Category: Suspense

TITLE: The Husbands
CHARACTERS: Kelly Roth
AUTHOR: T.J. Brearton
PUBLICATION DATE: 03/17/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
A BREATHTAKING CRIME THRILLER FULL OF SHOCKING TWISTS AND TURNS

He kills their wives. He destroys their families. Then he comes after the husbands. “Do you want to know who killed your wife?” he asks.

Kelly Roth, FBI profiler, returns home to Syracuse to stop a sadistic serial killer. Three murders in three separate jurisdictions in central New York State have the same pattern: women killed by fatal headshots from a hunting rifle. Kelly Roth is sent from Virginia to help the local police.

Each victim was found murdered in a remote area or in a quiet park. The media call him “The Park Killer.” But Kelly doesn’t think the killer lurks in the bushes. She thinks he hunts his victims somewhere else.

But is he really contacting the bereaved husbands or is this a cover for their own guilt? Kelly will risk her own life in a heart-stopping race against time to stop more murders and find out the truth.

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO DISCOVER WHO KILLED YOUR WIFE?

If you like Jeffery Deaver, Linwood Barclay, Lisa Unger, Kendra Elliot, or JD Robb you will enjoy this compelling new mystery novel.

The book is set in New York State, an area the author brings to life with compelling detail based on his local knowledge.

ALSO BY BEST-SELLING AUTHOR T.J. BREARTON HABIT SURVIVORS DAYBREAK BLACK SOUL DEAD GONE TRUTH OR DEAD GONE DARK WEB DARK KILLS

REVIEW:
3.25 Hearts So I am on the fence a bit on this novel. The psychological thriller side is interesting and kept me interested. The problem was the characters. I never really connected with any of them even the heroine, Kelly Roth. I found her strong and smart but any more of her personality was unexplained.

This is a heavy book, if you ask me. This is not a light read but one that makes you think about the human mind of the victim and the killer.

I was pretty sure I knew who it was a number of times but was still interested in how the mind works of the characters and the author.

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

TITLE: Missing Daughter
CHARACTERS: Karen & Ryan Lane
AUTHOR: Rick Mofina
PUBLICATION DATE: 02/19/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Families with nothing to hide don’t have so many secrets

Life can change in an instant. For Ryan and Karen Lane, it happens on the morning they discover their twelve-year-old daughter’s window open, their beloved Maddie missing from her bed.

Police investigate. Suspicions swirl. A teenage boy admits he was outside her bedroom window the night she disappeared. A halfway house for convicts recently opened in the neighborhood. The Lane family is thrown into turmoil, then detectives turn their sights on them.

No one is ruled out. Not Karen, with her tragic past, who argued with her daughter. Not Ryan, with his violent streak. Not Maddie’s thirteen-year-old brother, Tyler, who heard voices in her room the night she vanished.

Days, weeks, months, then agonizing years go by without answers, the Lanes fearing that Maddie is gone forever…until a stunning twist shocks everyone, plunging the family deeper into a world of buried secrets whose revelations threaten the very foundation of their lives.

REVIEW:
I really enjoy reading Rick Mofina’s books. I have been a fan for a while. I also enjoyed this story as well. The writing was a bit different for Mofina but it was interesting. The book is very long but the read is pretty quick. Some sections go slower than others but mostly it is an easy read.

There are two sections to the book which have a huge time lapse of about 4 years. That was a bit surprising but to be honest I enjoyed the second sections more than the first. It seemed to go by quicker and it made figuring out the “who-dun-it” easier for me.

If you are a fan of suspense then this is a great book to pick up.

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

TITLE: The Forbidden Door
SERIES #: Jane Hawk #4
CHARACTERS: Jane Hawk
AUTHOR: Dean Koontz
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/11/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
When this relentless rogue FBI agent comes knocking, her adversaries will have to answer—with their lives—in the latest thrilling Jane Hawk novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Corner.
“We’re rewriting the play, and the play is this country, the world, the future. We break Jane’s heart, we’ll also break her will.”
She was one of the FBI’s top agents until she became the nation’s most-wanted fugitive. Now Jane Hawk may be all that stands between a free nation and its enslavement by a powerful secret society’s terrifying mind-control technology. She couldn’t save her husband, or the others whose lives have been destroyed, but equipped with superior tactical and survival skills—and the fury born of a broken heart and a hunger for justice—Jane has struck major blows against the insidious cabal.
But Jane’s enemies are about to hit back hard. If their best operatives can’t outrun her, they mean to bring her running to them, using her five-year-old son as bait. Jane knows there’s no underestimating their capabilities, but she must battle her way back across the country to the remote shelter where her boy is safely hidden . . . for now.
As she moves resolutely forward, new threats begin to emerge: a growing number of brain-altered victims driven hopelessly, violently insane. With the madness spreading like a virus, the war between Jane and her enemies will become a fight for all their lives—against the lethal terror unleashed from behind the forbidden door.

REVIEW:
This is the fourth in the series and I really believe Koontz is back to the way he used to write.

Let me first say that you really need to read these in order. Yeah I guess you could read them out of order but I believe you will lose a bit of who Jane Hawk is.

The story is fast paced and makes you want to read it in one sitting. The suspense is infectious and heart pounding.

Koontz at his best… again.

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

TITLE: Closer Than You Think
CHARACTERS: Claire Moore
AUTHOR: Darren O’Sullivan
PUBLICATION DATE: 03/15/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
He’s watching. She’s waiting.
The unmissable new thriller from Darren O’Sullivan, author of Our Little Secret and Close Your Eyes.
Having barely escaped the clutches of a serial killer, Claire Moore has struggled to rebuild her life. After her terrifying encounter with the man the media dubbed The Blackout Killer, she became an overnight celebrity: a symbol of hope and survival in the face of pure evil. And then the killings stopped.

Now ten years have passed, and Claire remains traumatised by her brush with death. Though she has a loving and supportive family around her, what happened that night continues to haunt her still.

Just when things are starting to improve, there is a power cut; a house fire; another victim found killed in the same way as before.

The Blackout Killer is back. And he’s coming for Claire . . .

REVIEW:
The suspense was delightful in this story. I found myself wrapped into the world of Claire. Every moment she dealt with her grief was palatable. And when the past comes back to haunt her it goes from grief to trauma in no time flat.

I found this book a quick read with a lot of edge of your seat moments. The thing that I enjoy most in suspense is not knowing who-dun-it but I figured this out pretty quick. Maybe half way through or a bit more but I wanted to continue to read to make sure I was right but also see how Claire managed.

O’Sullivan does a great job in this story and was one I would highly recommend.

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

TITLE: The Perfect Alibi
CHARACTERS: Robin Lockwood
AUTHOR: Phillip Margolin
PUBLICATION DATE: 03/05/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
A young woman accuses a prominent local college athlete of rape. Convicted with the help of undisputable DNA evidence, the athlete swears his innocence and threatens both his lawyer and his accuser as he’s sent to prison. Not long after, there’s another rape and the DNA test shows that the same person committed both rapes—which is seemingly impossible since the man convicted of the first rape was in prison at the time of the second one. Now, the convicted athlete, joined by a new lawyer, is granted a new trial and bail. Shortly thereafter, his original lawyer disappears and his law partner is murdered.

Robin Lockwood is a young lawyer with a prestigious small law firm and a former MMA fighter who helped pay for Yale Law School with her bouts. She is representing the victim of the first rape for her civil lawsuit against her rapist, who is now convinced the rapist is stalking her and trying to intimidate her. At the same time, another client is up on a murder charge—one that should be dismissed as self-defense—but the D.A. trying the case is determined to bring it to trial. Now she has to mastermind two impossible cases, trying to find the hidden truth that links the two of them.

REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts I enjoyed the suspense of this story but I was very confused in a number of parts of it. There are a bunch of characters and I kept having to reference back to who was who.

Margolin is a great writer who knows how to put it all into his books. But sometimes putting it all in the book might end up meaning too much stuff was put in. That is what it felt like reading this book. I kept asking “What more can he put in here?” and then he put more in and it seemed like a lot.

That all being said the suspense keeps you on your toes.

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

TITLE: The Wedding Guest
SERIES #: Alex Delaware #34
CHARACTERS: Alex Delaware
AUTHOR: Jonathan Kellerman
PUBLICATION DATE: 02/05/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
The electrifying new Alex Delaware thriller from global bestseller Jonathan Kellerman. First comes love…then comes murder.

In the middle of a ‘Saints and Sinners’ themed wedding, a bridesmaid finds a young woman’s corpse collapsed in the bathroom. None of the wedding guests claim to know the well-dressed victim but psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis aren’t so convinced.

REVIEW:
3.75 Hearts This is #34 in the series so it gets harder and harder to say something original about this series and the author but just as he comes up with original material I will try as well.

What I like best about this series is the way Alex Delaware is willing to follow his intuition and just goes with it. All the cops are running around like chickens with their heads cut off and Alex is calm and listens to the signs and follows where he is somehow led.

You can pick up any of the books from the series and dive in. The book lets you meet Alex all over again but more so the suspense is worth the read.

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