The Violent Season, By Sara Waters ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Contemporary Fiction, Death of a parent, Mental Illness, Mystery, Romance, Sexual Assault, Suicide, Suspense, Toxic Relationships, Trauma, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an ARC In exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: October 5th, 2021

320 Pages

Synopsis: An unputdownable debut about a town marred by violence, a girl ruined by grief, and the harsh reality about what makes people decide to hurt each other. The Violent Season is a searing, unforgettable, and thrilling novel that belongs on shelf with Sadie and Girl in Pieces.

Every November, the people in Wolf Ridge are overwhelmed with a hunger for violence–at least that’s the town rumor. Last fall Wyatt Green’s mother was brutally murdered, convincing Wyatt that this yearning isn’t morbid urban legend. but rather a palpable force infecting her neighbors.

This year, Wyatt fears the call of violence has spread to her best friend Cash–who also happens to be the guy she can’t stop wanting no matter how much he hurts her. At the same time, she’s drawn to Cash’s nemesis Porter, now that they’re partners on an ambitious project for lit class. When Wyatt pulls away from Cash, and spends more time with Porter, she learns secrets about both of them she can’t forget.

And as the truth about her mother’s death begins to emerge from the shadows, Wyatt is faced with a series of hard realities about the people she trusts the most, rethinking everything she believes about what makes people decide to hurt each other. (Goodreads)

Sarah Walter’s debut, The Violent Season, isn’t perfect, but it is a compulsive and memorable read that will appeal to many YA fans.

Wyatt and her self-destructive behavior had me wanting to both hug her and slap her throughout the book. Her toxic relationship with Cash is cringeworthy at times, but despite being 56-years-old I do remember being a teenager and having a friend in somewhat similar circumstances. That said, some of her actions are over-the-top melodramatic and difficult to understand. Cash, as the “bad boy” of the story, I wish had been developed a little more. After finding out a little of his family history, I needed to know more about what made him tick, particularly as more of the mystery began to be revealed. Porter, the third in the love triangle, I actually liked the best. I was half expecting him to be the blandly popular jock persona you find so often in YA fiction, but he was surprisingly complex. 

The mystery itself is a little predictable in someways and I figured out the identity of the main villain fairly early on. However, the twisty path getting to the answers kept me turning the pages and I easily finished this in two sittings. The ending tied everything up neatly, but because I grew to care about Wyatt I found myself wishing for it to be fleshed out a little more.

Overall, The Violent Season, has much to recommend about it including the realistic way it tackles some of its darker themes such as: death of a parent, drug use, toxic relationships, sexual assault, self harm, mental illness, trauma, and suicide. If I were still a children’s/YA librarian, this would be a book I’d definitely be adding to our collection for those 14+.

Summer Sons, By Lee Mandelo ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Coping With Loss and Grief, Horror, LGBTQ Relationships, Mystery, Southern Gothic, Talk of Suicide, Trauma

Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 28th, 2021

384 Pages

Synopsis: Lee Mandelo’s debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost.

Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom that hungers for him.

As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble.

And there is something awful lurking, waiting for those walls to fall. (Goodreads)

I want to say at the onset that Summer Sons is receiving mostly rave reviews, so my slight disappointment may be due to me just being in the wrong mood(?) My biggest complaints concern the characters and molasses-like slowness of the first half. I struggled with connecting to any of the characters, especially Andrew, who I really didn’t like until the last third of the book, when I began to understand him more. The story also tackles a lot: loss, drugs, relationships, car racing, competitive academia, curses, etc. and at times there just seemed to be an excruciating amount of minutiae to plow through. I freely admit I resorted to skimming some of the longer chapters, especially the sections that were like The Fast and the Furious. But there were also some things that I loved about this including: the uniqueness of the story, the diversity of the characters and their relationships, the Southern Gothic tone, the ultimate direction of the central mystery, and the final resolution, which much to my surprise had me tearing up a little. Ironically, given that I’m usually such a nut for horror, is that for me, the strengths of this book lie more in its thoughtful exploration of trauma, grief and loss, not the supernatural aspects, which until the last few chapters left me frequently confused as to what was happening.

I really hate writing reviews like this because I’m all over the place with it. I’d like to say that Summer Sons still has me thinking about it three days after I finished, so that’s another plus. In the end, if you’re a horror fan who’s looking for something different and the premise intrigues you, I’d say give this a try. And as always, don’t just go by my opinion. Please check out the other reviews on Goodreads.

Rock Paper Scissors, By Alice Feeney ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 7th, 2021

304 Pages

Synopsis: Think you know the person you married? Think again…

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.
Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts – paper, cotton, pottery, tin – and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney. (Goodreads)

If you’re a fan of Alice Feeney, you already know that she excels at misdirection and Rock Paper Scissors is a perfect example of how splendidly she does this without annoying the reader.

The story is told from the POVs of Adam and Amelia, as well as a mysterious person named Robin who lives near the vacation getaway that Amelia won. Once I got past my disbelief over why anyone would take off to the remote Scottish Highlands in the winter on a vacation they supposedly “won” with such little information, I was thoroughly sucked into this mesmerizing page-turner. Unsurprisingly, none of these characters are reliable, and I’ll be honest and admit I absolutely loathed Adam despite my initial sympathy for him because of his Prosopagnosia (face blindness). However, they absolutely fascinated me and the more I read, the more I was dying to find out more about them.

This is a creepy, atmospheric, multi-layered story that’s fleshed out even more by the letters from Adam’s wife, one written on each wedding anniversary for the ten years they’ve been married. It was an ingenious way to add to their backstory and give you a tantalizing peek at what led up to where they are now.

Having read Feeney’s previous books, I was prepared for surprises, but this really kept me on my toes. Except for a couple of minor ones I was truly shocked at the direction the story took, and didn’t see even the final big reveals coming. These were jaw dropping in every way!

Rock Paper Scissors in my humble opinion is one of Feeney’s best books yet, and I highly recommend it to both fans of the bestselling author as well as readers who haven’t tried her books yet. It’s an exciting psychological/domestic thriller tinged with horror and I guarantee that it will grab you and not let go until you’ve reached the last page. Suzanne Mackie’s Orchid Pictures has already optioned this for a six-part Netflix series. Mackie is Executive Producer of The Crown, so I’m really excited about seeing this brought to life on the screen. That said, don’t wait. Read this fabulous book first!

A History of Wild Places, By Shea Ernshaw ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Communes, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: December 7th, 2020

368 Pages

The New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Deep weaves a richly atmospheric adult debut following three residents of a secluded, seemingly peaceful commune as they investigate the disappearances of two outsiders.

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend.

Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it…he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.

Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease—rot—into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed—and that darkness takes many forms.

Hauntingly beautiful, hypnotic, and bewitching, A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind. (Goodreads)

Oh my goodness, what a creepy, mesmerizing read A History of Wild Places turned out to be! As the story begins, Travis Wren has been hired by the parents of controversial children’s author Maggie St. James, who has mysteriously gone missing. Travis has a unique talent that assists him in locating people, but it’s one that’s taken a toll on him personally. Because of this and a personal tragedy, he’s taking taking on this last case as a favor for a friend before quitting this difficult business. As he arrives in the small Northern California mountain town where Maggie was last seen and discovers her abandoned car near a forest that doesn’t seem to have had any recent human visitors, Travis also disappears. The story then switches to the isolated commune of Pastoral nestled deep in the woods. The chapters alternate between three of its inhabitants, Theo and his wife Calla, and Calla’s sister Bee. 

I have to be honest and say it wasn’t terribly difficult to foresee what the central twist was going to be, but that really didn’t matter because of the hypnotic writing style of Ernshaw. Theo, Calla, and Bee are all unreliable narrators because they each only possess bits and pieces of the larger puzzle. They’re all relatable though, and I had no trouble connecting with them whatsoever.

The story itself is a slow burner in the beginning, but thanks to Ernshaw’s evocative and richly detailed prose I never once found my attention wandering. While I figured out the main reveal fairly early, I remained mystified in regards to the hows and whys, and along the winding way to getting those answers, there were quite a few twists that managed to surprise me right up until the ingenious ending.

A History of Wild Places is a stellar read that I recommend to not only fans of Shea Ernshaw’s previous books, but anyone who’s a fan of unique, imaginative and unforgettable storytelling. If I were to compare it to something, I’d say in some respects it’s reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, but trust me, it ultimately diverges quite a ways from that and completely stands on its own merits. 

 

The Lighthouse Witches, By C.J. Cooke ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Scotland, Supernatural Fiction, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: October 5th, 2021

368 Pages

Synopsis: Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found–but she’s still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting.

When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it’s an opportunity to start over with her three daughters–Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she’s frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.

Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she’s initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers–except she’s still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she’ll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn’t realize just how much the truth will change her. (Goodreads)

The Lighthouse Witches is the first book I’ve read by C.J. Cooke, but it certainly won’t be the last! Gaelic and Nordic mythology and other elements that I’m not going to name for fear of spoilers, are splendidly woven with Scottish history and witch hunts, and it had me utterly enthralled from the very beginning and wouldn’t let go.

There are three timelines involved: 1662 from a grimoire which provides key historical details that directly tie into the other timelines; 1998 which is from Liv’s POV and shows the events that unfold after she and her three daughters arrive on Lòn Haven; and 2021 which is Luna’s, the middle daughter’s POV, as she struggles with the trauma of what happened twenty-two years ago, as well as the new, frightening occurrences that are bringing the past to life. The characters are so realistically portrayed that I half expected them to walk off the page. They’re flawed, yet still sympathetic, and even when one of them commits a certain horrific act, (yes I’m being deliberately vague), I could understand the desperation behind what was done. 

Cooke’s writing is evocative, haunting, and beautifully detailed which helps bring the eerie Scottish isle of Lòn Haven alive. As for the plot, well, let me say to say that the word twisty doesn’t even begin to describe the different directions it takes. The final twist caught me completely by surprise but explained everything so perfectly I thought it was brilliant! The ending is bittersweet and poignant, yet brings everything and everyone full circle.

Honestly, I really can’t sing the praises of The Lighthouse Witches loudly enough. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year, and as it’s been a banner year for fantastic reads, that’s really saying something. I recommend this for anyone who’s looking for some truly wonderful storytelling that will temporarily sweep them away.

Forgotten In Death (In Death #53), By J.D. Robb ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Spousal Abuse, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 7th, 2021

384 Pages

Synopsis: In the latest novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, homicide detective Eve Dallas sifts through the wreckage of the past to find a killer.

The body was left in a dumpster like so much trash, the victim a woman of no fixed address, known for offering paper flowers in return for spare change—and for keeping the cops informed of any infractions she witnessed on the street. But the notebook where she scribbled her intel on litterers and other such offenders is nowhere to be found.

Then Eve is summoned away to a nearby building site to view more remains—in this case decades old, adorned with gold jewelry and fine clothing—unearthed by recent construction work. She isn’t happy when she realizes that the scene of the crime belongs to her husband, Roarke—not that it should surprise her, since the Irish billionaire owns a good chunk of New York. Now Eve must enter a complex world of real estate development, family history, shady deals, and shocking secrets to find justice for two women whose lives were thrown away… (Goodreads)

It’s hard to believe that J.D. Robb’s long-running In Death series is now up to #53, but with Forgetful in Death, here we are. In this outing there are two main mysteries to be solved: one involving a homeless woman known by many for her sweet nature and penchant for giving out origami figures, and the other which focuses on the uncovered skeletons of a pregnant woman and her infant.

As is often the case with this series, the identities of the villains are fairly easy to guess, but that’s not really important. What is, is the journey getting there and what it reveals about not only the victims and their killers, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas herself. Throughout this series Dallas has stood for the homicide victims whose cases cross her desk, no matter who they were or what their background. She leaves no stone unturned in her quest to bring the people responsible for their deaths to justice, and in doing so, allows them to rest in peace and brings closure to their loved ones. That continues to be the case here, and the way this story unfolds makes the title especially apt. 

As usual, Dallas is backed by members of her Scooby gang, although this time around it’s really just the ever-dishy Roarke and her stalwart partner Delia Peabody, who play integral parts in the investigations. I never tire of the interplay and dialogue between Dallas and the people she cares about, and as I expected there are some lighter moments to break up the darkness. The ending comes with justice being delivered to some truly abhorrent individuals who never should see the light of day again, and I took great pleasure in seeing them get their just desserts.

I’m happy to say that Forgotten in Death is another winning entry in this series, and I have no doubt it will please Robb’s legions of fans. I’ve said this before about the In Death series, but it bears repeating. Every time I pick up a book it’s like greeting old friends and family. Dallas, Roarke, Peabody, and the rest, are all characters I wish I knew in real life, but alas, I’ll have to console myself with reading of their adventures twice a year.

The Dangers of an Ordinary Night, By Lynn Reeves ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Addiction, Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Trauma

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 9th, 2021

288 Pages

Synopsis: Perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Megan Abbott, Lynne Reeves’ The Dangers of an Ordinary Night is an exploration of the explosive family secrets that are often hidden in plain sight.

On a chilly fall evening at the prestigious Performing Arts High School of Boston, best friends Tali Carrington and June Danforth go missing after auditioning for a play. They’re last seen in grainy, out-of-focus surveillance footage that shows them walking side-by-side. Two days later in a town south of Boston, Tali is found disoriented and traumatized by the ocean’s edge, while June is pronounced dead at the scene.

Tali’s mother, Nell, is so bent on protecting her daughter from further emotional harm that she enlists the help of Cynthia Rawlins, a renowned therapist for families. Meanwhile, Detective Fitz Jameson is assigned to the investigation and dives into the lives of high-performing students who may be harboring dark secrets.

As Nell, Cynthia, and Fitz confront their own contributions to the tragedies and scandals that beleaguer them, their lives turn out to be more deeply intertwined than they’d ever imagined. And they must decide what lengths they’re willing to go to protect the people they love while also saving themselves. (Goodreads)

Although The Dangers of an Ordinary Night wasn’t a perfect read for me, it was quick and entertaining and I wound up enjoying it for the most part. My main complaint concerns the characters (of which there are many) who are all unlikable and while they aren’t exactly one-dimensional, they’re not terribly complex either. As a result, I found myself unable to relate or emphasize with them as I would have liked. The plot itself fares much better and adding to the intriguing mystery is Reeves’ atmospheric style of writing. There is more than one crazy twist, and this, in addition to the fast pace, kept me turning the pages despite my issues with the characters. The ending is also a tad far-fetched, but not enough to spoil the story. The Dangers of an Ordinary Night has some flaws, but it still managed to keep me engrossed on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. I will definitely try the next book that Lynn Reeves comes out with.

The Night She Disappeared, By Lisa Jewell ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 07, 2021

416 Pages

Synopsis: 

2017: 19 year old Tallulah is going out on a date, leaving her baby with her mother, Kim.

Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.

The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah’s friends who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.

She never returns.

2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.

‘DIG HERE’ . . .

A cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma and dark secrets lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s remarkable new novel. (Goodreads)

The Night She Disappeared is a perfect example of why Lisa Jewell is one of my go-to authors when I masochistically want to be kept up all night. The story unfolds through multiple POVs and timelines, which never devolve into confusion because of Jewell’s detailed yet precise prose. Along the way to discovering what happened the night Tallulah and boyfriend Zach disappeared seemingly into thin air, there are quite a few twists, some that unexpectedly take you down a different path, and others involving the characters themselves. I often find when reading books with dual timelines, that I prefer one over the other, but that wasn’t the case here as I connected with both Sophie, Kim, and Tallulah. Although I began to surmise some of what might have occurred on the night in question midway through the book, I was ultimately still surprised by some of the reveals. In the end, The Night She Disappeared proves once again the storytelling prowess of Lisa Jewell. While there may be some aspects that defy reason, these don’t truly get in the way of the otherwise tightly woven mystery. This latest book will not only please her legions of fans, but undoubtedly win her new ones.

Reckless Girls, By Rachel Hawkins ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 4th, 2022

320 Pages

Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive. (Goodreads)

Reckless Girls is an eminently fun popcorn book that pulled me in immediately and had me polishing it off in a mere three hours. Lux, Nico, and the other characters aren’t perfect, and a couple are downright sketchy, but oddly there are likable aspects about all of them. The main part of the story moves from Meroe Island with its sinister past, to time jumps where the backstories of Lux, Brittany, Amma, and Eliza are which are teasingly revealed in alternating chapters. While the chapters that reveal bits and pieces about everyone’s past lives wind up playing an integral part of what transpires on Meroe, my favorite parts were the ones on the island because of the wonderful job Hawkins does at bringing this dark paradise to life. There’s more than one mystery at play here and watching them all come together is quite enjoyable. The only reason why I’m not giving this 5 stars is because while the ending is surprising, I personally have some torn feelings regarding it. Otherwise, Reckless Girls is an utterly captivating and suspenseful mystery chock full of twists that has Hollywood written all over it!

Blog Tour: Fierce Little Thing, By Miranda Beverly-Whittemore ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Cults, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

432 Pages

Synopsis: “A Secret History-esque tale…All the ingredients for the perfect summer read.” —The Millions
“Captivating, thoughtful, and tense, a great read for those who enjoy psychological thrillers and complex puzzles. Highly recommended.” —New York Journal Review of Books

“It’s time to come Home. All five of you. Or else.”

Saskia was a damaged, lonely teenager when she arrived at the lakeside commune called Home. She was entranced by the tang of sourdough starter; the midnight call of the loons; the triumph of foraging wild mushrooms from the forest floor. But most of all she was taken with Abraham, Home’s charismatic leader, the North Star to Saskia and the four other teens who lived there, her best and only friends.

Two decades later, Saskia is shuttered in her Connecticut estate, estranged from the others. Her carefully walled life is torn open by threatening letters. Unless she and her former friends return to the land in rural Maine, the terrible thing they did as teenagers—their last-ditch attempt to save Home—will be revealed.

From vastly different lives, the five return to confront their blackmailer and reckon with the horror that split them apart. How far will they go to bury their secret forever?

New York Times bestselling author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s Fierce Little Thing is a mesmerizing story of friendship and its reckonings. (Goodreads)

Fierce Little Things is a moody and evocative slow burning suspense that captivated me from the very first page. There are three mysteries to be solved here. What happened on the tragic day Saskia lost her younger sister? What was the terrible act that she and her friends committed at the cult-like Home when they were teenagers, and who is blackmailing them now? The story mainly unfolds in two separate timelines, but I was never left confused as the short chapters flipped back and forth. While this isn’t a thriller by any means, it’s certainly suspenseful and I was kept thoroughly occupied as I endeavored to put together all the puzzle pieces. The characters, including Saskia aren’t very likable, but they are interesting which kept me wanting to learn more about them. The setting of Home is vividly detailed, and I could easily picture everything in my mind. I loved the ending and thought it the perfect finish to this eerie story. I guarantee that Fierce Little Things is a creepy, twisty tale that will pull you in and not let go.