Category: Suspense

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.

TITLE: The Wife
CHARACTERS: Zoe & Toby
AUTHOR: Shalini Boland
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/09/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Zoe fainted on her wedding day, and she never knew why. She’s always felt sure something bad happened. Ten years later, she’s going to find out what…

It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Zoe was sitting in her hotel room, in her perfect white dress, looking forward to the moment when she would make kind, handsome Toby her husband.

Then, there was a blank.

They said she must have fainted, overcome with emotion. But nothing felt quite right afterward. Did something happen in that missing time?

Now, Toby and Zoe have two beautiful children and a perfect life. They’re planning their ten-year anniversary party for their family and friends. The invitations have been sent, the food ordered. They’re going back to the grand hotel where they got married.

But as the anniversary gets closer, it becomes clear not everyone is looking forward to celebrating. She catches Toby lying about where he’s been. One of her best friends seems to be ignoring her. And someone is spreading stories that might stop the party from happening at all.

Zoe is increasingly sure that she doesn’t have the full story. But does she want to know the truth, if it will destroy everything?

From the million-copy bestselling author, this totally gripping psychological thriller will have you hooked from the first page to the last jaw-dropping twist. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and The Wife Between Us.

REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts This is a new to me author that I was unsure about and while I enjoyed the story for the most part the main character, Zoe, drove me nuts. She was just so simple. Nice enough and all but so naive that I could picture her as a doormat.

There is a lot of suspense like why she fainted on her wedding day 10 years ago and why has her husband’s family started ignoring her and what he is up to.

This is a very fast read. There are a number of great parts about it and some not so great parts about it. I just never connected to Zoe and her naivete.

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

TITLE: Broken
CHARACTERS: Maggie, Lilly & Mike
AUTHOR: John Rector
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/15/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Trust becomes a fatal mistake in this shocking thriller by the international bestselling author of The Ridge.
Welcome to Beaumont Cove, a slowly decaying tourist town at the edge of the world, and the place where Maggie James’s worst fears for her estranged twin sister, Lilly, have come true.
Lilly is dead, and Maggie has arrived to identify her body.
Lilly’s husband, Mike, is in custody for her murder. With his long history of abuse, no one in town is surprised at the inevitable end to their stormy marriage, least of all Maggie. All she wants is to clean up her sister’s affairs, see Mike punished, and get out of Beaumont Cove.
With the help of the local sheriff, a retired private investigator, and a strange but friendly carnival psychic, Maggie begins to uncover the truth about what really happened to her sister. But the truth comes at a price, and soon Maggie finds herself walking a dark path toward the same deadly trap that killed Lilly.
The more Maggie discovers about her sister’s final days, the more she realizes that nothing is as it appears in this strange boardwalk town.

REVIEW:
This is a really dark story regarding domestic abuse and murder. Lilly and Mike move to Beaumont Cove and Lilly spends a lot of time reflecting on her life and her abusive spouse. The town of Beaumont Cove seems ideal to Lilly but when her sister, Maggie, comes to identify her twin’s body she doesn’t see the ideal town Lilly did and wonders what her sister saw in the crumbling town.

Maggie assumes Mike killed her sister but even she starts questioning everything and wonders if her brother in law is actually innocent. But one she starts investigating she starts finding out info.

I found the suspense part of the book good. I wondered what had happened to Lilly and liked the way that part was written. However, the abuse part was dark, actually a bit too dark for me.

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

TITLE: Evil Never Dies
SERIES #: Dark Devon Mysteries #2
CHARACTERS: Jed & Emma
AUTHOR: S M Hardy
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/17/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
The village of Slyford St James is no stranger to supernatural happenings, as long-time residents Jed and Emma know all too well. Although Jed’s spiritual connection with the dead was once a source of pride, it now fills him with dread. When he receives an invitation to the family estate of his old army friend Simon, who wants Jed to use his gift to solve the brutal murder of his elder brother, Jed is initially reluctant, but Emma encourages him to agree, hoping that this new sense of purpose might lift him out of his melancholy, despite the circumstances.
When they arrive at the estate, Jed is shocked by how fragile and fearful his friend has become. As Jed calls upon the spirit world for the first time in eighteen months, the results are dramatic, and a gruesome warning reveals dark and dangerous family secrets that threaten the safety of them all.

REVIEW:
This story had so much promise. I loved how Emma could communicate with ghosts and Jed has a special connection with the dead but tries to close himself off from it. But now his friend wants his help to solve his brothers murder.

I liked the beginning. But to be honest there was so much thrown into this book that I really didn’t enjoy the second half of the story. It became all too much and lost the uniqueness of the story.

If the author had taken a bit more time he/she would have been a bit more consistent in the telling of the story and keeping the whole story as good as the first half.

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

TITLE: The Perfect Sister
CHARACTERS: Alice & Holly
AUTHOR: Zoe Miller
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/01/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Once inseparable, years of resentment and jealousy have driven Alice and Holly apart. But, though they barely speak these days, Alice knows her sister is hiding something.

When she hears that discovery at a soon-to-be-demolished apartment building has led police to re-open an ‘accidental death’ case, Alice thinks nothing of it. Until someone knocks at her door, with questions about Holly…

Alice doesn’t believe her sister is capable of involvement in anything so sinister. But when she tries to contact Holly, she can’t be reached…

Forced to dig through the past in order to uncover the truth, Alice also starts to uncover years of Holly’s secrets – and to doubt her innocence. And as the evidence mounts up, she has a choice to make: does she want to help her sister clear her name, even if Alice will end up paying the price?

REVIEW:
I will be honest. This book was confusing. Nothing that we are supposed to “know” came from the story. The sisters were close at one point and now they are not. Then a murder takes place and Holly and her husband take off. Alice needs to find out why.

I really didn’t understand a lot of this book and why it was happening. I mean the family dynamic is really off. It is not like the sisters love or hate each other. They just are sisters and nothing more. Then there are a bunch of other characters that have nothing to do with the story.

The suspense was fine. I am not really sure with all the other confusion that I cared about the suspense but it was still there to read.

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

TITLE: Murder, Forgotten
CHARACTERS: Julianna Burke
AUTHOR: Deb Richardson-Moore
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/18/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Julianna Burke, bestselling mystery novelist, has a secret that those closest to her are hiding from the world. Julianna is losing her memory, and with it her powerful gift for storytelling that propelled her to fame.

A further devastating blow comes when Connor, Julianna’s beloved husband, is murdered. Even this is not something Julianna’s mind can hold on to, and every day her assistant has to break the heart-wrenching news all over again.

Julianna is desperate to know what happened to her husband. As she battles her failing mind to investigate, a detail of the murder surfaces that makes Julianna question everything she’s ever known. Somehow she must fight to find the truth, even though her grip on reality is fading…

REVIEW:
I picked up this book since it is set in North Carolina, I live in NC albeit on the other side of the state, and I am glad I did.

Julianna is an author who is trying to finish her book before dementia sets in completely but then her husband is murdered and she takes off to Scotland in case she is in danger as well. But within days she heads back to NC where her daughter has moved in.

The investigation deepens when we learn just how many people had keys to the house, and with Julianna’s memory fading quickly she wonders if even she could have done something.

I enjoyed the story. The suspense was palpable and I felt so bad for Julianna at times. Her confusion is heartbreaking. The story was unique and enjoyable. I will be looking for more from this author.

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

TITLE: Missing Persons
SERIES #: Buddy Steel #1
CHARACTERS: Buddy Steel
AUTHOR: Michael Brandman
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/29/20
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
MISSING PERSONS is the first book in the new Buddy Steel mystery series by New York Times best selling author, Michael Brandman.

Steel… smart, aggressive, ironic, spare and cynical… has been content working homicide at the LAPD until his father, the legendary Sheriff Burton Steel, falls ill with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Sheriff Steel is headquartered in Freedom, a privileged coastal community located a hundred miles north of Los Angeles. His health failing, he asks his son Buddy to come home to cover his back and to groom him to be his successor.

Buddy reluctantly agrees. He returns to Freedom despite having outgrown its small town limits, wary of his father’s authoritarianism.

No sooner does he hit town than Buddy learns the wife of the high-flying star of a Freedom based world-renowned television ministry has gone missing. A visit to the woman’s home leads to a hostile confrontation with her husband’s family and Buddy’s realization that something greater than simply a missing person is at stake.

Allegiance between father and son provides the backdrop for Buddy’s complex investigation of twisted families, avaricious con artists, violent gangs, drugs, corruption, and murder. And added to the mix is an enigmatic femme fatale who succeeds in upending Buddy’s tenets regarding contemporary relationships.

MISSING PERSONS is its own book, yet crime fiction fans will find it a joy to trace its literary lineage from Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker through to Sue Grafton and Michael Connelly.

REVIEW:
2.5 Hearts This was so not what I hoped it would be. I could never find myself liking Steel at all. He is just so rude and brash and everything else you imagine a LAPD officer is (especially in this day and age). This seemed to put every stereotypical attitude that we are hearing about nowadays. Maybe it was because of all the tensions the country is going through in real life but I found myself pissed at the author for perpetuating the stereotype. Not all cops are rude and uncaring.

The suspense part was ok but I think I was already beyond caring by the time we were supposed to care.

Just not for me.

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