Killer Dead, Victim Alive by Michael Geczi

 

Keith Victor is proud of being a serial killer. He enjoys what he does and he’s happy to let the cops know about it. Actually... that should be “was” since Victor is dead. So why has his seventh kidnap victim Chrissy Weeks pitched up at the police station claiming Victor dropped her off?

 

So begins the case for detectives Mollie Granger and Greg Nichols, both of whom have more than enough on their plates in their home lives than to go wading through truths and lies. But it’s justice they must get, and thus starts one of the strangest cases they will come across, with some far-reaching repercussions...

 

Killer Dead, Victim Alive had so much potential. Sure, the case is in the title and, as the reader, you go in with a preconceived notion. The mystery is set up, the characters introduced, and you get yourself ready for a ride. But it’s a bumpy one.

 

Let’s start with Weeks. The build-up to her manipulative character was strong and the character was designed to irk the reader, which she does. However, you are given a backstory and told how evil she can be and hear her threats, but besides the obvious, not much comes of it. It’s odd that as the reader you know she is the killer but you have to go through the procedural process of them finding out. This means there is a lot of tell as she changes her story a number of times and yet you know she is lying. In essence, there was really only one person manipulated in her whole story.

 

Granger and her girlfriend Gwen Seward have an interesting parallel story to the main one in that they are fighting cultural and relationship complications for their future. This does add a good dynamic to the story in showing the personal upheavals that people are going through that sometimes cannot be shared when in the work environment. This was true to Nichols too, with the emotional toll his wife’s illness was taking on him. I did feel, however, that there were too many side stories within the police section and a number of them did not need to go into as much detail.  

 

Then there was KJ – would she have given up like she did considering the fighter that she was? Even if she did feel she did wrong? I guess she was manipulated by so many people she didn’t really know where her future was anymore.

 

As to the story. The reason why Weeks did it was a tenuous connection, as it was based on so many “what ifs.” It almost had to be the perfect timing, the perfect manipulation, and have the perfect co-conspirator to work, and if these weren’t there, the story would not have happened. I truly do not understand how she thought it would end in her favour, especially with her story changing so often between the police, the lawyer, and the media. As for the ending... where was this going? Designed for the next book? It was so abrupt I kept trying to turn to the next page. If you look closely, there is a clue related to the ending early on, but it’s remarked on so randomly that the connection is not obvious, even at the end.

 

 The proofing overall was pretty good. The only consistent errors were the mix of straight and curly quotes and apostrophes and a number of inconsistent uses of action versus dialogue tags. Some quotation marks were missing, too.

 

So I’m rather ambivalent about this. In a psychological thriller, I’m looking for the who, how, and why. I want to be surprised at the end by how I missed the setup and how it all links together. With this book, the title made the reader assume they knew “who” the killer was (and this gets confirmed early), “how” it happens is also evident early, and when the “why” comes along, well I felt a little cheated. A lot of good stuff in this book, but I think it was the “intent” versus “coincidence” that made it a hard sell for me.

 

My thanks to the author for the opportunity to review the book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Cellar Door by Langford Shepherd

 The Cellar Door is a short story and touted to be a horror.

 

This book fell far too short of anything it promised. In fact, the only horror was that of a human harming an animal. An animal that starts off as one species and lands up as another.

Why the book needed to spend the majority of it in the erotica between the couple makes no sense. The first line of the book description says exactly that. No need to go into that many sordid details.

I was disappointed and was hoping for more about the bodies and more actual horror.

I Know Your Secret by JM O'Rourke

 Dr Amanda Jackson is a well-respected physician and has two wonderful children. She loves her husband deeply, but is constantly having to sacrifice what she wants and needs to make him happy. And she is willing to do this as she has a secret she cannot let him know about.

 

So when she finds a note on her windscreen one day saying I Know Your Secret, she realises she is in big trouble. The question is whether to find out who sent it or let the secret be known. And since there is only one other person out there who does know about it, she needs their help to make sure the secret stays a secret.

 

With traumatic events in her past coming back to her in flashbacks, she starts doubting their authenticity. And with her husband questioning her sanity, she starts doubting herself, too. As friends and family turn against her, Amanda doesn’t know who to go to. Is keeping the secret worth it?

 

The book centres on bad decisions and their repercussions. It also highlights toxic relationships between spouses, between friends, between parents and children, and between work colleagues.

 

For a woman like Amanda who has overcome so much, it seems odd that she would put up with Edward’s behaviour and indeed enable it. Considering even her son tells her to leave him as he doesn’t treat her well, the secret is not worth keeping. What I did like about her character was the growth she went through to eventually find the courage to say “no” and stand up for herself.

 

Edward’s character was absolutely awful. He is the epitome of an abuser and gaslighter. I did think it was a tad implausible that he would go to the lengths he did to protect himself, though.

 

Pri was a very irritating character, especially considering her story arc. And the way she kept calling Fiona “that loola woman” was annoying. Looking at it from an outside perspective, though, one could argue that her decisions were not her own and she was guided by an “inner demon”. However, when found out, she came across as being more than willing and not necessarily coerced.

 

As you move through the clues, you can guess where it’s headed but there are still another curveball or two on their way. While some scenes were set up well and integrated with the story believingly, others (cue logs and an overall) were a lot more difficult to swallow. Even scenes where characters pretend to be someone else in a medical facility don’t sound feasible. And then, of course, the obligatory evil nurse in the mental institute – was it really necessary? And it seems like most victims in psychological thrillers nowadays end the story by writing a book about it!

 

So I Know Your Secret has its pros and cons and does get dragged out in places, but is overall a satisfying read.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the opportunity to review the book.

Have you seen her? by Dea Poirier

 Blair, now a social worker, and her sister Evianna, an influencer, have never got on. Evianna was the “perfect” daughter and Blair the one pushed to the side, especially by their mother. So why Blair decided to hop on a plane to see her sister is beyond her. But Evianna sounded desperate.

 

And now Blair is heading back to Evianna’s in a bizarre series of events. After Evianna telling Blair she has cancer, Blair heads back home, but as she touches down, Evianna’s husband Simon calls to tell her Evianna is missing and she needs to come quickly. Blair immediately gets on the next plane and the craziness begins.

 

When Blair arrives, she realises all is not well. Simon has not even reported Evianna as missing and is actually keeping up her social account himself. She decides that it’s up to her to look into the disappearance, but the more she digs, the more Simon’s behaviour turns evil and the more questions come to light.

 

Now Blair fears for her own life and everywhere she turns, the puzzle pivots. Those who try to help land up in danger and those who threaten her might just destroy everything she has. What do you do when you are in over your head?

 

Why Blair went to the lengths she went, I’ll never know. First, the relationship with her sister was so strained and she had been treated so badly, it was an odd choice to see her in the first place. Then putting up with the way Simon treated her was not on. I get that deep down she loved her sister and would do this for her, but the idea of doing this on her own and not going to the police was crazy. She knew something was off and still went ahead with her amateur sleuthing. Even when it became clear her life was in danger. The physical damage she sustained I question. She seemed to recover from that very very quickly even though it occurred more than once.

 

Simon was a deplorable character. That means that the author has written him really well to make me hate him that much! His attitude, mannerisms, and actions just spoke of duplicity and selfishness.

 

The girls’ mother was another character that was just downright awful. The way she treated Blair was appalling and I’ll never understand why people like that have children.

 

The book is written well in that the proofing was good with few mistakes to distract you. But at one stage, one of the characters that works in IT goes from Melvin to Calvin, which was a little odd. I will say that you can figure out the ending before it happens and when it does, you are actually sad because it’s such a waste!

 

I really enjoyed this book because even though you feel such strong negative emotions towards people and actions, it goes to show how much the author has made you believe. The toxic relationship, the secrets, the “real life” behind an influencer – all thrilling elements that brought the book together well. I would have liked to have seen some more of the plot lines finished off as there were a few points left open. But the ones that needed to be explained were. Not all that glitters is gold, indeed!

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

The Slaying Game by Faith Gardener

Leela’s world is imploding. After leaving her stressful job at Jolvix Enterprises, she needed a completely different pace. Cue working in Feline Better, a café come cat sanctuary. But something weird is taking place. People who she considered “enemies” from before in her life are sending her texts saying they are sorry before they land up dead. Supposedly a suicide. But Leela knows in her gut it’s connected to the VixSpex – a novelty lethal virtual reality headset designed to kill the user when they lose the game they are playing. But this isn’t supposed to be in the general population. So who has one?

 

Still mourning her fiancé's death, Leela reluctantly teams up with his twin brother Teddy to get to the bottom of this. When Leela realises how deeply involved in this she is, she needs to end it. But how far is she willing to go to do that?

 

This is the third of Faith Gardener’s novels that I have read and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them all. She gives a real depth to her characters and makes you feel very uneasy about Jolvix Enterprises and the work they do. Leela’s character embodies so many emotions. You get to see glimpses of her past and the author has utilised issues like addiction and a mother living vicariously through her child with subtlety and delicacy. In that the issues are not glossed over but treated with respect. The changing dynamic between her and Teddy makes for an interesting thread that holds the story together. Knowing that Jack is gone you are rooting for them and annoyed that Leela can be so obstinate when it’s clear that Teddy is a good guy!

 

Another character I loved to hate was Leela’s boss at the cat café, Daisy. Her passive aggressive smiley attitude and constant reminders to Leela about her work contract made me infuriated. I have met a few like her and boy did she get under my skin! And let’s not even get into Barnett Briggs – absolute shudder there.

 

The fact that you get to “understand” things from the killer’s mind helps to make the story more cohesive and when the author proves that no character is safe, I was shocked. To go through so much and then...

 

The author has a wonderful writing style and the book is well edited (apart from some missing vocative commas again!) which makes it comfortable to read without being jolted between POVs or finding inconsistencies. I will definitely be looking out for the ones I’ve missed in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Xpressobooktours

Tales From an Asylum by Steven LeShay

Tales From an Asylum is touted as a memoir of one person (the old man) reliving a number of personas in his head that span 100 years. These personas range from children to adults, men to women, some with names and some without, and a variety of themes from politics, to travel, to being in education or the navy, sports and board games.

 

When it comes to reading a book, I always believe it’s polite to leave a review, especially when it comes to self-publishing. So it’s seldom that I don’t finish a book as it’s important to be able to give feedback on the whole thing. Unfortunately, this counts as one of my DNF’s at 65%. I tried. I really tried a number of times to keep pushing through, but I was eventually skipping sections of text to try to make it to the end.

 

Before even looking at the story, the big issues were the formatting and the editing. It looks like the print version was uploaded instead of the eBook as there were still pages numbers in the ToC and random headers kept appearing. The chapters were divided into numbered sub-sections, which were also confusing in a fiction book. Some areas were edited well and then you’d get half sentences tacked onto the end of a full sentence with no space between or sentences repeated for no reason.

 

As to the story. Because of the cover and the idea of an asylum, I had it in my head that we would be introduced to a character in an asylum either dealing with DID or actual memories. But there is no setup. You are thrown directly into someone’s story and then into the next. Some are long and some are short. Some end and you go back into them later. Lots and lots of factual info about a number of topics bombards you and takes away from the story aspect.

 

I kept pushing on and hoping it would tie together and make sense but I just couldn’t go any further. I did jump to the end (it’s quite a long book) to see if the epilogue could help me out, but found appendices, and an interview, and when I read the last bit of the epilogue, I was in as much confusion still. It’s a pity, as the main idea behind it had promise.

 

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

You Did This by Jamie Millen

You Did This is a serial killer thriller that keeps the questions coming.

 

Claire hated her sister, Tina. With the face of an angel and the mind and heart of a devil, Tina has everyone fooled. Claire hates the fact that Tina is their mom’s favourite and can do no wrong in others’ eyes while behind closed doors, she is a psychopath.

 

Claire is somewhat worried about the gaps in her memory, and on a day when she is supposed to walk Tina home from school but comes home bloody and with cuts, sans Tina, she begins to question her memory of falling down. Tina never makes it home and is found murdered.

 

Claire eventually leaves home, qualifies as a detective, and comes back to town to look into the case. But when she gets back and murders begin again, with girls that look like Tina and are the same age, and the memory gaps are still there, Claire begins to wonder if the fact that her mom blames her for Tina’s death has grounds.

 

With her new partner helping out and an old flame, now in the FBI, also roped in, Claire should be able to get to the bottom of this. When evidence begins piling up against her, Claire doubts her sanity and must decide what drastic measures she will take to solve the case.

 

But is she prepared for the shocking truth?

 

I really enjoyed it and didn’t enjoy it at the same time. I appreciated the twists and turns and the misdirection, but the ending was a little hard to swallow. Without giving away spoilers, surely some of the police procedures would not have been allowed or access that people had to evidence be more limited to outsiders?

 

First off, I understood Claire’s obsession with the truth and the memory gaps allowed you to follow on her path of doubt. But lots of decisions were questionable and she seemed to have more than luck on her side. It was a good example, however, of the damage that parental abuse can do to a child, and how that could influence which direction the child chooses to take.

 

While most of the secondary characters had parts to play and personalities in the book, I never really connected with any of them, including the ex-flame. Maybe it’s because there were so many red herrings that you weren’t quite sure who to trust and thus didn’t become involved with them. Lots of tangents also made you feel like you had to keep track of a lot when quite a bit of info became throwaway.

 

The sniper and what happened made me raise “the eyebrows” in disbelief and the hair dye... oh dear. Black hair to natural looking blonde in one pack and then keeping it as it takes a while to come out??? Bleach doesn’t “come out”!

 

I did appreciate that there was not a plethora of spelling mistakes or punctuation/grammar errors and that the book could be read while concentrating solely on the story. It kept me entertained so I’ll up the average rate and give it slightly higher just because I had to finish it and didn’t want to put it down before finding out the truth... 

   

Eve in Overdrive by Faith Gardener

Eve in Overdrive is a psychological thriller novella. It’s a quick read (took me thirty minutes) and it’s best to read it in one sitting.

 

Journalist Eve Alexopoulos doesn’t cover the hard-hitting news as such. However, her column “What’s Your Problem, Bro?” certainly ruffles more than a few feathers as she targets and outs online trolls. The problem is that sometimes the trolls fight back.

 

When Eve is offered a huge cash advance on a book based on her column, she decides to splurge on a Sunray. The exclusive solar-powered, self-driving, tech-filled car of her dreams. But someone has to be behind the tech, right? And what if that person just happens to be someone Eve exposed...

 

The author has done an awesome job of setting Eve up and allowing the reader to either back her 100% or say to her to back off. And then placing Eve in a deadly situation. Without giving away any spoilers, you are taken through the physical pain, the psychological terror, and the inevitable “what if” moment.

 

The author’s writing style is smooth and quick to read, but the lack of commas before direct address became a bit annoying. Overall, though, it’s a ride of the stuff of nightmares with the reliance on tech and the loss of control. This is the second book of hers I’ve read and I thoroughly enjoyed the thought-provoking moments behind both.

Puzzle House by Duncan Ralston

Six strangers come together as the will of Alexei Vasiliev, one of the world’s top puzzle makers, stipulates that they must take part in his latest work to receive a portion of his fortune. The strangers don’t seem to have a connection. Henry, previously a cop, is in jail for murder and Atkins is the security guard sent to accompany him. Then there is Oscar, a doctor riddled with cancer, Illeana, a state senator, Rudy, an archaeologist, Jessica, a dean at a university, and Joy, Alexei’s estranged wife.

 

They meet at Alexei’s house and are immediately thrown into a puzzle. Six rooms await them where the puzzles will test not just their mental abilities, but their desire to survive at any cost. Will working together be the way to go, or is it a case of fewer survivors means more money...

 

I really wanted to love this book as it started out so well with the different characters being introduced and yet still being in the dark about their connection. Then, as we moved to the house and the puzzles, it became a lot more complex and unless you are a fan of mythology and know quite a bit about ancient history when it comes to gods and beliefs, then it’s tricky to keep up as the facts just keep coming. Sometimes it was quite difficult to picture the puzzles and in one instance the chosen solution was very odd as there were other things around them that could have done the same thing. I guess it’s in keeping with the room “belonging” to a character.

 

The connection is eventually explained but it’s a slow reveal and seems buried under the facts of the puzzles themselves. The whole experience is exposed to have been years in the making and I felt the reader needed to really allow for literary leeway. As I was reading, I was going yes okay, hmm, and then the eyebrow raises got a bit too much. The ending, well... it’s like the book went in an entirely different direction and left it open for a sequel.

 

The writing was good and the proofing well done but the book left me feeling ambivalent about its success.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

Godthread by Caleb Brabham

Azrael Abaddon, better known as The Destroyer, has been tasked with an unusual quest. Reunite Eve with her son Cain.

More than a little intrigued, Azrael accepts the task, even though the mere act of kindness is very un-demonlike. But Azrael has no idea of the interwoven stories and their butterfly effects he is about to encounter, both in heaven and hell, and places in between.

When Morningstar meets his demise, uncertainty and chaos abound, which is to be expected, but Azrael can work off this. The Godthread, however, now that’s a different story…

When asked to review this, I had no idea how I’d feel about it. Would it be a story filled with fire and brimstone and an Old Testament wrath, or would it be a satire on an old story? It was neither and yet it was both, written in a noir style that captured a fascinating way of looking at the relationship between the angels and demons, their history, their interactions with the devil and the Almighty, and their view of the “flesh” on Earth.

The author cleverly moves back and forth to the telling of the first sin and the repercussions, both at the time and later, with the punishment inflicted on those involved. As we are taken between the realms, the descriptions of the demons and angels (both terrifying) and the worlds and lands they are dominion over (both terrifying) are vivid and give new imagery to the idea of fire down below and clouds up above.

Azrael’s journey is somewhat surprising in that some actions would not be expected from a demon, and the sub-plots and secrets, both with demons alone as well as demons and angels working together, are hinted at gradually until an ending that I did not foresee coming. Probably should have, but there were a number of ways this could have gone and the author definitely picked the right one!

What let this book down were a number of different proofing errors. From action and dialogue tags being mixed up, which influenced punctuation and capital letters, to backwards quotation marks, to wrong words being used. The writing style, however, was fluid and so descriptive that it was easy to consume this story rapidly.

A well-imagined tale, with the focus on a clever story, in a setting and with characters as old as time.

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery for the opportunity to review the book.

The New Husband by Brian O'Rourke

Brent and Mary have been married for a number of years and are a quiet and unassuming couple. She works as a data analyst and he deals with coding. Brent came from a dysfunctional family and his parents and brother verbally, physically, and emotionally abused him. Consequently, Brent suffers from terrible depression and low self-esteem. Even when his brother dies, he refuses to attend the memorial service. When the opportunity comes up for him to attend a wellness retreat filled with meditation, counselling, and farm labour, they dig into their savings and Brent leaves for a month where contact with Mary is not allowed in any form.

When the month is up, Brent comes back but is a changed man. He is full of energy, his body looks amazing, and he wants to go all out to start a new business. Initially, Mary is thrilled with the change, but as time goes by and his behaviour becomes more and more erratic and he refuses to speak about the retreat, she becomes suspicious of him. Is the new Brent just too much?

I figured out the ending quite early on but still wanted to see how it would all tie together. The story was an interesting idea but the execution felt somewhat forced. To have the reader believe that Mary picked up on so many things but did nothing about it was odd. Brent’s behaviour was ludicrous and his physical change rapid, yet Mary believed that the changes could have happened at a retreat in thirty days. The fact that Brent was so focused on one thing should have been a big clue to Mary, but I guess when you love someone, you want to believe them.

As for the stalker and the PI. Really, Mary? For someone who watched Netflix, she needed to brush up on her police procedures.

So while I enjoyed the story and the fact that it was a quick read, one thing struck me as strange. In one section, a character places a rag over the mouth of another and knocks them out with chlorophyll. Now I am no biologist and perhaps chlorophyll has properties I’m unaware of, but should that not be chloroform? The staple of crime tv shows?

It wrapped up a little too neatly for me, but an interesting idea, nonetheless.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book. 

Other People's Lives by JE Rowney

Other People’s Lives is a psychological thriller, but tries to be clever about it and I thought it missed the mark.

 

Sophie’s husband, Jack, is considered missing as he never arrived at his work trip’s destination and she is distraught as she thinks someone is watching and stalking her. Determined to work through the issues, she meets with Dr Thacker, a psychiatrist, who is ready to help her. But with each session Sophie opens up a little more and the truth may be stranger than anyone suspected.

 

After reading the story I felt meh. There were places that felt confusing and slightly off and the writing hinted at something else. With so many people saying wow about the book, I decided to read it again to see what I missed. And yes, I had missed the early signs but I felt cheated. If the smoking gun is going to be used in the final scene, the smoking gun must be introduced early in the book. You can’t suddenly spring an ending on a reader when the actual “tie” is not there. I will give the author credit for the different way it was done, but I felt it was too forced into what it was.

 

It’s really difficult to say much without giving away a spoiler about the script or the ending, but I honestly thought the ending was a no. Even newbie crime thriller readers would be questioning police procedures and what would really have happened. There is literary licence and a request to suspend disbelief and then there is straight-up nope. And the more you reflect on the ending, the more holes show.

 

We see Sophie’s interactions with Jack through letters she writes to him and as the book progresses, the tone changes and the clues are more obvious. Some people felt the letters annoying while I enjoyed looking at the underlying intention.

 

I’m glad the book was short to be able to read it again, but I wouldn’t read it a third time, not even to look for more clues. Maybe I just prefer my psychological thrillers more guided and less deus ex machina... who knows...

The Gap by Ninie Hammon

The Gap is a psychological thriller and a lot like Knives Out without the comedy.

 

All the family have gathered at Harrington House. A huge family and a huge house. One that seems to have been added onto and taken from indiscriminately with arbitrary passages and rooms that make no sense.

Olivia Harrington is turning 100 years old and the family is at her house for the funeral of her daughter-in-law, Hannah. They also hope that Olivia will divulge the terms of her will, but Olivia has a secret she wants to spring on them.

However, as with all family gatherings and one with such a large number, other secrets are bound to be revealed. Why would Cyrus not allow Hannah to dig up their fish pond? Is Avery right to blame her father Spencer for killing the boy on his bicycle when a photo might prove it was not him? Did Alex kill Hannah? What happened to the ring on Hannah’s finger that was there at the beginning of the viewing? Who is the mysterious stranger connected to the items in the attic who arrives with a loaded gun?

When a storm hits and the power goes out, the tension comes to a head. And when a deliberately set fire breaks out, it could mean that not everyone makes it out of the house alive…

 

The novel is quite long and does seem slow in places, but considering the list of characters and the stories that must be covered for each, it does make sense. Usually I’d want things to come together a bit quicker but in this case I actually enjoyed coming back each time to read some more. It felt like it added to the slow simmer under the surface where you knew it was all going to explode. The author takes you on a journey of personalities and you can feel the greed, the hatred, the angst, the surprise, and the forgiveness. There are so many little things that join together and it’s like an avalanche once the thread is pulled.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed both the story and the writer’s style, as it was just what the story needed. Once I’d finished the book, I felt glad to get away from that family!

The Deadly Samaritan by Michael Geczi

The scissors were inserted in the armpits with skill. Keeping the bodies on the brink of death but not there yet. This is the scenario facing Detective Kaminsky. An attack, no robbery, and the motive unclear. Unfortunately for Kaminsky, this would not be the only attack, but the only one he would be alive to start investigating.

 

Drew McLogan was on his way to see Kaminsky after being asked for some help with the case. But McLogan didn’t make it in time. However, Kaminsky was insistent that this was an unusual one, and spurred on by his previous profession in the press and the personal demons he is working through, McLogan throws himself into doing what he can.

 

But what should be a straightforward investigation is constantly interfered with by politics and religion and the idea that a person is more important than the process. McLogan has his work cut out with so much against him.

 

So perhaps he should begin with the mysterious letters E and R left at the scene…

 

The premise had me intrigued and I was keen to find out the why, who, and how. But the tale turned out to be the backstories behind it and the characters, and why they do the things they do. The book deals with not only the murder itself, but a lot of personal issues like grief, working through abuse, and guilt. These gave the book an extra dimension but also detracted from the main case itself. By this I mean that there was a big side story going on with one of the victims and a lot of time was spent on this while almost nothing was spent on another victim.

 

If you were concentrating, you could figure out the murderer before the end by one action that is odd and I found that detracted as I was now just waiting for the confirmation at the end. And the one thing that was never explained was how the killer knew how to insert the scissors to keep the victim on the verge of death. I didn’t find the final confrontation plausible for the story either.

 

Happily, the style of writing flowed well, making it easy to read, with only a few small proofing errors.

 

While there was nothing wrong with the story, I felt too many tangents took control. Still an enjoyable read, however…

 

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery for the opportunity to review the book.

Glass Half Broken by Rachel Richards

Glass Half Broken is a psychological domestic thriller that deals with mental illness and its consequences on the person affected and those around them.

 

It’s fair to say Annie Bell has lived an interesting life. From her dad abandoning the family during a manic episode to her mom only being focused on what the world thinks of her to having friends who constantly disappear from her life. At least Zoey is a constant companion until the day Zoey decides to do something about Annie’s depression, setting in motion a chain of events that turns Annie’s already chaotic life upside down. Annie already has a tenuous grip on reality – will this push her over the edge?

 

This book had me divided and I still can’t work out which way I’m leaning towards. On the one hand, the author does a great job of highlighting deficiencies in the institutions meant to help people with mental illness as well as the plight of the homeless, but on the other hand, some of the “real” sections seemed highly implausible and the syrupy ending felt too much like a neatly gift-wrapped package with a big bow on it. Physically, the injuries that Annie constantly sustained healed remarkably quickly and there are a few “shock sections” that had me scratching my head as to their necessity.

 

The writing at times moves along at breakneck speed, with multiple events happening in a short space of time; then things slow down and I felt the author had done this to show how Annie’s mind works. However, in sections, it felt as though the author wanted to throw everything they could at Annie and I wanted to say: “Stop! Slow down to concentrate more on a specific scene so that the reader can feel everything about it!” Some grammar errors like mixing up dialogue and action tags and missing commas in vocative case also crept in, but otherwise, it was pretty clean.

 

What I was missing was the antagonist. I understand that Annie was her own worst enemy and technically she was the protagonist and antagonist, but I felt that this made the “thriller” part one-sided as there was never danger from someone else, just the unpredictability of Annie’s mind. It meant the story could only go one of two ways.

 

The author has worked hard on an interesting topic but just slightly missed the mark for me.

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery and the author for the opportunity to review the book.

Look Closer by Stephanie Rogers

Sarah is broke abut cannot resist a little more online shopping. After all, one can never have too many bags, right? And as for relationships, well, she wasn’t really looking, but how did she manage to snog Chris? He’s well fit and has girls throwing themselves at him, so why has he chosen her? Strange that her flatmate doesn’t like him, though. Then there is Adam. He wants to be more than a friend, but Sarah just doesn’t feel that way.

 

As Sarah decides to start a vlog and show off her baking talents with the world, she realises just how broke she is so has decided to make herself feel better she’ll do a little online shopping… but window shopping only. Put the items in her cart, look at them and wish for them, then delete the cart. But when the same items start showing up at her door as gifts, there is only one way a person could have known about them. She was hacked! After investigating further, she finds that her webcam has been hacked too, leaving her worried about the fact that her laptop is on and open at all times – including when she sleeps and undresses.

 

Thus begins a battle of wills – the perp to cover themselves and for Sarah to find out who did this. The problem is the perp has no issues getting rid of anything standing in the way of Sarah becoming his for life…

 

While you hear of cyberstalking, it’s very different reading it from the mind of the stalker and how they justify it. It’s scary to think that you have control over when your webcam is being used but there are those who are able to hack in and find out every detail of your life. Not just by watching you, but reading every keystroke you make.

 

The author has done a fantastic job of bringing a gripping thriller to life, with the right amount of suspense, romance, and psychological warfare to keep you glued throughout the book. The mark of a good book is feeling so engrossed in it that it’s like you are watching a pantomime and I kept wanting to yell “Look behind you!”

 

The only thing that detracted from the great style the book was written in was the missing comma in vocative case (comma before/after person being addressed in direct speech). This was inconsistent in its use.

 

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and admire how the pieces were put together and that the author explains the sequence of some of the hacking events to make it that much more believable.

Black Heart by Anna-Lou Weatherley

It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a suicide. But Detective Daniel Riley’s intuition says something is off. And his intuition is normally pretty good. Maybe it was the teddy bear on the bed that gave him a clue. Or perhaps, the lingering whiff of something feminine he got every now and then at the scene.

 

As clues come up and Daniel realises he is investigating a murder, he begins to miss Rachel more and more. Rachel was his fiancée who was killed in a motorbike accident and he has never got over her. No dating for him since then, as Rachel was the ONE.

 

Now he has decided to step his toe into the dating scene again, but it’s hard as everything reminds him of Rachel. Then another body pops up, staged similar to the first with another teddy bear. As Daniel figures out the bear connection, he realises time is not on his side. And as the pieces to the killer’s identity slot into place, he knows he too might be in danger.

 

This was a very interesting story that toes the line between psychopaths coming from nature or nurture, as well as how trauma and abuse can shape a person’s life. The characters are well-written and believable and the author has taken the time to connect the dots and go back and fill in the gaps. Sure there was a section where you had to just accept what happened, but the book worked very well overall. It would have been interesting to find out if there were more bodies along the line, seeing as the perp knew so much about poison dosage.

 

The style of writing was easy to read and allowed you to immerse yourself in the story. I had a few issues with punctuation though as beside small errors like missing quotation marks, the biggest thing that got to me was the lack of commas in vocative case (commas before/after the person being addressed in direct speech).

 

It was a thoroughly gripping read and I look forward to what Detective Riley is going to get up to next!

The Window by Angie Lee

The Window is a psychological/domestic thriller and is the first book of two but does not end in a cliffhanger.

 

Katherine Browne has it all. Well, from the outside she does. A gorgeous rich husband who will do anything for her, a son in college, and a daughter just entering the teens. And all she has to do every day is to be a housewife. A far cry from almost becoming a doctor. Now Katherine is not exactly bored, but something is missing and she can’t quite put her finger on it.

 

One day, after a sweaty yoga session, she begins undressing in front of her window, and to her horror, realises someone is watching her as he works in the garden next door. Someone very good looking. She hurriedly closes the curtains but the encounter stays in her mind. As she sees the stranger in the same place day after day, she finds that the tease of him having seen her gives her a thrill, and slowly but surely begins experimenting with different lingerie and poses for him. It’s not cheating after all as there is no contact and she doesn’t even know who he is, right?

 

However, when her son brings the stranger home as a new friend, Katherine knows a boundary has been crossed. And when the stranger starts texting and demanding more, she finds herself in a dangerous position. How far will he go to get what he wants?

 

I enjoyed this story because of the twist on the twist. There was a section in the middle where it got slow and Katherine got stuck on parading for this guy and all I wanted to do was scream at her and tell her what an idiot she was. Did she really think nothing would come of it? I liked how the author took you through different POVs and showed how perfect lives can be flawed.

 

It’s a quick and easy read where you root for a person all the way through and then suddenly get hit with a twist and change your mind quickly. Might be a bit of literary licence at the end, but hey, the world is a funny place…

Found You by Molly Black

Found You is an FBI thriller and is the beginning of a series, but can be read as a standalone.

 

Rylie has issues. Anger issues, relationships with other people issues, and partner issues. So when she (once again) does exactly what she wants to solve the case, her boss (a rather nasty piece of work that even with his connections should never have had the power he did) decides it’s time for her to lose her job. Luckily, someone above him sends Rylie into another area, where she is tasked to find a killer who is stringing victims up on marker posts on a long stretch of highway.

 

Rylie feels this is beneath her and the fact that they have assigned her a partner far too happy for his own good, adds to her frustration. However, as she starts uncovering clues, she realises they could be very close to catching the killer. But the bodies keep coming. Will Rylie put her issues away long enough to get her head in the game?

 

So, as the book starts with Rylie, being a top FBI agent, forgetting to charge her phone while on an important case and needing it, it set the scene for things to come. Rylie is a very unlikeable character, who is selfish, mouths off for no reason, acts immaturely and impetuously, and treats others badly. Even if she does solve cases in her own way, I don’t see how she would have been tolerated. Her partner was fun and her rudeness towards him unjustified.

 

I think a lot was missed by not going deeper into her partner’s history (he was a SEAL but nothing came of it), more about the killer (he seemed cut and paste from many other books and was an “explain reasons why just before being foiled”), and making certain things more plausible. Rylie doesn’t sleep for a few days, survives on coffee and doughnuts, and then in a dramatic scene at the end needs a great deal of physicality that would not have been available to her body. The figuring out of the markers and the numbers… hmm, very suspect. Even (if I remember correctly and I might not as I wasn’t prepared to go back and find it) the killer says that the reason people would open their doors for him is that he looks safe yet later he is described as having something wrong with his face. I think I’d already started skimming parts because things didn’t add up. Then at the end, after falling down a mine shaft and realising her “spine was twisted unnaturally” she manages to straighten it. What???

 

The book had potential; I just wish the author had made the story more coherent and the characters more believable.

She'll Never Tell by Maggie James

She’ll Never Tell is a psychological thriller about decisions that can rip a family apart.

 

Olivia’s mom Sonia has died, her body found on the banks of a river, and Olivia is trying to find solace in her downstairs neighbour Elena. Her father is in a home and can barely speak, and she and her husband are having some time apart as Olivia suspects him of cheating. Surely nothing more can happen in her life?

 

Well, Olivia finds out that there is no way Sonia could have been her mom, as her post mortem reveals she’d never had a child. Wanting to turn to Elena for comfort, Olivia realises Elena has moved away without telling anyone she is going. Olivia decides to take it upon herself to find out the truth about her parentage, and this opens avenues that will solve many mysteries but also create more, and could very well lead to her own demise too.

 

 

I didn’t connect with this book as much as other reviewers did. It’s not to say that the book is not written well, I just felt that the acceptance of what a mother would do to protect their child was not okay. Very early on in the book you can figure out who the mother is, and I felt that every familial revelation bar one after that was not a surprise. The characters are difficult to like, which is correct for the story, but it made justifying actions difficult. I guess it came across more of “I” and what is best for me (even though the story is geared towards what is best for others).

 

Some things like the lack of hard section breaks were distracting, and I found it odd that the searches for family ties were so quick and easy. I also got annoyed with characters telling other characters that they had to see them to be able to explain certain things. While nothing inherently wrong with the book, I didn’t feel it as much as others did so won’t write too much on it.

Forget Me Not by Kristen Middleton

Forget Me Not is a crime thriller and the first in a series.

 

Amanda’s ex-husband has died and left her everything. Considering they hadn’t seen each other in years, this is a strange occurrence, but Amanda takes her son, Kevin, and off they head to Summit Lake where the house Brad has left her still stands. Summit Lake is where Amanda grew up and her mom and stepfather live there, so it’ll be a good getaway for her, Kevin, and their dog, Lacey.

 

Not too long after arriving, Amanda starts receiving threatening letters and gifts meant to create fear. With no other leads, the police are unable to help. When the threats turn physical, Amanda knows she needs to figure out what’s going on by herself or she could end up dead. And when a startling revelation about her ex surfaces, more questions open up. But without answers for them…

 

The book started with a hook, and as it moved on, I thought this was a great idea. It could have been the whole way through too if it wasn’t for some things in the story that didn’t gel. There seemed to be a lot of info that the author wanted the reader to know (which you would expect would add to the story/character and move it forward) but that turned out to be info not needed. Like a lot of backstory that didn’t assist with the outcome or in specific circumstances.

 

Some of the physical feats were pretty impressive, even if pretty improbable, and as soon as an animal is hurt in a story, that gets my back up. I didn’t understand the need to get the garage sale going so quickly, how a recovering alcoholic was given a wine cooler to drink, why Amanda would dive into situations where it was obvious what was going to happen, and that one can just contact Russian gangsters that are to be found on Google.

 

*spoiler alert ahead and attacker mentioned*

And what I found very strange was why the killer waited so long to exact the revenge. For someone who was able to show up at the precise moment needed for so many attacks and get into so many places without being seen (after having stalked Amanda), he seemed remarkably clueless on what had happened before especially with Kevin’s dad. Plus considering the fact that he had a wife just about to give birth and she was with him all the time, how was he able to leave the house to attack Amanda at the times he did? There were far too many coincidences and he was such a small character in the story to suddenly be the killer.

 

I’m really disappointed as I felt sure this was going to be a great read, but I was let down by the story as well as errors in the book and quantification of speech (he said/she said is not necessary every single time). The ending also felt very rushed and I closed the book with no real feeling of resolution.

Run For Your Life by CM Sutter

 Run For Your Life is the first in a police procedural series starring homicide detective Mitch Cannon.

 

Mitch and his partner Devon Rue are busy. There has been a spate of shootings, but no one seems to have any info for them. So Mitch is looking forward to having a date with Liza and just being able to take his mind off the murders. Liza turns out to be a bit odd though, but Mitch is roped into agreeing to go to a silent auction with her a few days later.

 

These plans are abruptly put on hold though when Mitch’s sister Marie goes missing, and it looks like she has been kidnapped. As Mitch is helping the investigating team with the case, Devon agrees to go to the auction with Liza in Mitch’s place, and both Devon and Liza then also go missing.

 

With the kidnapper calling Mitch and saying “ticktock, ticktock”, Mitch knows time is running out. But with no solid evidence or real clues, where does he start?

 

I really wanted to enjoy this book as the writing started off well and the blurb sounded interesting. But no. It was not what I expected. *Spoilers ahead*

The twist was not a twist and you could see it coming from quite early on, the way that the “bad guys” explained the reasons behind the kidnappings to each other in a conversation (that each already knew) was a massive info dump, and the fact that the dog (a puppy) in the story basically gets left alone in the house without self-filling food/water bowls and no way of going out while Mitch is out for hours just didn’t do it for me. Even when Marie is recovering and Mitch wants her to try hypnosis to help find Devon she isn’t keen as she doesn’t believe in it and is afraid the hypnotist will make her do something funny. Surely she’d do anything she could to help? Devon did save her life, after all.

 

I did read the book in one sitting as I wanted to see how it would end, and I applaud that the book was well proofed. The writing is good, but there is a lot of telling and not showing and what irked me was the lack of section breaks. A day or location would go into the next right on the next line and there was no point in which to take a breath.

 

I thought the ending was not believable and even though I’ll give this three stars for an average book, I won’t be reading any more of the series.

Here After by Sean Costello

 Here After is a crime thriller with a supernatural leaning and covers the deepest emotions of family loss.

 

Peter Croft is holding his dying son in the hospital, ready to join him in the afterlife as soon as it happens to make sure he is okay. But as Peter moves with David to the next plane, he has a vision about David and is brought back by a medical team. Once fully recovered, but enraged at the failure, he leaves the hospital and notices a particular picture on the Missing Children board. Why he is drawn to this picture he doesn’t know, but something in him pulls him and he feels compelled to try to find the missing boy.

 

When Peter comes to his senses and realises he is no private investigator, he knows he needs to deal with David’s death and joins a bereavement group. He is already no stranger to family loss with the passing of his wife. Here he meets Roger, whose son Jason went missing three years prior. He and Roger become good friends and one night, while at Roger’s house, he realises he has seen Jason’s room before – in his death vision.

 

This leads to a time-sensitive mystery to solve; one where the missing children may have a connection. Peter starts getting help from a supernatural source, but with just a hypothesis and no actual evidence, who will believe him?

 

This book really gripped me from the beginning. With the opening section about David dying and Peter wanting to go with him, I was curious as to how this was going to work if he was dead. Then, as we move through his grief, the author has managed to convey the depths of his despair and, as you read, you can feel his overwhelming ache and the desperation he feels.

 

I loved the supernatural twist and the “is he going crazy” possibility. I didn’t even care if the *spoiler ahead* physicality of staying alive without consistent food or water was feasible. The fact that Peter was willing to go to extreme lengths or try new ideas about things made the story real. And all his flaws just added to layers the author managed to give him.

 

Roger was another well-written character, as he often said or did things that were completely wrong, but understanding his grief and how he must have tried to cope through the years explained a lot. The ending of the book was a punch in the gut, but it was exactly the right way to end the story.

 

I wasn’t planning on reading the entire story in one fell swoop, but every time I put it down, I’d pick it up again and say just one more chapter. Well, that went on until the story was done. And the fact that it was almost error free added to the enjoyment. The author has a wonderful style of writing and I’ll definitely be reading more!