Category: suspense

THE SEEKERS (Krewe of Hunters) by HEATHER GRAHAM

This is #28 in this series.

THE TRUTH IS SCARIER THAN FICTION

 

Meet Keri. A Non-Fiction writer. Keri has been asked to help the crew of The Seekers, a ghost hunter type show, as they explore a haunted inn. It’s famous for a lot of reasons, the main one being the site of an ax-wielding killer in the ’20s.

They have just begun to set up when they find a body in the basement. And not just any body but the body of an FBI agent. Are the killings starting again? And who is the woman in white Keri sees by the body?

Joe has joined the Krewe of Hunters. A group within the FBI with paranormal gifts. Together with Dallas, they take over the inn and plunge into an investigation into not only the death of another agent but all of the odd things going on in this strange town.

And this was a strange town! Ghosts popping up, kidnappings, satanic cults. All the good bells and whistles.

This could be a stand alone. Or be like me and read them all!

NetGalley/Mira  July 23rd, 2019

 

 

 

 

SUNBURN by LAURA LIPPMAN

Sunburn

One is playing a long game. But which one?

Blurb:

They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says he’s also passing through.

Yet she stays and he stays—drawn to this mysterious redhead whose quiet stillness both unnerves and excites him. Over the course of a punishing summer, Polly and Adam abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the other—dangerous, even lethal, secrets that begin to accumulate as autumn approaches, feeding the growing doubts they conceal.

Then someone dies. Was it an accident, or part of a plan? By now, Adam and Polly are so ensnared in each other’s lives and lies that neither one knows how to get away—or even if they want to. Is their love strong enough to withstand the truth, or will it ultimately destroy them?

Something—or someone—has to give.

Which one will it be?

My Take:

This one started out at 100 mph and didn’t let up! Lippman has given us a suspenseful tale that took me on a wild ride of What? Who? What? This one was like a Rubik’s Cube. I was changing my mind all the way to the end. And that ending!

Polly is an unlikeable character. Adam is a very likable character. Irving is a jerk. Even though she appeared to be cold and calculating I wanted to find out why. What is the truth and who is going to die in order to keep a plan alive.

Are they in love? Who is using who? Is one of them a killer? Let’s just say Lippman has this layering of suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat!

Thanks to William Morrow for the copy!

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

 

The Escape Room

“Welcome to the Escape Room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.”

Escape rooms can be really fun and right now they are all over the place and getting pretty creative. The premise is simple enough. A group of people locked in a room. Together they must look at clues that will allow them to escape. The clues are rarely straight forward and more than once will have you backtracking. In the real world, if you run out of time, they just let you out and you can do the walk of shame.

This isn’t that type of story. In this story, four very competitive co-workers are told that on this Friday evening they will be participating in an escape room challenge. None of them wants to do any team building exercises, but they also want to keep their jobs and the money that goes with those jobs, so they show up in a building that is undergoing construction, waiting for an elevator to take them to the escape room.

Little do they know as the elevator rises to the 70th floor that they are already in the escape room. And for the next few days, all of their dirty little secrets, failings, and crimes come out and they must all deal with their own shameful behaviors. And most importantly, which one of them is a killer?

Yes, we find out at the end who was running the show. But I have to say it was a rather unsatisfying end.

Netgalley/ July 30th, 2019 by St. Martin’s Press

 

 

 

SEASON of DARKNESS by CORA HARRISON

Season of Darkness (A Gaslight Mystery #1)

First in the Gaslight Mystery Series

Cora Harrison is one of my favorite authors. Her Reverand Mother series is wonderful reading!

In this new Historical Fiction Series, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins have teamed up to try and solve the murder of a young servant girl named Isabella Gordon. Isabella is one of the young ladies that Dicken’s charities had tried to help. Unfortunately, Isabella wasn’t a rule follower and she along with her friend, Sisena, moved on to work in a lodging house owned by a friend of Dickens. An American who supposedly made his fortune in gold.

Feeling a strong sense of responsibility to find her killer, Dickens, Collins, and Sisena are looking for clues. Was she blackmailing someone? Is the killer in the house? Will Sisena get greedy and go for the money herself?

I enjoyed the true parts tucked in with the mystery. Since this is the first in a series, I will say that I did not enjoy this one as much as her other series. But we’ll see where she goes with it!

NetGalley/ Severn House July 01, 2019

 

 

THE RUMOR by LESLEY KARA *Release Day*@LesleyKara @randomhouse @netgalley

The Rumor

“Rumors are like fires. No one admits to starting them and before you know it, they’re out of control.”

Joanna is a single mom by choice. Raising her son, Alfie, just down from her mom’s home. Alfie’s dad, Michael, and his mom are on the best of terms, Joanna just didn’t want to get married. Now Alfie is in school and Joanna needs to make nice with the other moms for her son. So when she joins the moms at the school gates she hears a juicy rumor. Which should have stayed at the school gates.

It gnaws at her. This case of a 10-year-old who long ago killed another child. And when she is invited to join the others for a book club, she blurts out the rumor. Once out of the mouth, it takes on a life of its own. Soon she has Michael on the hunt for the mysterious killer who may now be living in their tiny town.

Soon there is mass hysteria toward a woman in town and Joanna realizes she has put her entire family in danger. This time her words may come back to bite her!

Oh my, I loved this one! I was suspicious of every female and every time I thought we (Jo and I), had it nailed down, we were wrong! There was so much tension in this thriller. Fast paced, well written, and that ending! Whoa!

Well Done!

NetGalley/ Ballantine Books Random House

 

 

 

a family of strangers by EMILIE RICHARDS

A Family of Strangers

Emotional, Suspenseful, Domestic Drama, and Murder!  Who are these people that Ryan Gracey thought were family?

Ryan has always been told she was a change of life baby. Born prematurely when her mother went to Mexico on a trip and was all of a sudden pregnant. When she came home she had a baby and Ryans older sister was off to college.

In Ryan’s mind, her older sister, Wendy, can do no wrong. She is the perfect daughter, wife, mother and career woman. In Ryan’s mind. But all of that comes into question when in the same week her father has a heart attack, her sister calls begging her to go watch her two little girls and she’ll be home at some point. What? As Ryan drops her own life to go and help her mother and sister, she is finding some strange things at her sister’s home.  Where is Wendy? Who is Wendy?

Could Wendy be the perfect liar as well?  Ryan intends to use her crime podcast contacts to find out the truth. Where is her sister? Heck, who is her sister? It seems as if everyone has a different opinion and when the truth comes to light, it’s explosive!

Well Done!

NetGalley/Mira  June 25th, 2019 by MIRA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE FIRST MISTAKE by SANDIE JONES

The First Mistake

From the author of The Other Woman comes The First Mistake by Sandie Jones.

Alice lost her husband, Tom, very suddenly. Leaving her a widow with a young daughter. She didn’t handle his death well. And who could blame her? But now she is married to Nathan and they have a daughter together. Her interior design business is going well, she has a great house and enough money. All her own.

She also has a secret best friend, Beth. Beth has a daughter also. She also has a secret. One that could blow Alice’s entire world apart. And Nathan may not be who he says he is. Is Alice being gaslighted or is she losing her mind? And what was her first mistake?

This had an Alfred Hitchcock feel to it! There were so many loose threads to pull and they all were leading in different directions. More than one person is messing with her mind and her marriage. But why?

I figured out the why early on. And the who. But that ending, truly satisfying!

NetGalley/ Minotaur June 11, 2019