Category: suspense

Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker

Don't Look for Me

People walk away from their lives every day. Especially when the pain at home is unbearable. But is that what happened to Molly Clarke?

When her car is found abandoned on the side of a road, out of gas, during a storm, the police and her family search everywhere for her. False leads and suspicious people make the search difficult.

A note is found at the only hotel telling her family not to look for her. But her daughter is not buying it. She is determined to find her mother. Believing there is no way she would abandon them.

Everyone in this little town is sketchy. I didn’t believe any of them. The suspense in this thriller built layer by layer until I was reading at warp speed!

This was a heartbreaking story of loss, guilt, insanity and what women will do to survive.

The question is what did happen to Molly Clarke? And will her daughter live to find out?

One very well done book!

NetGalley/ September 15th, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press

ONE BY ONE by RUTH WARE

One by One by [Ruth Ware]

Everyone is this book has secrets. Except maybe Danny. But the rest of them are pretty despicable people, not counting Erin, who takes care of the chalet and the guests with Danny as the chef.

Work retreats are nothing new for them. They host many at a luxurious ski chalet in the French Alps. Most are great and things run smoothly.

Not so when a start-up called Snoop and it’s co-founders come to stay. Right from the start, they are obnoxious and sketchy.  And as the days go by they began to dwindle in numbers. After an avalanche leaves them cut off from the rest of the world, they are all aware they are sharing quarters with a killer. But which one is it?

I could have told you who in Chapter one. The only person’s story I was interested in was Erin’s.

Not my cup of tea.

NetGalley/Gallery Scout Press September 8th, 2020

 

 

THE FIRST TO LIE by HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN

The First to Lie

Ryan is a genius at twisty, suspenseful writing! I felt the same way about this book as I do when all of my necklaces get tangled up in my jewelry box…I’m never going to get this untangled!

A daughter of privilege and wealth betrayed by the people who should have loved and protected her wants revenge and to get it she will have to be someone else.

A young, heartbroken widow. Betrayed in the same way.

A reporter trying to take down a big pharma company touting a drug that has horrific side effects. And doing it any way she can.

All it takes is a lie. But who will be the first to lie? And are any of them who they claim to be? And when the truth does come out, will one of them be the first to die?

Another crazy, suspense-filled tangle of a thriller!

NetGalley/ August 4th, 2020 by Forge Books/MacMillan

 

 

 

 

 

behind the red door by Megan Collins

Behind the Red Door: A Novel

From the author of The Winter Sister, comes this psychological thriller that seriously messed with my head!

Fern had an unorthodox upbringing to say the least! There are gaps in her memory and one day watching the news she sees a story about Astrid Sullivan, 34, and missing. But this isn’t the first time she has gone missing. Fern is positive she knows this woman. Scraps of memories bring nightmares that feel real.

Fern’s husband is convinced she is probably just remembering reading the first story as it happened near her childhood home. But Fern isn’t so sure.

When her distant father asks her to come home to help him clear out the house, she should have just hung up the phone!

I really don’t want to say a lot about the story. It is too wickedly twisted and you should have the joy of discovering what I did. And OMG! I just thought my family was screwy!

A great followup to The Winter Sister!

NetGalley/ August 4th, 2020 by Atria Books

 

 

 

THE VACATION by T.M.LOGAN

The Vacation

Seven days. Three families. One killer.

Four women. Friends since college decide to join each other and their families for a week’s vacation in a lovely villa in France.

Things are tense from the start. It looks like everyone’s family is not quite as together as they would like one to think. Only one of them has not married and she’s acting sketchy. Heck, everyone was shady and keeping secrets!

To tell you the truth I did not care for even one of them. Maybe Daniel. But it doesn’t matter because the story was that good!

Someone is willing to kill to keep their truth secret. But is it who you think it is?

This is one vacation I’ll pass on. But I’ll take the book!

Well Done!

NetGalley/ July 21st, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press

Who Did You Tell? by Lesley Kara

 

Who Did You Tell?

Astrid hasn’t had a drink in over 192 days. She is trying to be a different person. She’s dropped her first name and dropped alcohol. She’s moved in with her mother. She has a routine.

But guilt is eating her up inside. The memories of the things she did or at least thinks she did are fresh in her mind every minute of every day. Add to that the fact that she is sure someone is following her.

Even inside the AA group, she doesn’t know who to trust. She makes bad decisions and her next one could cost her her own life.

But there is another voice in this story. A voice we don’t know. And it wants her to pay for something. With her own life. Can Astrid stay sober and more importantly alive?

Lesley Kara always gives us a good thriller! I did not care for Astrid at all! But the story was suspenseful as heck!

NetGalley/ June 16th, 2020 by Ballantine Books

 

 

 

THE HALF SISTER by SANDIE JONES

The Half Sister

Kate and Lauren are sisters who have nothing in common on the surface. One is career-oriented and seems to live a glamourous and carefree life with her husband while the other is married to a jerk with kids and an unhappy life.

But on Sunday they all sit at their recently widowed mother’s home for dinner. They are all still grieving. Kate was especially close to her father while Lauren has always been closer to their mother, Rose.

What no one knows is Kate has been trying for years to conceive a baby. And Lauren would just as soon leave her husband and escape her life.

All of that is the backdrop for the one Sunday dinner when there is a knock at the door and a woman stands there asking for their father. Who she says is her father as well. It seems she has uploaded her DNA and found a match with Lauren. But has she? Can they believe anything she says?

These sisters could have avoided all of this if any of them had bothered to talk to each other. But secrets are what families do. And sometimes they are what blows your world apart. And everyone in this book is keeping secrets!

There were some issues I had with the DNA thing, but overall it was a good mystery!

NetGalley/ June 16th, 2020 by Minotaur Books

 

 

 

 

THE GIRLS WEEKEND by Jody Gehrman

The Girls Weekend

Their reunion just became a crime scene . . .

Five former college friends reunite over the summer break and English professor June Moody isn’t exactly thrilled about going.

Her oldest friend and enemy Sadie, is hosting a girls’ weekend baby shower at her massive estate where she lives with June’s old crush, now Sadie’s husband, and Sadie’s pregnant cousin Amy, who she has always looked after.

Things are tense and there is a very uncomfortable feeling to the entire group. The husband is living in the lake house and the cousin living in the guest house and the gardener is living in a yurt.

After a night of drinking and revisiting old grudges, the morning finds them with no memory of what happened. The house is destroyed. There is blood on the landing. And Sadie is gone.

Everyone is a suspect and with memories sketchy, the suspense was palpable. The women were all pretty horrible and everyone is lying. I think we all knew who did what early on.

As a character, June was my least favorite. I just did not care for her. But the story will leave you wondering how well you know the people you call friends.

NetGalley/June 9th, 2020 by Crooked Lane Books

 

 

 

THE WIFE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH by MICHELE CAMPBELL

The Wife Who Knew Too Much

From Michele Campbell, the bestselling author of It’s Always the Husband comes a new blockbuster thriller in The Wife Who Knew Too Much.

 

At first, I thought I was reading A Stranger on the Beach again. Nora, a very wealthy woman with a huge house on the beach has discovered a secret. And after her huge party tonight she is planning on confronting her cheating husband and his love.

But Nora is smart. She has a diary and records it all. Including the bit about her husband planning to kill her.

Meanwhile, for some reason, her cheating hubby, Connor, is in a small town his family used to come to on vacation. It’s there that he met and had a summer fling with a local girl, Tabitha. He was the one who got away for her. And when he walks into her diner, she falls hook, line, and sinker for his bull.

When she comes up pregnant and shows up at the big party at Nina’s house, Hoping to find Connor and give him the good news. But Conner is playing a different game with someone else hoping to get his hands on Nina’s money.

Tabitha is in her mid-thirties and should know better but she acts like a simple-minded child and it’s not a good look. Who is Connor? Does he care about her or anyone but himself? It’s not looking like it.

Honestly, I didn’t care for a single character. Not even Nina. In my own opinion, I felt like it was the same book as the last one with name changes.

Give it a try and see what you think.

NetGalley/ July 28th, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press

 

LITTLE SECRETS by JENNIFER HILLIER

Little Secrets

From the author of Jar of Hearts comes this edge of your seat, domestic suspense thriller of a story!

Marin and Derek are living the perfect life. College love and two driven people. Marin owns a very successful chain of hair salons and Derek owns his own business as well. Money isn’t something they think about. They even have a perfectly lovely little boy, Sebastian.

But in the blink of an eye, Sebastian disappears from his mother’s hand and is gone. The video surveillance shows him happily walking out with a Santa.

Cut forward a year and you wouldn’t know this is the same woman. The leads are dead, no one seems to be looking for her child. She goes to therapy, a group of people with little in common except for the fact their children are all missing.

Marin has secretly hired a PI, Vanessa, to try and find Sebastian. What she finds is evidence of an affair Derek is having with some young tart.

Marin has been sleepwalking through life until now. Now she is clearheaded and out for blood! Who is this younger woman?

Kenzie is a graduate student and aspiring artist. She is famous. On IG. Derek isn’t her first rich catch. But Marin intends to make sure he is the last. Marin may not be able to do anything about her son, but Kenzie is one problem that she can deal with.

With help from a dear college friend, she finds someone to take care of that issue, only to find out Kenzie may know something about her son! And Derek isn’t exactly innocent either.

This book was like jumping into the deep end of the pool. No build-up, no ramping up gradually, nope, not at all. There were really good characters here. Slimy, yes, but good. People I didn’t want to like but did so grudgingly. People who were just like me and yet did not see what was right in front of their eyes.

I can say I was properly scared to death and I can’t wait to go back and savor it slowly this time!

 

NetGalley/  April 21st, 2020 by Minotaur Books