Dead Girl's Society

Dead Girl's Society by Michelle Krys
On Sale November 8, 2016 by Delacorte Press
Rating: ★★★

"The Society. Weird. Sounds like spam, but you know what they say: life is short, read spam." 

Hope is facing a shorter, more sheltered life than most: she has cystic fibrosis and a mother who keeps her trapped inside the house. The only person she has outside contact with is her best friend, Ethan, who is also the object of her crush (go figure). So when "the society" offers her a bit of excitement and a chance to break out of her narrow mold, the email invitation to join the "games" proves too tempting to pass up. Hope finds herself in a twisted competition with a handful of other girls from her old school (when her mom used to let her go to school, that is). The winner gets a huge cash prize, but losers will be severely punished. At first, the society almost seems like a blessing. Hope is being raised by a single mother working a cashier job, and the medicines she needs do not come cheap. But as the consequences mount, Hope starts to wonder why the society is after her and will do anything to quit the game.

It was hard for me to take this book seriously. A couple of teens playing games set up by a "mysterious society" with "consequences"-- I was just at the very edge of my seat. So when real, dark stuff starts happening to the characters, I was kind of thrown for a loop. Where did that come from? This book goes from 0 to deadly serious very quickly, and I just didn't find it believable-- any of it. I also thought Ethan could have been eliminated from the book entirely. His character adds little to the story beyond being Hope's love interest, and that proved a pretty average and expected subplot. A teen girl whose best friend happens to be a hot, understanding guy that she happens to be in love with-- is that well not dry yet? I would describe this book as: good, not great, it has it's fun moments and logic does not apply.

The Fall Guy

The Fall Guy by James Lasdun
Published October 18, 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Rating: ★★★★

So this review is a bit of an unpopular opinion. The rating on this book has sunk to little over 3 on Goodreads. One of the common complaint is that this book is not riveting. And that's right. This book has a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it, imo. It's slower, less shocking, less sadistic than many modern thrillers. I don't think the thriller label is a good fit for this book, and I think it was slapped into that popular category for marketing reasons. Ok, enough of my rambling, onto the review....

Matthew and Charlie are cousins, more like brothers really, but their lives have gone in very different directions. Charlie is a successful investment banker and a married father. He owns multiple homes, has a million dollars in cash in his home safe, and is the type to be impressed with his own wealth. Matthew lives in a dingy one bedroom and is still striving to make his mark in the restaurant business. Both men are harboring some measure of resentment toward the other, but, like in most families, they keep it bubbling under the surface. That's until Charlie invites Matthew to spend the summer at his vacation home. As the days go on, the cracks between become undeniable.

Maybe things would be less complicated if Matthew weren't enamored with Charlie's wife, Chloe. While he's not in love with Chloe and isn't looking to steal her away from his cousin, Matthew feels both an intimacy and possessiveness over her that he can't quite explain. She's his without really being his. It's a dynamic they've all danced around for the last decade. But as the summer wears on, Matthew starts to suspect that Chloe is hiding something, and he becomes obsessive about it, more or less acting like a stalker. It takes him down the road of no return.

This is a suspense novel, and it might disappoint fans of modern thrillers, but this is the type of book I really appreciate. It's told from one perspective and relies on a slower build up of tension. The writing is good and the plot realistic. It kept me interested, and, while not a true page turner, by the end I was racing through to see what would happen to Matthew. My main frustration was with Chloe and Charlie, who I felt were underdeveloped. What did Charlie really think of Matthew? What were Chloe's motivations? On the whole, though, good book.

The Killing Game

The Killing Game by J. S. Carol
Published October 13, 2016 by Bookouture
Rating: ★★★★


Actions have consequences.

A gunman bursts into Alfie's, an exclusive L.A. restaurant where several A-listers are having lunch. These Hollywood VIPs, used to answering no one, are now his hostages. The gunman has a bomb strapped to his chest, attached to a heart rate monitor and set to detonate if his pulse goes too far above or below its normal range. If he gets agitated, if a swat team takes him out... his hostages will explode, along with the rest of the city block.

JJ is used to being able to fix any situation. It's why her big name clients pay her the big bucks. That actress from that thing who ran over someone with her car while drunk, maybe-- JJ is the reason you can't quite remember the details; she's the reason it barely made the news. It's her job to smooth over celebrity scandals and re-build their image. 

But JJ has finally found something she can't fix. And the more she tries, the worse the hostage situation gets. People keep dying...

Actor Alex King knows all about JJ's power to manipulate someone's public image. He only came to Alfie's for lunch that day because JJ set up a "date" for him with a supermodel. King gave up a real relationship in exchange for a life of fake-dating starlettes (paparazzi invited along, of course) at JJ's insistance. He realizes how deeply he regrets that decision as he faces the chance he won't make it out of Alfie's alive. But he didn't crawl his way out of a trailer park childhood and drug addiction to go down without a fight...

Everyone has a price.

The media can't believe their luck. A hostage crisis involving more than a dozen L.A. big wigs? It doesn't even matter who lives and who dies, or even if anyone comes out alive, as long as they can be the first network, the first reporter to break the story. Pay a rent-an-expert to push the agenda you want... pay off a cop to get insider information. But when the media realizes they have a direct line to Alex King, will they betray him to air the exclusive scoop? Will they get him killed?

I thought this was a really good book. I've had a lucky reading streak as of late, but nothing quite as addictive as this one. This is a true thriller, not a dressed up mystery novel, and a real page-turner. The writing didn't impress me. As the story progressed, I didn't much care, because I was riveted. There's a lot of perspective switching in this book, probably too much. There is one major, unforgivable plot issue that prevented me from giving me this 5 stars. I also had a problem with the bad guy's motivations. We find out why he targeted Alfie's, and two patrons in particular, but there's no reasoning behind how he acted toward the other hostages.

Only Daughter

Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra
On Sale September 20, 2016 by Mira
Rating: ★★★

She's been caught shoplifting food. She's hungry, homeless, dirty, and on the run. But she has a way out. She happens to look identical to a teen girl who went missing a decade earlier, Rebecca Winter. She assumes Rebecca's identity, using it as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Little does she know her new life as Bec Winter is its own kind of prison. Before she knows it, she's wrapped up in the mystery of her alter ego's disappearance, and it looks like the killer might be after her.

This story is told from the perspective of both the real and the impostor Bec (readers never learn her name). I didn't connect with either girl. The narrator, fake Bec, is a flat, uninspiring character who lacks human emotions. I give this book 5 stars for concept, but the execution is choppy, as is the writing. Loose ends were left hanging. The twists and turns were kind of ho-hum for me-- and I closed the book feeling a bit bored. This isn't a bad debut novel, but it didn't quite live up to its potential.

Karolina's Twins

Karolina's Twins by Ronald H. Balson
On Sale September 6, 2016
Published by St. Martin's Press
Rating: ★★★

In 1943 in the Chrzanow, Poland ghetto, Karolina, a young Jewish woman, gives birth to twins with help of her best friend, Lena. Before being transferred to a slave labor camp, Karolina makes one, desperate last ditch attempt to save her babies. Seventy years later, Lena is a Holocaust survivor and living in Chicago. She decides it's time to keep her promise to Karolina to find the twins and enlists a lawyer/PI team to help her.

The structure of this book was maddening. It can best be summed up as: "hey, did I ever tell you my life's story?" As such, the book is almost entirely in dialogue. But the dialogue isn't very good. At times, it feels more like characters reciting pages out of a history textbook than genuine conversation. The writing in this book is flat, uninspiring, and at times reminded me of a cable tv cop show.

"Well, Arthur, I don't know too much about head-spinning, but I think you're going to find out that Ms. Lockhart's really good at ass-kickin'." 

I do think there has to be a certain amount of leeway given to historical fiction in terms of accuracy and I get the sense that this author did his research. But some parts of this book are so preposterous. The story of what happens to the twins? No, nope, sorry, no way. A judge throwing a pregnant woman into jail for refusing to break privilege? Please. The parts of the story that resonated with me did so because of the history. By contrast, the parts that were the author's creation left me cold. Basically, I find WW2 interesting enough to give this book 3-stars.

Dark Matter

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Released July 26, 2016
Published by Crown
Rating: ★★★★★

If your family was stolen from you, how far would you go to get them back?

This book explores that question, but in a totally mindbendy, sci-fi thriller kind of way. It kind of bums me out that I can only give it 5 stars, because it was amazing. Unfortunately, I can't really reveal why, because it's nearly impossible to summarize this book without spoiling it. It's one of the reasons it took me so long to read this. I didn't realize from the blurb how great it would be. You're going to have to trust me.

I can say that I am SO not a sci-fi person. The concept of Schrodinger's cat (which plays an important role in the plot) alludes me despite all explanations. My brain just doesn't get science and especially not physics. But that didn't prevent me from loving this story. In the end, the driving force behind the plot is not futuristic science, but love.

I enjoyed every twist and turn in this exciting book, and, as promised, this is a page-turner. I also fell in love with all the characters, which is rare, especially in a thiller. I will say that I got so excited about what I was reading, that I tried to sell my non-reading husband on how great it is and he dismantled the entire ending portion of the plot in a nanosecond. And I'll never look at him the same way again. Outside of the influence of book-ruining smart alecs, Dark Matter is pretty flawless.

I hope that somewhere out there exists another, cooler version of me who was aware of Blake Crouch's talent before this point, and has read all of his previous books, because I can't believe it has taken me this long to discover this author.

The One Man

The One Man by Andrew Gross
On Sale August 23, 2016
Published by Minotaur Books
Rating: ★★★★★

This book is part historical fiction and part thriller, and it completely blew me away.

America is in a race with Germany to develop the atomic bomb. If the Third Reich beats them to it, the consequences could be dire. But the Allied effort is lagging behind in their so-called Manhattan Project. What they really need is the expertise of a Polish physicist, Alfred Mendl. He's rumored to be one of only two people alive with the necessary knowledge to help build the bomb-- the other is working with the Nazis. Just one minor snag. Mendl is Jewish. And a couple months ago he was deported to Auschwitz. US intelligence hasn't had word from him since.

The US government devices a radical and risky plan. They're going to break Alfred Mendl out of Auschwitz, by sending another man in. Nathan Blum escaped occupied Poland once before. Since coming to America, he's been working as a translator in the army, waiting his chance to do something more. Something to help him make up for the debt he feels on his soul for surviving while his family left behind in the Krakow ghetto perished. But can he really agree to go back into Nazi territory, into a concentration camp no less? And to rescue a man who might not even be alive anymore?

The setting of Auschwitz for this thriller, combined with masterful storytelling and historical realism, raises the stakes for readers in a way few other in this genre can match. There were times I put aside my Kindle just to get my heart rate down. This is the type of book that's completely engrossing, even when it's horrifying. The author does an incredible job of recreating Auschwitz, along with the terror, and hope, within the wire fence.

This is one of my favorite new books for 2016. There were parts about the ending that disappointed me and felt a bit rushed. There's also a scene involving a cat that's pretty messed up. But I can't recommend this enough, especially for fans of historical thrillers.

Boy, 9, Missing

Boy, 9, Missing by Nic Joseph
On Sale September 1, 2016 
Published by Sourcebooks Landmark
Rating: ★★★★

This is a promising debut from author Nic Joseph that examines what happens when people can't move on from the past.

Alex and Kate Scroll experience every parent's worst nightmare. Their youngest son, Lucas, is found dead in their bathtub when he's 9 years old, seemingly the victim of a tragic accident while his parents were downstairs having a dinner party. But there would be no closure for the Scroll family. The young boy who finds Lucas's body, Sam Farr, son of that night's dinner guests, won't talk. Sam won't say what he saw, if anything, no matter who screams at him or threatens him. Thus, in desperation, the Scrolls wage a campaign against the boy, even having him prosecuted. But nothing sticks. Sam stays silent. And free: to grow up, to live his life, to have a son.

The tragedy breaks the Scrolls. Alex seeks comfort in a bottle, Kate in younger man, and older son Francis gets the hell out of dodge. Years later, Francis has changed his name and has almost no contact with his parents. But circumstances bring him back to his hometown of Lansing, Illinois, where he works as a journalist for the local paper and is trying to raise a teenage daughter. Not long after he moves home, the community is rocked again by another tragedy involving a young boy: 9 year old Matthew Farr is missing. Francis can't shake the feeling his father is involved.

How many generations must suffer for one tragedy?

The premise of this book is definitely intriguing, and it's well-written, but there were a few missteps that prevented me from giving it a full five stars. While Francis and Sam are fleshed out characters, many of the other central figures are cardboard. Even though the entire set of events revolves around what happened to Lucas, I feel like I barely got to know him. I thought the story tried to do too much and veered off into too many directions. That said, this book ended on a high note, as the ending is very well crafted. Overall, I really enjoyed this.

The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Published by Pamela Dorman Books

On Sale Starting August 23 2016

Rating: ★★

I've read this book before.

Well, ok, not this book, but I've read many of its fraternal twins, and the gene pool is starting to feel a bit shallow to me.

The Couple Next Door has an interesting hook: a six month old baby disappears from her crib while her parents are next door at a dinner party. It reminded me of the Madeline McCann case, and I was interested to see how the plot would develop. However, reading this book was at times like playing thriller bingo. The couple that seems perfect from the outside but is hiding deep, dark secrets? Check. A hyper-emotional, weak-willed woman who struggles with basic life skills and is increasingly made to feel unattractive and irrelevant by her seemingly loving husband? Yep. A cast of unlikable characters and a local police force that can't solve its way out of a wet paper bag? You bet.

But this book has problems beyond being derivative. The story starts strong, but deteriorates as it progresses. The writing is lackluster. Marco is a uniquely unsympathetic character, and I was so disappointed at the author's decision to portray him as a victim. What had the potential to be a compelling plot dissolves into a macho pissing match between Marco and his father-in-law. Poor, missing baby Cora gets lost in the fray. While this book certainly isn't horrible, it's impossible for me to recommend when there are so many other, similar thrillers that are executed better.

Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris

Rating: ★★★★★

When Grace meets Jack, it's as if all her dreams are finally coming true. Jack offers a future: marriage, children, a perfect house and a charmed life. Best of all, he's accepting of Grace's deep commitment to her younger sister Millie, who has Downs Syndrome. In fact, Jack is excited to have Millie come live with them. Too excited...

This book is truly chilling. The author creates a world that's horrifying without any graphic violence or gore. The beauty in the story is its simplicity. As a reader, you feel like you're living Grace's torment. Everything from the writing to the pacing to the characters is just pitch perfect. This book is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers.

Things I appreciated about this book and would like to become a trend in this genre:

• ONE PERSPECTIVE! This story is told entirely in Grace's voice. Now I believe this was a conscious choice by author B.A. Paris because she could have easily included snippets of what the neighbors were thinking, or Millie's school master, or even Jack. It probably would have made it to publication in that form. So thank you, thank you Ms. Paris for having the restraint to stick to one narrator.
• No police! I enjoy a police procedural as much as the next person. However, more and more I'm seeing the police thrown into thrillers almost as props. Like they have to be there to make the story seem credible, but it's clear the author has no idea what the police actually do for a living. Do the research or leave them out.
• Likable characters. Grace gets duped, but she is a good person. Esther and Millie are also both good eggs.

This book will go on sale tomorrow, August 9, published by St. Martin's Press

Watching Edie

Author: Camilla Way
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 7/26/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC via NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★

Edie is the type of girl who makes it look easy. Her beauty and confidence are effortless. Right after moving into town she catches the eye of the hottest guy around, and she's in with the cool crowd hours after starting a new school. She's a talented artist who knows exactly where she wants to go to college and what she wants to do with her life. She's something special.

At least that's how Heather sees Edie. But Heather isn't always tapped into reality. She has a habit of getting stuck in elaborate day dreams where hours can pass without her realizing it. She tends to talk loudly and excessively, and always smells a bit of onions. She's known around town as a weirdo, but Edie doesn't notice or care. At least not at first. Heather is at first shocked Edie would want to be her friend, but as the girls get closer, the friendship evolves into something of an obsession for her. She loves Edie, no doubt, and will go to any lengths to keep her safe-- and close.

Heather and Edie's friendship ends badly. Edie winds up doing something that haunts her for more than a decade. For years, her worst nightmare is running into Heather. She sees her everywhere, in every face in the crowd. Until one day Heather really is at her door.

... they do remain a part of us, those people who have hurt us very deeply, or who we have hurt, never letting go, not entirely. 

Edie's adult life didn't turn out so charmed. At 33, she's working as a waitress, estranged from her mother, pregnant with no father in the picture, and still haunted by her past demons. She struggles as a new mother, and at first it seems like Heather is a godsend who turned up at her flat at the exact right time. But a feeling of unease nags at Edie. What does Heather want with her?

This was a good book. I appreciated that Edie and Heather each played a role as victim and predator. There are no true innocents here. On the downside, I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I also felt the suspense was lacking. What happened between Edie and Heather is tragic, but most of the expected "twists and turns" were rather pedestrian.

The Step Mother

This is a modern interpretation of Snow White, minus the dwarfs (like most people, I'm only familiar with the Disney version of the fairy tale). It's available for purchase today, and I give it two thumbs up.

Author: Claire Seeber
Publisher: Bookouture
Release Date: 7/15/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC via NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★★

After enduring a disastrous relationship and a career-ending scandal, Jeanie is ready for her Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet and whisk her away to his castle. Enter Matthew King, Jeanie's new husband. He's wealthy, successful, handsome, and head over heels in love with Jeanie. It seems like a fairy tale come true, but there are problems from the start. Matthew's twin teenaged children are slow to warm to her, with daughter Scarlett acting openly hostile. Matthew isn't keen on Jeanie's son, Frankie. Then strange things begin to happen. Threats to expose Jeanie's secrets to her husband. Dead pets and wild animals left for her to see. Blood mysteriously appearing in the bathroom. Strange noises and a vision of a woman in a mirror. Jeanie realizes she has to get out of both the horror castle and her marriage before it's too late.

I wavered back and forth on whether to give this four or five stars. The first 80% of the book is near perfect, but it started to fall apart for me toward the end, which is not how you want a thriller to progress. The ending resolutions were drawn out, anti-climatic, but also somehow incomplete. We never get a full understanding of Matthew's character or what his true intentions toward Jeanie are. A lot of the dark twisty turns are explained away as relatively banal family drama. The whole Simon bit was under developed and should have hit the editing room floor. The best part of the last 20% of the book or so is that it finally becomes apparent why sister Marlena's viewpoint is necessary to craft the story. I decided to cut the difference and give this better than average thriller 4.5 stars.

On Sale Today: The Trap

Title: The Trap (original German title: Die Falle)
Author: Melanie Raabe
Publisher: Grand Central
Release Date: 7/5/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★

Eleven years ago, best-selling author Linda Conrads entered the front door of her home and hasn't gone through it since. She's shut herself off from life on the outside, and her home has become her entire world. From it she has written a series of acclaimed novels. But there's one story she hasn't written yet-- that of the murder of her sister, Anna. It's been a nightmare that has had no ending, a nameless killer escaping into the darkness. Until now. Because Linda Conrads has just seen the murderer reporting the news on tv.

Linda wants to get reporter Victor Lanzen's DNA for testing, but the only way she can do it is to use her writing, and her house, as a trap. She writes a book about Anna's murder and offers Lanzen an exclusive interview about it. However, her planned snare starts to go wrong almost from the beginning. Linda has to confront the uncomfortable possibility that she's kidnapped an innocent man, and that the real killer might be much closer to home. To finally close her sister's case, she's going to have to wrestle her demons and go outside.

This biggest problem with this book is a lack of consistency. Some parts are very good, and others drag. I'm not a fan of the book-within-a-book concept. I've never seen it work to a story's advantage, and The Trap is no exception. I didn't think Linda's feelings for the investigating officer added anything to the plot, and it's a theme that's overplayed in thrillers in general. That said, this is a good debut. I thought the book improved as the plot progressed, and I liked the ending. I give this a strong 3.5 stars.

New Release: Frayed

I'll just cut to the chase: I didn't like this book. However, I decided to include a review for it on my blog, because I think it's a good example of how a "surprise ending" isn't always a something to strive for. You won't see the final twist in this book coming. But it's a surprise in the vein of surprise! your sister was actually killed by an intergalactic assassination force or surprise! your sister is really still alive and ran off to join the Israeli army. I can't give away the ending, of course, but I can say the author invoked a mental illness that remains controversial and debated to this day, which was another problem I had.

A good ending to a thriller has to have bread crumbs. Readers have to have a *chance* of guessing it. Now, if everyone foresees the twists and turns, that's a concern. But it's all a concern if no one could possibly. For me, the best-selling Girl on a Train is a good example of how a story can still be masterful and page-turning without a shock ending.

Title: Frayed
Author: Kara Terzis
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 6/1/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★

This book starts with a girl writing a letter to her murdered sister. For the most part, it goes on to be exactly what you'd expect from the genre. There's the dead sister who was hiding all sorts of secrets. There's the twin pillars of the bad boy who isn't all that bad and the good boy who isn't all that good. And, of course, an incompetent police force. Added to the mix is a criminally sophisticated girl gang that's also kind of cultish. The ending twist comes out of left field and is implausible. The author is young, this is a debut novel, and there is definite potential here. I just don't think this was ready for publication.

On Sale Tomorrow: All The Missing Girls

This book is being released tomorrow and has potential best-seller written all over it. I guess I'm one with the in crowd, because, in general, I really like best-sellers. I suppose my tastes are relatively mainstream. And I did, for the most part, like All the Missing Girls. But (isn't there always a but?) I did think it was trying too hard with its "backwards" gimmick.

In my review, I refer to having read a book with a similar ending. I'm talking about Frayed, by Kara Terzis, and I plan to post a review for *that* book this week.

Title: All the Missing Girls
Author: Megan Miranda
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: 6/28/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★

There's a monster lurking inside each one of us. It's just a matter of how well you hide yours. Or so would say Nicolette Ferrell. But then she has a reason to look for monsters. Girls-- two girls, to be exact-- seem to disappear from her sleepy North Carolina hometown and vanish into thin air. Ten years apart, but both connected to her in some way. And things won't be right until she knows what happened to them...

This wound up being the second book I read this week with roughly the same ending. While All the Missing Girls executed the concept better, I can't pretend it didn't take the punch out of it for me.

In case you missed it from the book blurb or any of the promotion surrounding this book, the story is told in reverse order... sort of. More like it's meant to feel like it's being told backwards, but still retains traditional plot structure. It's a device that left me wanting.

This is the kind of book that sucks you in with very readable prose and intriguing characters. It's hard to put down. 

New Release: Before the Fall

Author: Noah Hawley
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: 5/31/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★★

A plane crashes into the ocean during a seemingly routine flight from Martha's Vineyard to the mainland. No one knows why it went down, or why two people survived while the rest plunged down to the murky water's bottom. The survivors, Scott Boroughs and JJ Bateman are bound together by tragedy but have little else in common. Scott is a middle-aged recovering alcoholic who is trying to eek out a living painting disaster scenes. Both the object of his artwork and the circumstances that landed him on a millionaire's private jet become public speculation in the days following the crash. JJ is four years old, the child of a media mogul and now the sole heir to his parents' fortune. Now a multi-millionaire himself, the child becomes a pawn in family and media drama. The 24/7 media spin cycle plays a huge role in this book. How far will cable news go to feed the public's thirst for controversy and sensation, even when there's no news to report? Does the media's right to report "the truth" outstrip a victim's privacy rights? Or do the ends always justify the means?

Despite being billed as the thriller of the year, this isn't a good example of one. Nor is it a mystery novel-- yes, there's the question of what really happened to the plane, but in a sense it's besides the point. I think of this book as suspense-- the thriller's more cerebral and subdued cousin. It's a page turner in its own right, even if the pacing is a bit slow at times. Some of the villain characters are a little too one-dimensional, but the others are well-developed. Overall a great read.

Coming Soon: All Is Not Forgotten

Title: All Is Not Forgotten
Author: Wendy Walker
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 7/12/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★

How far would you go to protect *your* child? What if it's at the expense of someone else's?

Fifteen-year-old Jenny Kramer is brutally assaulted and raped in the woods, a few hundred feet from a high school party. Her parents consent to a medical treatment that prevents Jenny from remembering the rape. After all, it's best to move on, right? And what can help a victim move on better than forgetting?

But all is not forgotten. Jenny is tormented by knowing she was raped but not knowing any of the details. She is tortured by the feeling of wanting to crawl out of her skin but not understanding why. It's only after she attempts suicide that her parents agree to memory recall therapy. That brought the Kramer family to Dr. Alan Forrester, who is the narrator of the story. And things get tricky.

"I have no remorse... Hate me if you must."

How grateful I am for the permission. The narrator turns out to be a twisted individual with limited introspection. He's also the only person who can tell Jenny's full story. I think some readers will be tempted to excuse his actions because he "saved his son." But I don't see a loving father. I see a monster. He *put* his child in the cross hairs. He had the power to clear his son's name. But instead the good doctor chose to manipulate and destroy. Throughout the book, he calls his need to treat Jenny "selfish." Only at the very end does it become clear just how true that is.

This is a good, not great, thriller. I definitely didn't see the twists and turns coming, but sometimes the book got bogged down in neuroscience.

Coming Soon: Baby Doll

There seem to be a lot of good thrillers coming off the presses this summer. This is one of my favorites so far.

Title: Baby Doll
Author: Hollie Overton
Publisher: Redhook
Release Date: 7/12/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★★

This is the thriller after the thriller. Most books end with the hostage escaping her torturer's clutches, but that's where this one starts. This is about what happens when a victim returns home to people who have changed in her absence and how they adjust to how she's changed. This is what happens after the prayers are answered: bring my daughter/sister/friend home. Because it's never just as simple as coming home.

Lily spent eight years trapped in a basement by a sadistic pedophile. The only things that keep her going are her daughter and the knowledge that somewhere out in the world her twin sister, Abby, waits for her to return. Lily's disappearance has been hell on her family. Her father couldn't make it through the pain, her mother cycled into promiscuity, and her sister battles addiction. When Lily returns, it should fix everything. But it doesn't. Because it can't. How will this family go forward? And will Lily ever see true justice?

This book pulled me in from the beginning and never let me go. Sometimes I just "click" with a certain book, and that was the case with this one. I did think there were too many narrators and sometimes I had a hard time swallowing unrealistic character behavior (Lily being too calm in the beginning, Rick's "trade" with Lily given how he felt about his daughter). But, overall, I recommend it.

New Release: Don't You Cry

I thought I would kick off this blog with my most "liked" review on Goodreads. After I read this, I logged onto my library's Overdrive system and put a hold on all of Mary Kubica's other books.

Title: Don't You Cry
Author: Mary Kubica
Publication Date: 5/17/16
Publisher: Mira
Version Reviewed: Published e-book
Rating: ★★★★

When Esther disappears, her roommate Quinn realizes just how little she knew about the person she considered her best friend. She searches Esther's room and her phone, and discovers one shocking piece of evidence after another. Perhaps most terrifying of all is what happened to Esther's last roommate. Quinn starts to suspect the girl she's lived with for the past year just might be a monster, and she might be next to die...

Alex is eighteen and trapped in a small town with no future. He gave up a college scholarship to take care of his hopelessly alcoholic father and spends his days washing dishes at a local diner. Every day is exactly like the last until a girl he calls Pearl comes into town. Alex is drawn to this fellow lost soul and wants to help her. But Pearl is not what she seems...

This book is told from the perspective of both Quinn and Alex. It gets off to a slow start, but once it pulls you in, it's magnetic. At first, I didn't connect with Alex and looked forward to Quinn's sections. That switched in the second half the book, and it's Alex who left the lasting impression on me.

I won't lie and say this is a perfect thriller. I've read better, and there were some "yeah right" moments in this one. But I don't think fans of the genre will be disappointed.

Purchase here: Don't You Cry