Thriller

Review: The Stepmother by Claire Seeber

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I seem to have a thing for stories about families so dysfunctional that it’s criminal.  Evil parents, deranged siblings, you name it and I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame. So of course I couldn’t pass up a book with a title so intriguing as this one…

Jeanie feels like she’s living in a fairy tale when she meets Matthew.  After  a whirlwind courtship and marriage, she dares to believe that she’s found her happily ever after.  And she deserves it, after living through such a traumatic past.  Matthew is perfect, everything she could imagine wanting for the rest of her life.  Sure there’s the small issue of his teenage children, but Jeanie is sure they’ll come around with some time and patience.

But in this story, there’s no such thing as a happy ending.  Someone has discovered Jeanie’s darkest secrets and is trying their hardest to expose her.  The question is, just who is it?  And which one of her new family members is out to destroy her?

There are so many twisted characters in this story with so many secrets that I was left guessing until the very end.  I couldn’t decide exactly who the “bad” person was.  Was it Jeanie’s stepdaughter, Scartlett?  Or was it someone from Jeanie’s past?  An outstanding story that had me hooked from the very first page.

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The Stepmother

 

Review: House Revenge by Mike Lawson 

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This was a pretty entertaining read. Though it’s the eleventh in a series, I had no trouble keeping track of characters and their occupations, good guys vs bad guys, and the relationships among them all.

House Revenge takes the reader through Boston politics, from commercial land development to dirty congressmen to cops on the take to connections with Mexican drug cartels, all through the eyes of Joe DeMarco. Joe is a right hand man taking direction from politicians, but trouble arises when he doesn’t think through his approach.  

In House Revenge, at the request of those more powerful than he, Joe tries to help an old lady stay in her apartment. Her building is getting torn down to make way for bigger and better – and more profitable – enterprises. Joe doesn’t intend to get too involved, but we all know where the path of good intentions leads. By the middle of the book, Joe is halfway there. 

I liked the peek into DC and Boston politics, the interactions with Boston Police, and the local references. Though some of Joe’s “solutions” seemed pretty far-fetched, I’ve got to give him credit for getting as far as he did in a world where one hand washes the other, and quid pro quo is the status quo.

-calliope 

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Review: All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

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What can I say about this latest novel from Megan Miranda other than it’s pure gold?  Truly, it’s along the lines of “Run and grab this one as fast as you can and be prepared to stay up way  past your bedtime to finish it.”

Nic dreads returning to her hometown.  But she can’t avoid it after being summoned by her brother.  He needs her help to make arrangements for their aging father.  Her plan is to get in and out as quickly as possible, get back to her life as she knows it.  History, however, has other ideas…

You see, there’s a reason she left in such a hurry all those years ago.  Was it the devastating disappearance of her best friend, Corinne?  Or was it something else?  Whatever the cause, it’s still there after all these years.  Dark secrets don’t stay hidden forever.  And once you start digging, well, it’s just a matter of time until everything is out in the open.  Or maybe not.

Megan Miranda has written an outstanding thriller, making me want to read all of her others.  Bonus points on originality for this one as the story is told in reverse.  I wasn’t sure how that was going to work at first, but by the end it all came together.  A must-read for fans of suspenseful, well-told stories!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  All the Missing Girls

 

Review: The Pursuit by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

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I am addicted to these Fox and O’Hare novels. Federal agent O’Hare and genius criminal/informant Fox work together to catch super bad guys across the globe. Working so closely together, they’ve managed to peek into each other’s personal lives… and even fall in Like. 

The Pursuit gives the reader a double whammy. The pair finish a case in the beginning chapters and quickly land a new case… One they can’t even put on the books. One that sends them to Belgium and the Paris underground. It’s a con. Maybe the biggest con they’ve ever pulled. And their lives depend on them making zero mistakes. 

Part comedy, part MacGyver, and part Ocean’s Eleven, The Pursuit is the perfect light read to get me laughing and holding tight to the edge of my seat in the same chapter. I’ll read them as fast as Goldberg and Evanovich can write them. 

-calliope 

Buy THE PURSUIT

Review ~ Before I Wake by C.L Taylor. 

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C.L Taylor is perhaps better known in the U.K, but I believe she is going to be a popular author over this side of the pond as well. Befor I Wake, or The Accident, as it’s called in the U.K., focuses on a 17 year old girl who is in a coma after an apparent suicide attempt. Charlotte’s family are trying to come to terms with not only the medical issues, but also the fact that Charlotte felt the need to jump out in front of a bus.

However, it’s when Charlotte’s mum, Susan, finds her daughter’s diary with “I can’t keep this secret much longer” written down, that the real mystery begins. 

Was Charlotte’s accident an act of malice, or a tragic case of not having the will to live? 

This is an interesting read. It presents dual narratives and the characters are given a good amount of room to breathe and develop. 

A quick and simple read, this is great for those summer days sitting in your garden with a nice iced drink! 

Enjoy!

Pegasus. 

Buy Before I Wake

Review: The Sister by Louise Jensen

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I hate it when I wait too long to review a book.  And I know I’m not alone in that sentiment.  It’s not that we completely forget what the story was about.  It’s just that we are such voracious readers that sometimes characters and storylines from various books mesh together into one big bookish blob.  But still, I would be neglecting my role as a reviewer of “books that must be read” if I didn’t mention this little gem.

When Grace loses her best friend, Charlie, her world comes to an end.  Connected from childhood, everything she knows involves Charlie.  She just can’t come to grips with her death, with secrets left behind and questions unanswered.  So she digs.  She looks for answers to just who Charlie was.  And in the process, she uncovers more than she expected in the form of Charlie’s unknown sister, Anna.  Here’s where things start to get weird.  Grace begins to forget things, to lose things.  She’s sure someone is following her.  And the people around her are acting very strange.  Is she going crazy?  Or is something more sinister at work?

This debut novel is a thriller in the truest sense.  It plays tricks with your mind and leaves you guessing all the way while at the same time making it seem as if you’ve figured it out.  And of course there’s a fantastic twist that you’ll never see coming!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The Sister

 

Review: The New Neighbor by Leah Stewart

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I love a book with an ambiguous title.  What exactly does “new neighbor” mean?  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  And who is the new neighbor?  Even better when the story itself is just as much of a conundrum.

Margaret is alone, but she prefers it that way.  Living for ninety years means she’s seen and heard her share of things.  So she’s fairly content (or so she claims) to live out the rest of her years in her little house by the lake with her mystery novels to keep her company.  Then one day she notices a new neighbor across the lake.  Mildly curious at first, she schemes her way into finding out who exactly this person is.

And Jennifer…who is she really and where did she come from?  Surely she and her young son, Milo, have some kind of history somewhere.  But when you change your name and cut ties to your past, that must mean you’re running from something.  Of course Margaret is intrigued as she fancies herself somewhat of a mystery buff.  The deeper she digs, the more questions she has.

The bigger mystery is, who has more to hide? Is it Jennifer with her new name and her desire to make her son forget everything they left behind? Or is it Margaret with her burning need to finally tell her story to someone who will listen?

This book was such a thriller from the beginning ’til the very end. The author does an outstanding job of dragging you along, feeding you little tidbits along the way to keep you following. You just know that some kind of big secret is going to be revealed, but you’re never quite sure who that secret is going to be about. It’s not until the last chapter that it all comes together. And it’s what you expected while not being what you expected. Intrigued? Good!

~Thalia

Buy It Now: The New Neighbor

Review (revisited): Life or Death by Michael Robotham

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25674405Okay, I’m a bit perplexed. All of my friends loved this book. Even one whom I never would have imagined to! For me however it was just okay. I did enjoy it. But I found it too much of a dramatized Hollywood made for telly movie of the week.

For me, a novel has to be believable. Even a fantasy books have to be believable. That’s why I get so excited when I read one that makes me forget that the characters aren’t real! This novel, well, I just didn’t find it believable. Trust me, I have no issues in finding certain people in society that we perceive as good turning out to be the bad guys. I also have no problem with parts of the criminal justice system being corrupt. Nor do I have issues with people who have amazing good luck and bad luck….

But this novel just had too much of all of the before mentioned all wrapped together in a nicely decorated package for it to work well for me.

Yes, this novel was entertaining. Yes, I say again, I did enjoy the majority of it, but towards the end it had just went on for too long with endless improbabilities for me to continue to enjoy it.

Until next time…

Urania xx

Review copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review

Buy it now Life or Death by Michael Robotham

Review ~ The Travelers by Chris Pavone

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imageThis is the third installment from Chris Pavone that includes The Expats – Pegasus’ review, The Expats – Urania’s review And then The Accident – Pegasus’ review. As is Pavone’s M.O., once again, we are transported to a world of traveling and European locales.

The Travelers is a travel magazine, one of the last in a dying business of print media. Its senior reporter, Will Rhodes, is on assignment in Argentina, when he is approached by a woman who he ends up sleeping with and then being told that he must join the CIA due to his carte blanche access to foreign locations. Yes, I wouldn’t blame you if you had puked whilst simultaneously caused yourself ocular strain by the eye rolling. However, bear with me…. From here, Will is thrust into an espionage world where nothing is what it seems.

This is not a unique storyline, but with all the different locations, the double crossing, characters who have multiple motives, and fast pace chapters, The Travelers, is truly a fun and exciting read. The characters are good enough (although I feel as though they could have had more room to develop), if not a little one dimensional, but let’s face it, this isn’t type of novel that necessarily requires it.

Whilst all three novels are definitely stand alone, Pavone has managed to interweave some characters and plot points that you’ll probably recognize if you read the books in order of publication (The Expats, The Accident, and The Travelers). This books is solidly entertaining and well worth reading if you enjoyed the previous two.

Until next time,

Pegasus.

The Travelers: A Novel

Review: Extreme Prey (Lucas Davenport #26) by John Sandford

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26025992This one took me a bit longer to finish…I did enjoy it…I did! However, if not for the ending I might very well have rated it a teeny tiny bit lower.

The thing is, I love Sandford so much because of his incredible gift of writing dialogue. When Davenport is with his comrades, well it just doesn’t get any better. The banter between him and his friends/colleagues…well it just doesn’t get any better….Stanford really shines and it’s probably the main reason he’s been a favourite author for decades.

With this novel I just felt Davenport was adrift. Yes, he did his “job non-job”…but he was out on his own. Yes, we met some really interesting characters that I hope to run into again in the future….yes, we saw some old characters that we haven’t seen in a while. All of that was great…but that closeness, dialogue, and teamwork that we’ve always seen in the past was just missing for me.

Lucas hasn’t been happy professionally for a while now. That has left him adrift professionally, and now that seemed to leak into his personal life as well. I mean, really, he didn’t even seemed to connect with his family like he used to…

Hopefully the ending of this book will clear all of this out and Lucas will be part of a team again…in his personal life as well as his professional one…yes, he’ll always be the top dog, even when he isn’t…but at least he’ll be a member of the pack instead of just a lone wolf…

However…this does bring up new developments for that F’ing Flowers now doesn’t it…

Until next time…

Urania xx

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review

Buy it now Extreme Prey by John Sandford