Category: Kimberly’s Review

TITLE: Buried Deep
SERIES #: Detective Megan Thomas #1
CHARACTERS: Megan Thomas
AUTHOR: Susan Wilkins
PUBLICATION DATE: 04/06/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Megan has to climb round and step across the body to get a proper view. What’s left is like a chalk white mask in the rough shape of a face. The innocence is still there, and a hint of the cheekiness. But perhaps she is imagining that.

Detective Megan Thomas moved to Devon for a fresh start, after years spent undercover. She’s staying with her sister and swimming in the sea daily, battling the tides and letting the waves wash her past away. But she can’t outrun everything.

On her first day back, she’s called to a murder. The body lies deep in an underground bunker, and when Megan forces herself to look, it triggers a panic attack. As her heart races and her breathing stalls, she realises she’s not sure if she can go back to life in a regular crime unit. Her memories are too powerful to be buried – maybe too powerful to let her do her job.

But when another body is found on the stretch of beach where she swims every day, Megan remembers why she joined the force, and what she’s fighting for. The victim came to the police for help, and Megan knows they failed her. She won’t rest until she gets answers. But how can she find justice for others, when she’s no longer sure of herself?

A completely gripping new series from bestselling author Susan Wilkins, introducing the tough and determined Detective Megan Thomas. For fans of Ann Cleeves, LJ Ross and Mari Hannah, this will keep you hooked from the first page to the last.

REVIEW:
I really enjoyed this story. With it being a first in a new series I expected a lot of getting to know the characters but I was totally wrong. We dive right in to Detective Megan Thomas and learn of her history as the story progresses. She was undercover but moved to Devon and is now a detective. Feeling like it is a step down but her first day doesn’t go slowly.

She is set on to two cases, which I loved since usually books and tv shows act like officers only work one thing at a time, one of murder and one of rape of a teenager. And with her PTSD it is a heck of a 1st week.

I really enjoyed each of the characters in this story. The reader knows exactly who each of them is and didn’t need chapter after chapter of how they got to this place in life. And I liked that I couldn’t figure everything out.

I can’t wait for the next in the series. And more interesting characters.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: The Christmas Killer
SERIES #: DI James Walker #1
CHARACTERS: DI James Walker
AUTHOR: Alex Pine
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/29/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
As the snow begins to fall, the body count begins to climb…

DI James Walker is ready for a quiet family Christmas in the sleepy village of Kirkby Abbey.

But when he opens an early Christmas present left on his doorstep, he soon realises it is no gift. Inside is a gruesome surprise, and a promise – twelve days, twelve murders. Not long after, the first body is found, half frozen in the snow.

As the blizzards descend, panic spreads through the remote Cumbrian village – there’s a killer amongst them, and with eleven more victims to go, anyone could be next….

Can James stop the killer before they strike again?

The first in a new series, Alex Pine has written a dark, atmospheric crime novel, set in a snowed-in Cumbrian village, for fans of Val McDermid, Ross Greenwood and LJ Ross.

REVIEW:
2.75 Hearts This book just dragged and dragged for me. There was so much alliteration that the paragraphs seemed to last forever. And it took a quarter of the book for the murder to even happen.

I just couldn’t get into this book. I ended up skipping a lot of the time, skipping over paragraphs going to dialogue to understand what was going on but could miss so many extra words.

I think a fan of suspense would be disappointed in a story like this but that is just my opinion.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: Girls Of Brackenhill
CHARACTERS: Hannah
AUTHOR: Kate Moretti
PUBLICATION DATE: 11/01/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Author of The Vanishing Year, The Blackbird Season and In Her Bones Kate Moretti’s THE GIRLS OF BRACKENHILL. A newly engaged woman is summoned to her aunt’s storybook mansion in the Catskill mountains – her beloved aunt has been killed in a tragic car accident and her uncle is gravely ill and at the end of his life, to the scene of her sister’s mysterious and traumatic disappearance sixteen years earlier. She discovers that some family secrets will not stay buried and sometimes old ghosts haunt forever.

REVIEW:
Another typical story. One sister dies at a young age, years later as an adult another sister wants answers and in the process digs up family secrets.

The story was fine even though a bit worn out. I really didn’t like Hannah, I found her really whiny even in the now sections of the book. Yeah at 15 maybe but not at 30ish. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t find a way to like Hannah.

I liked the suspense part well enough but the rest just didn’t sit well with me.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: You Betrayed Me
SERIES #: The Cahills #3
CHARACTERS: James & Megan
AUTHOR: Lisa Jackson
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/27/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
In a twisting, unpredictable new novel of suspense by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson, an heir to the Cahill fortune discovers just how dangerous, and duplicitous, family can be . . .

The Cahills of San Francisco are famous for two things: their vast wealth, and the scandals that surround them. Murder, greed, deadly ambition . . . some people will do anything to get, and keep, the Cahills’ kind of money. Not that James Cahill wants any of it. He’s tried to make his own way, less interested in a future inheritance than in his construction company–and in enjoying the many women taken in by the easy charms of a handsome, soon-to-be-rich bad boy.

Perhaps there’ve been too many women. Waking up in a small hospital in Washington State, bandaged and bruised, James barely recognizes the gorgeous blonde who comes to visit. Through the haze of pain and medication, he recalls that she is Sophia, the woman he’s been cheating with. Gradually memories return–his girlfriend, Megan, had found out about Sophia. Now Megan is missing, her sister, Rebecca, is hounding him–and police and reporters are asking questions too. James insists he has no idea what happened. Yet he can’t escape a feeling of dread . . .

Meanwhile, in a locked room, a woman waits, trapped, petrified, and desperate. She thought she knew who to trust. But the betrayal you can’t imagine–or can’t remember–may be the most terrifying weapon of all . . .

REVIEW:
This felt like it should have been turned into a soap opera like Dallas or Dynasty… Maybe more like another 80’s soap opera like Knots Landing. Ok enough about my tv history.

I thought the writing was good but I never seemed to care about these rich spoiled characters and even after James suffers the trauma and has amnesia I still didn’t care about how much he was dealing with.

The suspense was well written but for some reason even after having read some of Jackson’s books I just couldn’t get into.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: The Runaway
SERIES #: Bane Island #1
CHARACTERS: Rosemary & Genevieve
AUTHOR: Lisa Childs
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/27/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
I’m in trouble. Come get me.

On a remote island off the coast of Maine lies a secluded estate. There, behind wrought iron gates and rock walls, sits Halcyon Hall. Today, it is an exclusive spa catering to wealthy elites and pampered celebrities. But once, it had another name–and a terrifying reputation . . .

Rosemary Tulle has come to Halcyon Hall desperate to find her younger sister. Seventeen-year-old Genevieve left a brief, troubling message on Rosemary’s phone, begging to be picked up. But Rosemary is not on the visitor list, and no one will let her in . . .

Halcyon Hall was once Bainesworth Manor, an asylum for the insane. Such places often draw whispers about gruesome treatments and tortured inmates. In the case of Bainesworth, the reality may have been far worse. Now, staff insist that Genevieve ran away, but Rosemary’s instincts say otherwise. Rosemary and Genevieve share an unsual bond, and she knows Genevieve wouldn’t have just left. Compelled to turn for help to a man she hoped never to see again, judge Whit Lawrence, she tries to learn the truth about Genevieve. But it will mean uncovering secrets about Bainsworth Manor, and about Rosemary’s own dark past–secrets with the power to kill . . .

REVIEW:
2.75 Hearts I had a hard time with this book. The dark storyline was more than I wanted to read. I mean the synopsis had me thinking this would be a suspense thriller but it was very dark with violence and rape.

I think the writing itself was fine but the characters were hard to connect to and again the dark storyline made me have to force myself to read it.

I really think the writer could have done so much more to this story and made it a winner, the potential was there it just didn’t come through in this story.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: One Left Alive
SERIES #: Detective Morgan Brookes #1
CHARACTERS: Morgan Brookes
AUTHOR: Helen Phifer
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/01/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
She knelt down by the side of the first girl. She had to force herself to breathe as she lifted the soft white cloth covering the girl’s beautiful face…
When the body of a woman is found hanging from a tree in her front garden, rookie Detective Morgan Brookes is first on the scene. But Olivia Potter is past saving. And when her husband and daughters cannot be traced, Morgan knows there is more to this tragedy. And then she finds them. Lying huddled together in the dark basement, each of their faces covered with a small cotton cloth, their bodies cold to the touch.
But as Morgan kneels beside the family, she realises that one of the girls is still breathing. As she holds Bronte’s fragile hand in hers, begging her to hold on, she vows to find out who has done this.
Every day Morgan wakes at 4:25 AM, her old insomnia now mixed with a new fixation on the case. But every clue about the murdered family leads to a dead end. Until, trawling through old files, she discovers a link to a cold case from years ago. Another family was murdered in this house, and the killer was never caught.
When Morgan returns to the scene of the crime to discover more about this forgotten case, she finds another body. With Bronte still unconscious in hospital, Morgan must act fast to solve this case and lay two families to rest, before the killer returns for the girl left alive…

REVIEW:
3.75 Hearts This is a new series from an author I have not read before so I thought I would try it. And I really enjoyed it.

A woman’s body is hanging from a tree and her family has been brutally murdered except one daughter miraculously left alive. And then another body is found. What is going on?

I found the suspense of this book really well written. I was trying to figure it out and kept thinking about it even when I would put the book down for a bit.

I would change a couple of things. One, I think the couple (Morgan and Ben) is being a bit rushed. And speaking of rushed the ending felt a bit rushed too. I would like a little bit of time before the two come together. Yes, we know they will but let it build. And the ending needed some time as well. I was happy with the ending but it seemed once we knew what happened it was “let’s wrap this up”.

There are a couple of things I would change but all in all this is a really good read.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.