Category: Suspense

TITLE: The Final Twist
SERIES #: Colter Shaw #3
CHARACTERS: Colter Shaw
AUTHOR: Jeffrey Deaver
PUBLICATION DATE: 01/01/21
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
“The master of ticking-bomb suspense” (People) returns with a devilishly good thriller, and reward seeker Colter Shaw’s most personal case to date.

Just hours after the harrowing events of The Goodbye Man, Colter Shaw is hot on the trail of a missing person whose disappearance he desperately hopes to explain: his own father.

Following the enigmatic clues his father left behind, Shaw explores one site after another, seeing clearly for the first time what strange business his father was up to–and what dangerous people he was working against. But when Shaw is caught by these same people, he’s rescued by an intruder: his own older brother Russell, from whom he’s been estranged for more than a decade. After saving Shaw, Russell stays on, and the brothers–both very different and oddly similar–join forces to identify the family.

This novel is a race against time to both find the family and to pursue leads to solve a decades-old mystery.

REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts This is the third in the Colter Shaw series. In this one we follow Colter to San Francisco where he wants to take up where his dad left off on a whistleblower case. The evidence went missing years ago and Colter wants to do what his dad wasn’t able to do and find the evidence and bring BlackBridge Corporate Solutions to its end.

There are a lot of characters in this book and most of them are after Colter, hoping to stop him before he finds the evidence that will bring everyone down. But Colter knows not only is the company’s downfall at stake, now an entire family is slated to be murdered.

The story was very action packed and seemed to have a twist or turn every few pages. This is a good suspenseful thriller, well written and a page turner.

On a personal note, I lived in the Bay Area for over 2 decades and it was fun to know where Colter was while he traveled around the city.

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

TITLE: Deadly Obsession
SERIES #: Detective Jane Phillips #5
CHARACTERS: DCI Jane Phillips
AUTHOR: OMJ Ryan
PUBLICATION DATE: 04/15/21
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Murder is an art. And someone has been studying the great masters.
The body of a naked woman is discovered in a Manchester park. Her murder has all the hallmarks of a notorious killer known as the Suffolk Strangler. But there’s a problem – the Strangler is serving a life sentence in prison.
So is this just a coincidence? Or is there a copycat killer on the prowl?
As DCI Jane Phillips and her Major Crimes team begin to piece together the victim’s final hours, another body is discovered, and this time it’s a carbon copy of murders committed by the infamous Muswell Hill Murderer.
Now Phillips is in no doubt – she’s chasing a psychopath who has been inspired by Britain’s most horrifying serial killers. As the body count rises, psychological profiler Dr Siobhan Harris joins the team and little by little they begin to build a picture of a terrifying predator.
But their opponent is smart, careful, and always seems to be one step ahead.
Can Phillips stop the killer before another brutal murder is meticulously restaged? Or will even more victims be consumed by this deadly obsession?
Deadly Obsession – the fifth book in the gripping detective series featuring DCI Jane Phillips.

REVIEW:
This is the 5th in the series and I am not sure I have read all in the series but each one can be read as a stand alone without a problem.

In this installment Phillips is chasing a copycat killer who is using the MO of other well known murderers. But other than the copycat nothing seems to show why the victims are chosen. But soon Phillips is figuring things out little by little.

This is a very easy read. Great beach read as we are heading into that season. The reader stays interested and the suspense keeps you wanting to turn the page but the story is not one that requires the reader to use a lot of brain power to enjoy.

Looking forward to the next in the series.

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

TITLE: The Girl On The Platform
CHARACTERS: Bridget
AUTHOR: Bryony Pearce
PUBLICATION DATE: 04/15/21
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
A missing child. A single witness.

I am the girl on the platform.
When new mother Bridget catches her train home from London, she witnesses something terrible: a young girl is taken from the platform, right before her eyes.

No one knows where I am.
But no one is reported missing and with Bridget the only witness, she is written off as an attention seeker. Nobody believes her – not even her own husband.

Can you find me?
But Bridget knows what she saw, and becomes consumed with finding the little girl. Only she can save the child’s life… but could delving into the mystery cost Bridget her own?

A dark and absorbing thriller with the impact of memorable series like Broadchurch or The Missing, perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and Erin Kinsley’s Found.

REVIEW:
First let’s talk about Grace. What a “real” character she is. She just had a baby 7 months ago. She is suffering from postpartum. She is the breadwinner while her husband is a stay at home dad and her commute is killing her, she is tired, her mom is kind driving her nuts with all the ways Grace isn’t doing things right for the baby and, as a mom, I completely got it. Guilt for working and guilt if she didn’t work. Happy her hubby can stay home and also jealous.

Then she sees a young girl get kidnapped on a platform on the way home. But no one else saw it. Why not? Do the police even believe her? Can she trust her own tired brain?

And then the nightmares start. WOW! What a story is told through her nightmares and through her thoughts.

I wanted to read the book and then needed to stop at times to process what was going on with Grace.

This is a really good story. It keeps you wanting to read one more page and then another. There is so much going on and yet none of it is overwhelming. Really recommend anyone who enjoys suspenseful reads and wants to keep your mind guessing.

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

TITLE: Turn A Blind Eye
SERIES #: Detective William Warwick #3
CHARACTERS: William Warwick
AUTHOR: Jeffrey Archer
PUBLICATION DATE: 04/13/21
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Turn a Blind Eye is the third installment in the gripping story of Detective Inspector William Warwick, by the master storyteller and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles.

Newly promoted to Detective Inspector, William Warwick is tasked with a dangerous new line of work, to go undercover and expose crime of another kind: corruption at the heart of the Metropolitan Police Force. Along with detectives Rebecca Pankhurst and Nicky Bailey, his team is focused on following Detective Jerry Summers, a young officer whose lifestyle exceeds his income. But the investigation risks being compromised when Nicky falls for Summers.
Meanwhile, notorious drug baron Ahmed Rashidi goes on trial, defended by Booth Watson QC, while William’s father Sir Julian and sister Grace lead the prosecution case. And William’s wife Beth, now a new mother to twins, makes a surprising new friend in Christina Faulkner–the ex-wife of William’s former rival, criminal financier Miles – who has not only turned over a new leaf, but also has a new-found source of income when Faulkner dies suddenly of a heart attack and she stands to be sole inheritor of his estate.
As the undercover officers start to draw the threads together, William realizes that the corruption may go deeper still, and more of his colleagues than he first thought might be willing to turn a blind eye.

REVIEW:
3.75 Hearts This is the third in the series but we have known these characters from other stories so it is like catching up with friends. In this one we are at the trial of Rashidi.

What I enjoyed about this is the trial part. Some of it got a bit wordy but the trials in England are so different than the trials in the USA. And it is kind of interesting thinking “they can do that there?” or “we could do that here.”

I like DI Warwick. And this time he has to investigate his own. No, he is not a police officer but they are all in the line of work to bring justice and now he has to investigate a young officer who just may be in more than he should be involved in.

Another good story by Jeffrey Archer.

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

TITLE: Destroy Me
CHARACTERS: Cat
AUTHOR: Karen Cole
PUBLICATION DATE: 03/18/21
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
SOME SECRETS ARE BEST LEFT BURIED…

Cat panics when she sees a photofit of a murder suspect flash up on the news. It looks exactly like her, and to make matters worse, the victim is her childhood best friend, Charlie.

The following day, the police arrive at her doorstep to question her. She hadn’t seen or spoken to Charlie in years, but could the secrets of their past finally be coming back to haunt her?

Desperate to find out who gave the police her description and to protect her five-year-old son, Cat investigates. She knows she is innocent and will stop at nothing to prove it. But some secrets are best left buried…

REVIEW:
2.25 Hearts Ok this is not the book for me. I really liked the concept. You are all over the news for murder but you know you didn’t do it so how can your picture be everywhere? And to make it worse the victim was your best friend? Sounds good, right?

Not really. I never cared about Cat at all. She was harsh and brash and just unlikeable if you ask me. And the pet thing was unnecessary and I have never liked when an animal is hurt.

There was so much potential with this story. If the character had been worth our worry maybe I would have liked it more.

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