Sleep by MK Boers

Description from Amazon:

A marriage made in heaven, a murder made in hell.

Why kill the man you love?

A whydunnit rather than a whodunnit, Sleep follows a woman on trial for killing her husband and his lover. Was it premeditated, a crime of passion, or a moment of madness? Told through a series of flashbacks and testimony, the struggles that Lizzy Dyson faced are revealed.

A suspense-filled psychological thriller, domestic noir, and courtroom drama. Sleep is a story about heartbreak and betrayal, and reveals what can drive a woman to murder.

 

Plenty to love in this and plenty to be iffy about too. I thought the story was very well done and going into the understanding of why Lizzy did what she did made you really wonder what kind of place she was in to feel like that. How far a person had to be pushed to do what she did. Don’t get me wrong – she still committed murder and did some dodgy actions herself, but it is interesting to see exactly where the breaking point was. It makes you question what you would do if everyone around you was laughing at you knowing your husband was sleeping around and telling you to “get over” five miscarriages.

 

The things that were iffy were, first, the grammar and punctuation mistakes. Gosh, but they were off-putting. Nothing like interrupting the flow of reading when things jump out at you. Then, as other reviewers mentioned, a lot of conversations were repeated and you ended up skipping over sections. The court proceedings could have used a bit of an overhaul too.

 

But overall I enjoyed the story as it was a different take on a woman who knows she is guilty and how she got there. I guess the title had to do with her being asleep her whole life and only waking up when she is finally ready to face the truth.

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Description from Amazon:

Frances Adams always said she’d be murdered. She was right.

In 1965, Frances Adams is at an English country fair where a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. It is a prediction that sparks her life’s work—trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet.

Nearly sixty years later, Annie Adams is summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is found murdered, just like she always said she would be. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder.

Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer? As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

 

So this started off as a rollicking good detective mystery, and I loved the time changes where we got to see Frances’s diary and the events of 1966 as well as the shift to present times. The fact that some of the characters were still around and how their personalities had stayed the same or changed made for a good competition to solve the murder.

 

But then the characters and their places in the story started feeling weird. Like they had been written into spots just for their name to appear so that you, as the reader, think to link them to that section. Some were downright silly and some tried to appear all-knowing yet contributed nothing. So here you have Annie, a wannabe writer, who is somehow able to contribute more to the case than the cops themselves. And, amazingly enough, is able to find the murder weapon the cops missed and removes it from the crime scene to hand it in even though it could do the same to her?

 

The story behind the story alongside the story just became too much. Like someone had taken different puzzles and forced them into each other trying to make it fit as a pretty picture. When I got to the end, I went back to see if pages had been torn out. All of that for that ending? It was a big buildup about what Annie was going to do and then in two pages it was done. With holes in things that were huge and tangents flying wildly in the breeze. So much that was forced together just to say it was done. I almost feel cheated as I really expected something that could rival Knives Out or one of the Murder Club Mysteries… but no… (Edited to add that I wish the author had punctuated direct speech properly, too! Commas before the person being addressed is a must and the missing ones made me cringe every single time!)

Take it Back by Kia Abdullah

Description taken from Amazon:

IT’S TIME TO TAKE YOUR PLACE ON THE JURY.

The victim: A sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, neglected by an alcoholic mother. Who accuses the boys of something unthinkable.

The defendants: Four handsome teenage boys from hardworking immigrant families. All with corroborating stories.

WHOSE SIDE WOULD YOU TAKE?

 

I love a good legal thriller, and this one definitely hit a lot of areas, ranging from alcoholism, gender inequality, rape, religion, the media, and the judicial system.

Zara Kaleel makes for a good main character in that she has a very deep sense of justice and is focused on doing what is right, no matter how others perceive her. Her journey, both in the legal and familial sense, shows her desire to help and the lengths she will go to do this. When she is approached by Jodie, a white girl with facial deformities, who admits to her that she was raped after a party by four Muslim boys in her school, she wants justice for Jodie, not knowing the twists and turns she will be facing on her path.

Thereafter starts a she said/he said journey where Zara’s desire to prove Jodie’s story lands her in a world of hate from her own community while Jodie suffers the hostility of a hate campaign from both her mother and best friend. This moves out in waves through broader communities where religion and race take centre stage. As a reader you move back and forth between believing Jodie or not as each piece of evidence comes forward, and you find yourself disgusted by the lies and manipulation.

The depth of the hatred was vivid and made for a harrowing read. So when the end arrives, you aren’t quite sure what to expect. And even after that… well, you’ll have to read it!

Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Description taken from amazon blurb:

Always apprehensive about working fire scenes, Tempe is called to Washington, DC, to analyze the victims of a deadly blaze. The devastated building is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and when Tempe delves into the property’s history, she becomes suspicious about the ownership.

The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the 1930s and ’40s the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. While interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his home in an affluent part of the district. Coincidence? Targeted attack? So many questions.

As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another fire claims one more victim, and slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin pointing to the obvious. But her moves since coming to Washington have been anticipated—and every path forward seems to bring with it a lethal threat.

 

This was my first Kathy Reichs novel and I saw a lot of reviews saying this was not her best. Based on what I read, I don’t think I’d deliberately go out to look for another. I’d probably only read one if I had nothing else to read (and who has that?). There was nothing inherently wrong with it. In fact, the way she finishes off chapters definitely makes you want to read one more and then one more. I guess it was the explanation of every acronym/abbreviation or technical term (even though it’s woven into thoughts or speech) and maybe just too much info. I didn’t connect with the story and never felt invested in finding out who actually did it. When it started and the girl was on the phone with 911, I felt there was going to be something great behind this, but as it went on and the history was looked at over and over, it just felt like it went on for too long. I started jumping sections and I didn’t even really read the epilogue.

 

I never connected with any of the characters, either. Not sure if it’s because I came in late in the series, or if they didn’t make a mark on me. From the detectives to the boyfriend to the telejournalist or to the MC. As for the twins – really?

 

I was looking forward to the forensic parts of the book but even those felt forced. The solution to the whole thing was odd. And the twist? Well, you could see that coming a mile away. Nope, very sad to say this was not for me.

The Grave Artist by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado

Grief is what drives him. Grief felt by the relatives and friends of the victims. So Homeland Security Investigations agent Carmen Sanchez and her partner, security expert Jake Heron, find out when the suspect dubbed the Honeymoon Killer strikes again. Not killing for the sake of it, but to feed off those left behind after a bride or groom is killed on the wedding day.

 

Their search takes them between continents, but as more sides to this seemingly clearcut puzzle appear, it seems they might be the ones taken down next. Add in office politics and family members who have their own agenda based on a suicide that may just be murder, well… it’s going to be a ride.

 

I did not read the first book in the series (darn timing was just out!) but it wasn’t 100% necessary in order to understand the backstory here. It would have helped with the familial connections and understanding the Intrusions Investigations as well as a previous nefarious tech character, but otherwise it’s a pretty solid thriller.

 

Lots of twists and turns, the pacing was smooth, and the romantic connection moved the story forward. The things that I didn’t like were the fact that every character had to have some story in the bigger picture – it seemed no one was just a side character – and the fact that sometimes there were too many bows that tied things up. You got fed an idea that something bad would happen or someone would die. But… The fact that you got to know the killer upfront and the reasons behind some behaviour was a good lead in, and the teaser about the blades was intriguing. Then the killer’s romantic connection and the killer going after the killer… too many storylines. The Italian side felt a little added in without being fleshed out and sometimes I got too many Rhyme vibes off this.

 

But in the end, a good thriller, well written, with a bit for everyone, I suppose!

The Way (Book#1) by Mary E. Twomey

The world is divided into three continents and people into blood types where A-class are the workers in The Way. A place where labour is what counts and where you are eliminated once life expectancy has been reached. On the opposite side are the B-bloods – the Vemreaux - who are granted extra life years after being dipped in the Fountain but then need O-blood to keep them going. The B-bloods are being killed by something called the Predator, but there is a prophecy that someone called “The Light” will be the one to bring it down.

 

Blue Anders and her brothers, Baird and Griffin, work in The Way and Blue has a secret. She has a destiny to fulfil and Baird is going to make sure she succeeds no matter what. No matter how much brutal physical training he puts her through. No matter how much mental anguish he heaps on her. No matter how much love he withholds from her. When Baird and Blue are bought and manage to leave The Way, they come across some influential people who may be able to help them in their quest. But since this might mean a profound death, will it solve the problem?

 

This idea was something I’d not come across before and the way Baird treated Blue in a place I couldn’t quite get my head around drew me in to try to understand why. This then led to wanting to know more about the prophecy, so I soldiered on. The POV jumps didn’t really bother me, and yes, this is definitely YA because some of the characters were so stereotypical it was laughable. Yet when I really looked at how Liam, for example, spoke and viewed the world, it was through the lens of royalty and showed how out of touch he really was.

 

The book is longish and many places feel drawn out and rather a setup for later things. I kept looking at the pages left and thinking that there would be some sort of climax even if it did lead into the next one but when the end came all too quickly, it was as though the whole first book just got Blue ready to head off. While that in itself is not a bad thing, it leaves me feeling like the idea was unfilled and something needed to be “finished” in this book.

 

Many of the characters I “got”. I understood their motivations and frustrations. Apart from Grettel. And don’t say she came into herself when Stephanie allowed her to see the possibilities. Nope. Just a crier who I was getting so annoyed at reading when the tears rolled down her cheeks or sat on her eyelashes or whatever. As for Blue being able to get around and waitress with “a curtain of hair covering her face as she looked down subserviently at her feet”. Hmm.

 

The book had some proofing issues but nothing that was too jarring. The biggest thing was probably questions left open. Not necessarily about the lead into the next book, but the bits of info missing like other blood types, or more about WW3. And I want to know what goes into Baird’s drinks to make them so successful.

 

It’s a good book with an intriguing premise and the cover on Amazon is beautiful. I’d recommend it just because of Blue’s journey and the fact that she is able to be a badass while still embracing her vulnerability. I do want to find out what happens to her!

Death of a Ghostwriter by Gaynor Torrance

Death of a Ghostwriter is a cosy mystery set in the fictional village of Monksworthy.

 

Sylvie is a happy wife and loves her job running the local tea room surrounded by the most scrumptious pastries day after day. When her husband, Albert, leaves on one of his working weeks, she kisses him goodbye and wishes him a safe trip. But Albert doesn’t make it to his destination. Not long after he leaves, he is involved in a fatal car accident. And when Sylvie arrives at the mortuary to identify the body, her world is thrown into turmoil when she finds out that two other women are claiming Albert as their husband. Then the police reveal that it looks as though Albert’s brakes were tampered with. The plot thickens!

 

The premise sounded great and the idea of the wives all finding out about each other and the possibility of murder made for a story I wanted to dive into. The subtle clues about the ending are only hinted at in the beginning, which is good. The story starts off quickly and straight away you want to find out why it happened and who these other women are. But the pace slacks off and you find yourself having to read for the sake of reading to get to the next book.

 

The style is very light but tended towards being too much in places. And by that I mean it felt forced and as though the scene was pushed at you rather than you being in the scene. Some conversations felt unnecessary and for sixty-something year olds they tended to speak a lot younger and a lot more energetically (if you can imagine a bunch of girls squealing and gushing over something). There was a lot of eating and drinking involved in this too for some reason.

 

Now, while I understand that a cosy mystery has the characters investigating, it seemed the police did very little in this and that the ladies were able to find out far too much by themselves. That they could get in touch with “all” the people of a certain money class seemed a stretch too. And since the title had ghostwriter in it, there was actually very little to do with this. It felt like a missed opportunity for a subplot. And then the ending. All of that and it was over so quickly? I don’t mind a build-up but to just have action, action, action and then “cut”? Left me wanting more.

 

It’s a good book but not enough that I’d read it again. If you need a rainy day afternoon read then this is for you.

 

Thanks to NetGalley, Joffe Books, and the author for the opportunity to review the book.