Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin

Description from Amazon:

Long ago, Carl Feldman was acquitted of murder.

Now he’s an old man, living alone with his fading memories.

His daughter has come to see him, to take him on a trip.

Only she’s not his daughter, and if she has her way, he’s not coming back . . .

This woman is sure Carl’s a murderer, and that he’s killed others - including her sister Rachel.

And she will stop at nothing to find out the truth.

 

This description really caught my eye and I wondered how on earth she would get this right.

 

So after years of putting together clues, pictures, and making plans about finding out whether Carl killed her sister, our protagonist manages to convince the woman in charge of the halfway house Carl is at to let him out for a short road trip. Carl has dementia and has lost some of the use of one of his arms. She figures that on this road trip if she takes him to places where his other possible victims may be and align them with pictures from his photography book it may stir his memory and help him to reveal what happened to her sister. What is not said but implied is that Carl is not coming back.

 

The trip starts off well but you get the feeling that Carl’s faculties are not that confused and that his arm works better than he claims it does. He asks for a list of “must haves” on the trip and these begin to look suspiciously like tools one would use to murder and then bury the body.

 

The first couple of stops yield no clues even though she seems to be picking up more about Carl, but he also seems to be one step ahead of each decision she thinks she has made in advance. The trip meanders a bit and gets a bit boring but it’s interesting to see how she tried to bring the victims’ places together and how he justified his photos each time.

The ending kinda threw me. It’s one of those that comes out at you from left field where there were no clues sprinkled throughout to support it. There are plenty of action scenes and enough places where I wondered if the plan was futile and exactly who was not coming back.

 

Overall it was a good book and well written; it was just the ending that let it down.

Untouchable by Jeffery Deaver

Description from Amazon:

For Special Agent Constant Marlowe, a quiet college town hides a nest of malice and revenge in this twisty novella by New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver.

 

Special Agent Constant Marlowe is passing through the charming college town of Prescott, Illinois, when a chance encounter with a terrified student stops her in her tracks. Kathleen Delaine thought she was doing the right thing when she demanded an inquiry into traumatic brain injuries among the university’s football team. But after a manosphere shock jock picks up the story on his radio show and makes it personal, the online uproar bleeds into the real world. As Constant works to identify which of the host’s fanboys is threatening Kathleen, she discovers that behind the bullying campaign lies a vast and deadly conspiracy.

 

This is another quick read for Deaver, and even though Constant has popped up in previous novellas, this can be read as a standalone.

 

Constant is quite the spitfire and sometimes her ability to take down threats seems a little off the charts, like not calling for backup when in a dangerous situation but rather deciding to have a boxing match? After seeing Kathleen being harassed on the streets, she quickly intervenes even though Kathleen insists she doesn’t need help. But Kathleen’s good work in requesting an inquiry into brain injuries of football players seems to have been blown out of proportion when a caller named Sam phones in to Brad Phillip’s toxic “man show” to ridicule her and make her out to be some sort of easy lay. Constant now needs to find out who this Sam is and help Kathleen to get to the bottom of why this all started.

Brad’s character is written really well and gives you the icks immediately. He is slimy and judgemental and believes that his views are right no matter what and that women shouldn’t be offended by what he has to say because they should know their place.

There is another side plot to the story and initially it’s difficult to put them together, especially when a character enters whose motives are questionable.

Without giving any of the plot away, you can guess that Constant follows a rather unorthodox plan to try to solve it all.

I liked the fast pace of the novella and the idea behind the plot, but I found the ending rather rushed and didn’t really feel the connection that Constant’s love interest had to this book. It just seemed a bit easy and convenient. It’s one of those fabulous reads while you are in it, but besides the main plot I’m not sure if I’ll remember much else a week later.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to review this arc copy.

Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham

Description from Amazon:

A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Half-starved and filthy, she won’t tell anyone her name, or her age, or where she came from. Maybe she is twelve, maybe fifteen. She doesn’t appear in any missing persons file, and her DNA can’t be matched to an identity. Six years later, still unidentified, she is living in a secure children’s home with a new name, Evie Cormac. When she initiates a court case demanding the right to be released as an adult, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. But she is unlike anyone he’s ever met—fascinating and dangerous in equal measure. Evie knows when someone is lying, and no one around her is telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Cyrus is called in to investigate the shocking murder of a high school figure-skating champion, Jodie Sheehan, who died on a lonely footpath close to her home. Pretty and popular, Jodie is portrayed by everyone as the ultimate girl-next-door, but as Cyrus peels back the layers, a secret life emerges—one that Evie Cormac, the girl with no past, knows something about. A man haunted by his own tragic history, Cyrus is caught between the two cases—one girl who needs saving and another who needs justice. What price will he pay for the truth?

 

This was a great story! It does leave it open at the end to go into the next book, but this can still be read and enjoyed on its own.

Cyrus’s character was truly intriguing and the tattoos definitely need some explaining. Plus, we really need to find out more about the tragic murders in his childhood.

The fact that we were able to see things from Evie/Angel Face’s POV gave us a great insight into the change in her feelings throughout the book and helped us to see her growth. There are still questions we need answers to when it comes to her imprisonment, but the fact that she was able to share what she could was a huge leap for her.

There were many red herring routes offered and we were taken on a ride to see how Jodie’s case would all pan out.

The writing flowed really well and kept me hooked all the way through. Great descriptions, fascinating characters (Felix gave me the creeps), and a gripping story. I’m definitely going to find the second book asap.