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…