to have a romance with an FBI agent (who I hope shows up in future books about Rachel).
My review for Night Swim said that I felt Megan Goldin would become a major force in this genre. Dark Corners solidified that feeling. This book was a roller coaster ride that kept me turning the pages. I look forward to future books by this author! ...more
This novel was full of suspense and a real page turner. I must admit that I got a bit confused in the middle of the book but the ending was fantastic This novel was full of suspense and a real page turner. I must admit that I got a bit confused in the middle of the book but the ending was fantastic -- secrets were revealed that I never saw coming and the final ten pages were an awesome ending to this fantastic book.
Julia is a workaholic. She spend most of her time working at her job as a police investigatorwith little time left over for her daughter or her estranged (but still living in the house) husband. As the novel begins, she is investigating the disappearance of Olivia. This young lady has been missing for a day but the strange thing is that the CCV cameras show her going into an alley and never coming out. After thoroughly checking the alley, there are no doors to open and no way out. Julia and her staff want to find Olivia -- her case is very reminiscent of a case the year before when another young woman disappeared that was never found. At first Julia comes across as a dedicated police investigator but she has a secret - a secret that will ruin her life and her daughter's life if it ever comes out. And when she is told by a mysterious man to frame someone for the murder of Olivia or her secret will become public, she has to decide if her family or her job and her reputation are the most important. What would anyone do in these circumstances???
This page turner of a book with twists and turns that I never saw coming basically came down to one crucial question -- as a loving mother how far are you willing to go to save your child. Is it worth giving up your career and your reputation to keep your child safe? Julia is an excellent character who struggles with this decision as she work tirelessly to find the missing girl.
This is my first book by this author and it was so thrilling that I need to go back and read her previous thrillers especially Wrong, Place, Wrong Time which won a Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Award in 2022. I have also added her to my 'must buy' list because I don't want to miss future books by the author. ...more
I've enjoyed all of Tim Johnston's books and for me this was his best book yet. It's going to be a hard book to review because I don't want to give awI've enjoyed all of Tim Johnston's books and for me this was his best book yet. It's going to be a hard book to review because I don't want to give away any spoilers for other readers. What I can and will tell you is that this is a book full of twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages PLUS it has a wonderfully well developed main character who keeps the reader even more invested in the story and the ultimate ending.
Sean Courtland's old Chevy truck broke down outside of a small town in Wisconsin. A good Samaritan stropped and suggested a repair shop, gave him a ride into town and when he found out that Sean was a carpenter told him about an old guy in town who needed some work done. In quick succession, he gets the job, ends up in a bar fight defending a girl that he didn't even know who was being harassed which causes him to become known to the local police. He picks up a hitchhiker a few days later and when he finds out that Dan is a plumber, he asks him to help finish up the repair job that he's doing. They quickly get noticed by the people in town who are still haunted by the disappearance of three young boys years before.
Both Sean and Dan have secrets from their past and no real homes - instead they both travel around and work when they need a little money. Their work for an old man who the townspeople believe had something to do with the boy's disappearance all those years ago, brings new light to the cold case.
This book could have been very confusing -- there were a lot of different characters plus its told in two time lines but everything fit together perfectly and pointed toward the ending. Sean is definitely the 'star' of the novel - a nice guy who liked helping people but seems to attract trouble even if he isn't looking for trouble. He's quiet but always thinking and rationalizing situations. He's one of my favorite characters that I've read in a long time. If you enjoy a good mystery, well written characters and small town ambience, this is a book that you don't want to miss. It isn't a book that you want to speed through -- but want to read slowly and savor the writing and the character development. It's a definite must read!
The School Trip was an 'unputdownable' book that kept me up way past bedtime. There was no way that I could sleep until I found out how the book endedThe School Trip was an 'unputdownable' book that kept me up way past bedtime. There was no way that I could sleep until I found out how the book ended.
Emma is a kindergarten teacher. She's a recent widow and worries about her 6 year old daughter Claire and how her father's death will affect her. As the story begins, all of the kindergarten classes take a field trip to the local pumpkin patch. Even though Claire isn't in Emma's class, they are on the field trip together. The kids have a great time - petting the animals, going on a hayride and playing in the park. Claire doesn't get to spend as much time as with Claire because she has to take care of her own class but she trusts her daughter's teacher to do the same. When a little girl goes missing, Emma works with the other teachers to find her. The police are called and when the little girl is found, the parents and their children begin to leave. That's when Emma realizes that Claire is missing. She knows that her daughter wouldn't leave with a stranger and begins to search for her. The police have a video of the park exit that shows Claire walking out of the park with a stranger. After losing her husband two years before, she is totally upset that she may have also lost her daughter and blaming herself as she wonders if there is somehow a link between her husband's death and her daughter's disappearance.
As a parent, it's hard to imagine anything worse than having your child disappear and the author takes us through all of Emma's anguish and tears. Her willingness to do whatever she can to find her daughter cause the police to begin to leave her out of their case but she's willing to go against them and follow an idea that she has about who is responsible. This book was a real roller coaster ride with lots of twists and turns. The author did an interesting thing to make things even more tense for the reader -- interspersed in the story are several chapters by the kidnapper who has an attitude that is totally unhinged. Those chapters made me worry more about what the outcome would be because I could see the unnamed kidnapper as someone willing to hurt Claire
This was a fantastic thrilling book that melded the search for the child with the grief from the loss of her husband that Emma continues to work through. I highly recommend this thriller and have ordered some of Miranda Smith's earlier novels.
This new psychological suspense novel will have you guessing from the beginning until the end. None of the characters are who you think they are when This new psychological suspense novel will have you guessing from the beginning until the end. None of the characters are who you think they are when you first meet them. But who are they? I'll tell you right from the beginning, I didn't like ANY of the characters -- they are all unreliable narrators and try to present themselves in a much better light than they really belong in. So who are the characters
-Eve is the young mother of a new baby. She loves him and wants to protect him totally differently than the way so was protected as a child - she was totally unprotected from her parents. -Dom is Eve's husband. He knows that she's keeping secrets but can't get her to open up. Even though he is a stay at home dad, he feels like Eve doesn't totally trust him with their child. -Lydia is Eve's mom. She and Eve had been estranged for years until one day she shows up at her daughter's house to see her grandson. She lived with her husband (Eve's dad) until he died. He was an abusive husband and Lydia did nothing to protect her daughter. They both doted on their young son who was sickly but we don't find out what happened to him until later in the story. -Chloe has been Eve's best friend since childhood. She's in a rocky marriage but had always been close to help her best friend through some of the turmoil in her life.
Right from the beginning, there are a lot of questions -Why is Eve so protective of her baby -Why does Eve want to keep her mother away from the baby -Why won't she share her past with Dom -What happened to her younger brother -Was Chloe really a good friend or had she been stirring up Eve's life for years
You'll get answers to all of these questions but won't totally understand the family dynamics until the very end of the story. I went from feeling sympathy for a character and a couple of pages later, I'd realize what an awful person they really were. This is a roller coaster ride of a novel that will keep you guessing until the end! ...more
WOW!!! What a fantastic book. It had a little romance and a whole lot of suspense with one of the most evil and depraved 'bad guys' that I've encount WOW!!! What a fantastic book. It had a little romance and a whole lot of suspense with one of the most evil and depraved 'bad guys' that I've encountered in a book in a long time. Once I started, it was almost impossible to put down -- I'd decide to read just one more chapter and then read for hours. This is Nora Roberts at her absolute best!
Morgan was an army brat and spent her childhood moving around. Her goal as an adult was to put down roots and find a place to call home. She had no relationship with her father and even though she loved her mother and grandmother, she didn't make much time to see them. She had a job as a bartender and shared a house with her best friend Nina. She met Luke at the bar and there were definite sparks between them. She and Nina decided to host their first dinner party and invite Luke and Nina's new boyfriend. Everything goes well and Morgan decides that she really likes Luke and would love to spend more time with him. Her new life is shattered when she comes home from work to find out that her house has been robbed, her car stolen and Nina lay dead on the floor. When she finds out what happened she is devastated -- she let the monster into their lives. The FBI informs her that 'Luke' is really a serial killer named Gavin who enjoys becoming part of women's lives, steals their identity and eventually murders them. His only mistake this time was that he murdered the wrong woman - his goal was really to murder Morgan. She flees to her grandmother's house in Vermont and moves in with her mother and grandmother. The FBI continues to keep her updated and it appears that Gavin is going to come after her again. She works hard to re-build her life and become a real family with her mother and grandmother but Gavin continues to send her small gifts to scare her and remind her that he's going to be coming after her soon. The chapters that are told by Gavin are very disturbing and they make the reader keep turning pages to make sure that Morgan will survive. She continued to grow stronger and more resilient as the cat and mouse game continued -- will Gavin be successful or will Morgan be able to survive?
This book is fantastic -- I loved Morgan and her attitude toward life and her love for her family and friends. Morgan, her mother and grandmother had a special bond that really helped Morgan grow after the tragedy. The book is a roller coaster ride from beginning to end but the last 50 pages or so are really intense and kept me rapidly turning pages. This was a fantastic book from a great writer and I highly recommend it....more
This is one of the best thrillers that I've read in a long time. It's full of twists and turns and the last chapters reveal surprises that I didn't seThis is one of the best thrillers that I've read in a long time. It's full of twists and turns and the last chapters reveal surprises that I didn't see coming. The main characters are all flawed and my decision on who to trust changed throughout the book. Clear your calendar before you start this book because you won't want to put it down until the end.
Alex and Patrick are married and are raising Alex's twin 12 year old daughters from her first marriage. They are deeply in love and Patrick is the perfect husband and father in her eyes. Alex becomes a major influencer on Instagram with a million people following her on @Unapologetically Alex. She's so busy that she's hired a personal assistant. AC not only handles her social media but is also her 'work wife and right-hand gal' (p12). The novel begins when Alex wakes up after a night of drinking with Patrick and AC to celebrate her new achievement of one million followers. What waits for her, along with a wicked hangover, is a post that has gone viral that is seen by people as mean and vindictive and a missing AC. As the trolls take over demeaning her and her number of followers begins to drop rapidly, she begins to wonder if there a connection between the Instragram negativity and her missing personal assistant. Buy why?? She felt like she treated AC like a member of the family and had no idea if or why AC had betrayed her. AC knew all of her secrets, all of her passwords and some of her deepest issues and Alex knew that if AC had betrayed her, things could get very nasty, very fast. As the issues continue to pile on and begin to affect the safety of the family, the police get involved and start asking Alex and Patrick questions about the missing AC. I can't go into much more detail on the plot so I don't give away anything but I can tell you that this is a perfect example of social media at its worst.
The story is told in alternating chapters by Alex, Patrick and the missing AC. AC's chapters take place in the past and expose secrets from her younger days. Every time that I thought I knew who to trust and who was the 'bad guy', my mind would change in the next chapter. Was Alex the problem for making social media such an important part of her life, was Patrick hiding secrets from his past and if it was AC leading the negative posts on social media -- WHY?
This fast paced thriller will keep you turning pages to get to the surprise ending. Kimberly Belle is a master of psychological suspense and you don't want to miss her newest book.
Loading...
