In the Garden of Spite: A Novel of the Black Widow of LaPorte, By Camilla Bruce ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Fiction Based On a True Story, Historical Fiction, Horror, Psychological Thrillers

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

Release Date: January 19th, 2021

480 Pages

Synopsis: An audacious novel of feminine rage, about one of the most prolific female serial killers in American history—and the men who drove her to it.

They whisper about her in Chicago. Men come to her with their hopes, their dreams—their fortunes. But no one sees them leave. No one sees them at all after they come to call on the Widow of  La Porte. The good people of Indiana may have their suspicions, but if those fools knew what she’d given up, what was taken from her, how she’d suffered, surely they’d understand. Belle Gunness learned a long time ago that a women has to make her own way in this world. That’s all it is. A bloody means to an end. A glorious enterprise meant to raise her from the bleak, colorless drudgery of her childhood to the life she deserves. After all, vermin always survive.

As nighmare-inducing as In the Garden of Spite is, the fact that it’s based on true events, gives it an extra level of horror. Many of you know I’m a fairly quick reader, but once I started reading, it was impossible for me to put this down, and I flew through this in the course of one night!

I hadn’t heard of Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth, aka Belle, before now, and this book is a mix of fact, embellishments, and fiction. In the beginning I felt sympathy for her and the bleak circumstances of her growing up dirt poor and ultimately the victim of a severe beating which resulted in the loss of her unborn child at the hands of the father, in Norway (this event is rumored to have happened, but is unproven). However, that feeling waned as her victims began to pile up. The story is a slow burn in the beginning, yet I was completely engrossed, wanting to know what turned this woman into such a cold-hearted, prolific serial killer. Alongside Belle’s chapters are her older sister Nellie’s which give further insight into the development of this sociopath.

Normally I’d say almost 500 pages would be too long for a book like this, but Camilla Bruce does such a wonderful job blending fact with fiction in her portrayal of the enigmatic Belle, that I soon lost interest in the page count. The Afterward is a must read as well, as Bruce talks about how she came to write this, as well as what is documented as fact and what fictional elements she added. In the Garden of Spite, is a multi-layered blend of horror, true crime, historical fiction, and psychological thriller that I highly recommend. It’s left me wanting to do more research, which I call a huge success. I unhesitatingly recommend it to readers who enjoy books like Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City.

The Date, by Louise Jensen ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers

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

Release Date: June 21st, 2018

315 Pages

Synopsis: Something bad has happened to Alison Taylor. 

Her Saturday night started normally. Recently separated from her husband, Ali has been persuaded by her friends to go on a date with a new man. She is ready, she is nervous, she is excited. She is about to step into her new future. 

By Sunday morning, Ali’s life is unrecognizable. She wakes, and she knows something is wrong. She is home, she is alone, she is hurt and she has no memory of what happened to her. 

Worse still, when she looks in the mirror, Ali doesn’t recognize the face staring back at her. She can’t recognise her friends and family. And she can’t recognise the person who is trying to destroy her…

The Date is the third book I’ve read by Louise Jensen hasn’t disappointed me once. While you definitely have to suspend disbelief right from the beginning, as long as you’re willing to do that, this proves to be another exciting psychological thriller.

I was unfamiliar with the medical condition of Prosopagnosia (face blindness) before picking up this book, but it was an interesting twist on amnesia. I can’t even imagine not being able to recognize people faces, even those of your friends and family, or your own. It made Ali, who’s the victim of an assault even more sympathetic. She tends to run headlong into danger, but I liked her refusal to stay a victim.

As for the mystery of her assailant, I honestly had no idea until the big reveal toward the end. This, despite the tantalizing passages where you hear directly from the villain. There’s a well-rounded cast of secondary characters and all of them have moments of suspicious behavior, so I was kept guessing throughout the novel.

The action begins on the very first page and the pace never slows down which had me eating this up in one day. There are enough twists and turns to make the most talented armchair detective’s head spin. There were a few times I thought I had figured things out, only to be proven wrong. And although the ending completely caught me by surprise, it also made sense.

The Date is an exciting tale that will captivate fans of mysteries and psychological thrillers. Louise Jensen has fast become one of my favorite authors in these genres! 

 

 

Disturbed, by Jennifer Jayne ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Serial Killers, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer 

Release Date: Available Now

238 Pages

Synopsis: On Halloween night five years ago, Chelsea Dutton’s college roommates were viciously stabbed to death, and Chelsea was critically injured. She was found hiding in her apartment’s bathtub, barely clinging to life.

With only fragments of shattered memory, she’s been trying her best to move past the nightmares ever since. Now in Boston, she lives a somewhat reclusive life, working from home as a medical transcriptionist and binging on mindless television shows. 

She can’t shake the fear that her attacker is out there, waiting to finish what he started, and Elizabeth, a nurse she met after the murders, is the only person she can trust.

When someone from her past re-emerges, Chelsea starts receiving disturbing messages and worries that her every move is being watched. As the messages mount and her memories begin to return, she’s led to a terrifying and lonely place. But she needn’t be afraid. She won’t be there very long.

Jennifer Jaynes has established a well-respected reputation for writing creepy and chilling tales, and Disturbed is no different. It’s chock full of suspense and it kept me mesmerized right up until the very last page.

Chelsea is a complicated and unreliable character. Suffering from amnesia due to the traumatic events of that Halloween night five years ago, she’s moved to Boston and has carved out a fairly nice life for herself working from home as a medical transcriptionist. But she’s still haunted by her lost memories and occasional nightmarish flashbacks. Thankfully, she has her supportive best friend, Elizabeth, to lean on. After a chance meeting with someone from her past, makes it obvious that the murderer is not done with Chelsea, her life quickly begins to spiral out of control.

While Chelsea doesn’t always make the best decisions, I was sympathetic toward her right up until the end. Her fears that the killer isn’t finished with her are palpable and I was completely invested in her even during the couple of occasions I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her. 

There’s a huge twist near the end, but I had already grown suspicious toward the character it involved about halfway through the story. That said, I wasn’t entirely sure, so when the revelation came it was still a bit of an “aha!” moment. The story concludes with an open ending and to be honest a couple of days after finishing,  I’m still not sure if I loved it or hated it.

Disturbed certainly lives up to its title and fans of Jennifer Jaynes will not be disappointed by this latest book. If you’re new to her writing and love chilling psychological thrillers, filled with unreliable characters, then I highly recommend this. It’s a twisted tale that can easily be read in 1-2 sittings, and it’s one that will leave you at the edge of your seat!

The Wife Between Us, by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Abuse, Adult Fiction, Dysfunctional Relationships, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Suspense

Release Date: January 9th, 2018

352 Pages

Synopsis: When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife and her obsession with her replacement. 

You will assume you are reading about a woman about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves.

You will assume the first wife was a disaster and that the husband was well rid of her.

You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships.

Assume Nothing.

Discover the next blockbuster novel of suspense, and get ready for the read of your life.

The Wife Between Us is a much buzzed about book right now, and I can honestly say it’s entirely deserving of the hype. It’s also one of those books that you probably won’t want to read in a public place, because if you’re like me, you’ll be gasping and exclaiming out loud numerous times, which may leave you on the receiving end of some funny looks.

*As always, this is going to be a spoiler free review, but I feel the need to include a trigger warning for any reader that may have been in an abusive relationship.*

The first thing I loved was how no matter how hard I tried (and I really did), I could not tell the difference between the two authors’ writing. It flows seamlessly from one chapter to the next and helped make this such a pleasurable reading experience.

And then there’s the characters. They’re all brilliantly written. It’s actually a fairly small cast, but the intricately tied relationships between them are made so much more interesting by the multiple red herrings and mind-blowing revelations about them. The synopsis warns you not to “assume” anything, and I advise anyone planning on reading this to take that to heart. My one disappointment is that while the narrative does alternate a couple of times, given what a pivotal figure he was, I would have loved to have heard something from Richard’s POV.

There are so many twists and turns that by the time I reached the end I was completely exhausted. Of course this was also due to the fact that I started reading about 7:00 pm and finished 5 hours later at 1:00 the next morning. I honestly could not bring myself to put it down except for one brief bathroom break. I think my husband came in at one point to ask me something and I snarled something unintelligible at him! 

In my opinion, The Wife Between Us is going to be a bestseller along the lines of Gone Girl and Behind Closed Doors. Unsurprisingly, it’s already been optioned for a film. Admittedly, some of the scenarios aren’t exactly realistic, but with such a wildly entertaining tale, in the end that doesn’t really matter. If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers, you need to put this at the top of your 2018 Must Read list! It’s a book that everyone will be talking about!

Hanging Girl, by Eileen Cook ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: October 3rd, 2017

320 Pages

Synopsis: Skye Thorn has given tarot card readings for years, and now her psychic visions are helping the police find the town’s missing golden girl. It’s no challenge—her readings have always been faked, but this time she has some insider knowledge. The kidnapping was supposed to be easy—no one would get hurt and she’d get the money she needs to start a new life. But a seemingly harmless prank has turned dark, and Skye realises the people she’s involved with are willing to kill to get what they want and she must discover their true identity before it’s too late.

Hanging Girl is the first book I’ve read by Eileen Cook so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What happened was I wound up hooked by the end of the first chapter and read it in less than three hours because I literally couldn’t stop reading. I swear my mouth dropped open so many times that now my jaw hurts!

In the beginning, I honestly didn’t think I was going to like Skye. She and her mother are “hucksters” as one character calls them. Skye has learned to take a page out of her mother’s book and bills herself as a psychic, and gives tarot readings to her classmates, for a cost of course. Only eighteen, she’s cynical and jaded for someone so young which sadly makes her an easy target for the people behind this kidnapping scheme. Throughout the book Skye makes one bad decision after another, yet I still wanted everything to turn out okay for her. Despite her actions, she’s smart and has a snarky sense of humor and outlook on life. She’s vulnerable because she sees no real future for herself beyond waiting tables. Because of this I think a lot of what she does is self sabotage. She’s a bit of an outcast at school because of something that happened in eighth grade, but she has one close friend, Drew. I wasn’t able to fully buy into their friendship though. It seemed flat and superficial and I found myself wanting to be shown more, rather than told, why these two girls were practically sisters. But this was just a small part of the story, so it didn’t spoil my overall enjoyment.

There’s quite a cast of secondary characters including Skye’s seemingly clueless mother, the two detectives assigned to the case, an empathetic school guidance counselor, and Paige and her father. They all have an impact on Skye, some positive, and others not so much. But the overarching theme is with all of them there’s more than meets the eye. This is the second YA book in a row where I was thrilled to see adults portrayed pretty realistically. 

To say the plot has twists and turns, doesn’t do it justice. A couple I saw coming, but there were a few that completely floored me. I have mixed feelings about the ending though. While the mystery is solved and all questions answered, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed at the way things turned out, although I did understand it.

Overall, Hanging Girl is an exciting thrill ride with a main character who’s completely relatable, and will have readers guessing right up until the end. I highly recommend it to older teens and adults who love psychological thrillers that keep them up at night. I’m looking forward to reading more of Eileen Cook’s work!

13 Minutes, by Sarah Pinborough ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Bullying, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers

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

Release Date: October 3rd, 2017

320 Pages

Synopsis: Natasha doesn’t remember how she ended up in the icy water that night, but she does know this—it wasn’t an accident, and she wasn’t suicidal. Her two closest friends are acting strangely, and Natasha turns to Becca, the best friend she dumped years before when she got popular, to help her figure out what happened.

Natasha’s sure her friends love her. But does that mean they didn’t try to kill her?

I’ve been a fan of Sarah Pinborough for years, and have come to realize one thing when picking up one of her books: expect the unexpected. 13 Minutes, which I believe is her first YA novel, is full of secrets, lies and deception, which makes it a perfect read for fans of Pretty Little Liars.

I have to be honest and say this isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, mainly because of the characters. Natasha, Jenny, and Hayley, aka The Barbies, at first come across as your typical mean girls. You really don’t find out what truly makes them tick until the second half of the book. Becca, who used to be BFFs with Queen Bee Natasha’s, before she was kicked to the curb for not fitting ideals of physical attributes, is the one I emotionally connected with the most. She’s a deeply flawed character, but I completely understood some of her questionable actions and decision making. I found myself not only emphasizing with her, but also rooting for her.

The majority of adult characters are in the background as is expected in a YA novel, but I was appreciative that for the most part they were portrayed realistically instead of cardboard cutouts which I’ve been finding in so many YA books lately.

The plot kept me guessing the entire time I was reading. It seems like the central mystery is solved about 60% of the way in, but it’s not. While shortly after that point, I began figuring out what really happened, the hows and whys continued to elude me until shortly before the end.

And, that ending! I still can’t decide whether I loved it or hated it. While the mystery is solved, there are some loose ends that Pinborough left dangling, I suspect deliberately so. It was brilliant yet frustrating at the same time.

I think with 13 Minutes, Sarah Pinborough has again showed herself to be a master of psychological thrillers. She does a great job at getting into the heads of her YA characters and bringing them to life, and if you’re a parent this may leave you wondering what’s really going on in your teenagers lives. Although this is a YA book the story is quite complex and I think adult readers will enjoy this. It seems as though Netflix is going to be making a series from this and I’m hoping they do it justice.

The Other Girl, by Erica Spindler ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Romantic Suspense

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

Release Date: Available Now

352 Pages

Synopsis: Office Miranda Rader of Hammond PD in Louisiana is known for her honesty, integrity, and steady hand in a crisis–but that wasn’t always so. Miranda comes from Jasper, just south of Hammond, a place about the size of a good spit on a hot day, and her side of the tracks was the wrong one. She’s worked hard to leave the girl she used to be behind and earn respect in her position as an officer.

However, when Miranda and her partner are called to investigate the murder of one of the town’s most beloved college professors, they’re unprepared for the gruesomeness of the scene. This murder is unlike any they’ve ever investigated, and just when Miranda thinks she’s seen the worst of it, she finds a piece of evidence that chills her to the core: a faded newspaper clipping about a terrible night from her long-buried past. Then another man turns up dead, this one a retired cop, and not just any cop–Clint Wheeler, the cop who took her statement that night. Two murders, two very different men, two killings that on the surface had nothing in common–except Miranda, 14 years ago.

And when her fingerprints turn up at the scene of the first murder, Miranda once again finds herself under the microscope, her honesty and integrity doubted, her motivations questioned. Alone again, the trust of her colleagues shattered, Miranda must try to trust the instincts she’s pushed down for so long, and decide what’s right–before it’s too late.

I’ve been a fan of Erica Spindler for several years, and have always been able to count on her for a good suspense/thriller with interesting characters. With The Other Girl, The prolific author has once again proven why she’s one of the most well-known authors in this genre.

The story grabbed me from the very first page. Miranda and her partner Jake Billings are fantastic characters, and I was thoroughly invested in the two of them. Miranda, a former wild child, is someone that readers will root for. She’s worked so hard to pull herself up and become a well respected homicide detective, and she’s done so without stepping on anyone else. And this makes it especially heartbreaking when Miranda finds that her past has come back to haunt her and threatens to undo everything she’s accomplished.

Although it was almost immediately obvious who the murderer was, there are still enough twists that prevent this story from being predictable. It’s very fast-paced and I wound up finishing it in two sittings. When real life had the nerve to interrupt my reading, I was reluctant to put this down. The ending with its epilogue is perfect, and left me completely satisfied.

Long-time fans of Erica Spindler won’t be disappointed in The Other Girl, and for anyone who is new to her writing, this is a great book to start with. There are so many thrillers that are currently out there, with strong female leads, but in my opinion, this truly stands out from the rest and I can’t highly recommend it enough!

 

 

The Red Hunter, by Lisa Unger – 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Suspense

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

Release Date: Available Now

368 Pages

Synopsis: Claudia Bishop’s perfect life fell apart when the aftermath of a brutal assault left her with a crumbling marriage, a newborn daughter, and a constant sense of anxiety about the world around her. Now, looking for a fresh start with a home restoration project and growing blog, Claudia takes on a crumbling old house–one that unbeknownst to her has an ugly history and may hide long buried secrets.

For Zoey Drake the defining moment of her childhood was the horrific home invasion murder of her parents. Years later, she has embraced the rage that fuels her. Training in the martial arts has made her strong and ready to face the demons from the past–and within.

Strangers to each other, and walking very different paths in the wake of trauma, these two women are on a collision course–because Zoey’s past nightmare and Claudia’s dreams for the future take place in the very same house. As Zoey seeks justice, and Claudia seeks peace, both will confront the mondters at the door that are the most frightening of all.

The Red Hunter is another solid psychological thriller by bestselling author, Lisa Unger. It starts out a little slowly, but steadily gathers steam with its multi-layered plot and interesting characters. One word of caution: there is a rape scene at the beginning of the story and it comes up throughout the rest of the book.

I was immediately drawn to both Claudia and Zoey who have both suffered trauma in their past, yet handle it very differently. Claudia seeks peace and solitude for her and her daughter, while Zoey hungers for revenge and retribution. The contrasts between them were so fascinating. While neither one of them always make the best decisions, they’re extremely likable and you can’t help but emphasize with what they’ve both gone through.

Unger perfectly converges the lives of these two women, and slowly ratchets up the tension, which makes this a page-turner in every way. It’s 368 pages long but I finished it in one day because I just could not tear myself away. The ending wasn’t a huge surprise, but it was satisfying nonetheless.

Lisa Unger has become one of the most well known authors in the genres of psychological thrillers and suspense, and The Red Hunter is another perfect example of why. I guarantee that longtime fans of hers will love this, and if you haven’t read any of her books yet, this is a good one to start with.

 

Deceived, by Heena Rathore P. ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Serial Killers, Suspense

Thanks to Heena for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 24th, 2017

350 Pages

Synopsis: How well do you know your loved ones?

A girl struggling to cope with the murders of her mother and five-year-old brother.

A journalist chasing the ghost of a potential serial killer.

A thirteen-year-old girl who slaughtered her parents.

And a revenge-driven psychopath who is about to destroy everyone’s life.

After 9 years, a young writer is still coping with the brutal murders of her mother and five-year-old brother, as she moves into a house of horrors, to start a new life with her lover. Will friends and family be ably to redeem Ally out of the impending doom in time? Will her infallible love become the key to the destruction of her already fragile world? Will madness prevail over love; true love over revenge?

Deceived is a gripping psychological thriller that mazes through the deepest, darkest emotions of the human mind through the story of a vulnerable girl who treads in the mist of deception bred from a long unforgiven betrayal.

I’ve been eagerly anticipating reading Deceived since our fellow blogger Heena, announced several months ago that she was going to be coming out with her first novel. Before I proceed with my review, let me say, if you haven’t checked out her author blog at https://heenarathorep.com and her review blog at https://thereadingbud.com please do. I know to book lovers a cover can make a big difference as far as drawing our attention. As soon as I saw the cover of Deceived, I had to know more and I’m so happy to say that the story delivered on that first promise. The foreward which is written by crime blogger and author Patrick H. Moore, sets the tone by writing about the difference between Psychopaths and Sociopaths. From there the story takes off and maintains a very fast pace. Although I guessed at some revelations, there were others that managed to catch me by surprise. Heena does a great job juggling the perspectives of four different characters as well as two time periods set thirty years apart. There’s a nice seamless flow to the chapters, which when added to the fast pace, makes this book difficult to put down. The journal entries from the mysterious psychopath known only as “Mikey”, add a further creepy tone to the story. Some of the scenes, especially toward the end are graphically violent and bloody, which had even me cringing. None of these are gratuitous however, and they fit in with the rest of the story. One word of warning to animal lovers, Ally has a loyal German Shepherd named Max who does suffer at the hands of Mikey, so you might want to skim over those couple sections. There are just a couple of issues I ran into which prevented this from being a perfect read for me. The first concerns the dialogue between the characters. At certain times I found it to be awkward, which was a little distracting. And then there’s Allison, who I really liked, yet at the same time she left me extremely frustrated at times. She’s a smart, capable and independent woman, who’s survived this horrible trauma in her past, but she allows herself to be manipulated which results in not only her life being put in danger, but the people she loves and cares about as well. There are plenty of warning signs that she ignores, which had me wanting to take her by the shoulders and yell ” What is wrong with you? Wake up! Run and don’t look back!” Overall though, Deceived is a wonderful page-turner and I recommend it to mystery, suspense and psychological thriller enthusiasts. Heena has another book in the works called Sinister Town which I’m eagerly awaiting, especially after reading her exciting debut.

I Found You, by Lisa Jewell ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Suspense

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

Release Date: Available Now

352 Pages

Synopsis: In a windswept British seaside town, single mom, Alice Lake finds a man sitting on the beach outside her home. He has no name, no jacket, and no idea how he got there. Against her better judgement, she invites him inside.

Meanwhile, in a suburb of London, twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Twenty-three years earlier, Gray and Kirsty are teenagers on a summer holiday with their parents. Their annual trip to the quaint seaside town is passing by uneventfully, until an enigmatic young man starts paying extra attention to Kirsty. Something about him makes Gray uncomfortable–and it’s not that he’s playing the role of protective older brother.

Two decades of secrets, a missing husband, and a man with no memory are at the heart of this brilliant new novel, filled with “beautiful writing, believable characters, packet narrative, and dark secrets” (London Daily Mail) that makes Lisa Jewell so beloved on both sides of the Atlantic.

Despite Lisa Jewell being one of my favorite suspense authors, I hesitated over requesting this because of the multiple perspectives and time spans. I just read a book that did this and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tackle another. Thankfully, while the previous book’s use of this plot was jarring and confusing, In I Found You, Lisa Jewell seamlessly moves back and forth between her characters and timelines, leaving you breathlessly wondering how the puzzle pieces will all fit together. Jewell’s novels tend to be character-driven and her latest is no different, although I have to be honest and admit I had a difficult time connecting to Alice. She’s someone who has already been involved in a string of bad relationships, yet she brings home a stranger who’s suffering from amnesia, and then within a few days is completely smitten with him? Even the romantic in me found this to be unrealistic. But there’s something that ties all these characters together, their need to be loved. That need leads to questionable decisions on all their parts, but their desperation also leads to the very intriguing mystery them all together. I spent the majority of the novel not knowing who to trust or how everything was related. I second-guessed myself several times, right up until the satisfying conclusion. Overall, I Found You has a clever and suspense-filled plot, combined with quirky characters, that further shows why Lisa Jewell is a force to be reckoned with in the genres of mystery, suspense, and psychological thrillers.