Tag Archives: mystery

Book Title:
Stolen Tongues
Book Author:
Felix Blackwell
Page Count:
320
Publishing Date:
January 1st, 2017
Date Read:
June 25th, 2023
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A romantic cabin getaway doesn’t go exactly as planned. High up on the windswept cliffs of Pale Peak, Faye and Felix celebrate their new engagement. But soon, a chorus of ghastly noises erupts from the nearby the screams of animals, the cries of children, and the mad babble of a hundred mournful voices. A dark figure looms near the windows in the dead of night, whispering to Faye. As the weather turns deadly, Felix discovers that his terrified fiancée isn’t just mumbling in her sleep – she’s whispering back. Originally a contest-winning story on reddit.com’s horror community NoSleep, Stolen Tongues has received widespread acclaim and has been optioned for film.

My Review

Stolen Tongues was not what I was expecting. To be honest, I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I have seen this book around and it has gotten a lot of glowing reviews among those who enjoy the horror … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
Girl on the Run
Book Author:
Abigail Johnson
Book Series:
Underlined Paperbacks
Page Count:
272
Publishing Date:
October 6th, 2020
Publisher:
Underlined
Date Read:
July 8th, 2022
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

A fast-paced original paperback thriller about a girl who discovers that her mother might not be who she says she is . . . and now someone is hunting them both.

Katelyn wants the best for her widowed mom. Surprising her with an online dating profile seems like a good idea.

It isn't. Katelyn's mom hasn't just been acting overprotective all these years--she's been hiding something. And now that anyone can find them online, Katelyn is in a desperate race against time to uncover the secrets of the past--not only her mom's, but also her own.

As Katelyn's world unravels, she begins to trust the guy who brought this nightmare to her door and to doubt the one person she never thought she would. Because her mom has been hiding for a reason: she's been waiting.

My Review

When it comes to fast paced thrillers, especially those about the main character trying to escape or cover up a dark past, there are a lot of them out there for you to choose from. The list narrows a bit … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
The Blackstone Chronicles
Book Author:
John Saul
Book Series:
The Blackstone Chronicles, #1-6
Page Count:
542
Publishing Date:
February 10th, 1998
Publisher:
Ballantine Books
Date Read:
March 8th, 2022
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Borrowed

Synopsis

Now, for the first time, the New York Times bestselling serial thriller is complete in one terrifying volume. John Saul, the master of supernatural suspense, John Saul, brings to chilling life the small New England town of Blackstone--and the secrets and sins that lay buried there. . . .

From atop Blackstone's highest hill, the old Asylum casts its shadow over the village. Built in the 1890s to house the insane, the Asylum has stood vacant for decades. But now, the wrecker's ball is about to strike--and unleash an ominous evil. Strange gifts begin to appear on the doorsteps of Blackstone's finest citizens.

Each bears a mysterious history.

Each brings a horrifying power to harm.

Each reveals another thread in the suspensefully woven web of . . .

THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES

Part I--An Eye for an Eye: The Doll

Part II--Twist of Fate: The Locket

Part III--Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame

Part IV--In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief

Part V--Day of Reckoning: The Stereoscope

Part VI--Asylum

My Review

Until recently, I didn’t even know that this series came together in one book. My mom bought the series as it was released, one each month, back in 1997. So I have the original books, which apparently aren’t in print … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
What Big Teeth
Book Author:
Rose Szabo
Page Count:
394
Publishing Date:
February 2nd, 2021
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Date Read:
December 20th, 2021
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Rose Szabo's thrilling debut is a dark and thrilling novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement.

Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together — in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.

My Review

I started reading this book when I was in a reading slump, and because of that it took me a good amount of time to finish it. We’re talking like a month. Which is completely unlike me, but it wasn’t … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Come Closer
Book Author:
Sara Gran
Page Count:
196
Publishing Date:
July 1st, 2003
Publisher:
Soho Press
Date Read:
March 1st, 2022
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

A recurrent, unidentifiable noise in her apartment. A memo to her boss that's replaced by obscene insults. Amanda—a successful architect in a happy marriage—finds her life going off kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she's doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea.

The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?

My Review

“What we think is impossible happens all the time.” Come Closer by Sara Gran is one of those books that I took a chance on – it sounded interesting and it was available to read for free on Prime Reading, … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
The Patient
Book Author:
Jasper DeWitt
Page Count:
224
Publishing Date:
July 7th 2020
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date Read:
November 28th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

The Silent Patient by way of Stephen King: Parker, a young, overconfident psychiatrist new to his job at a mental asylum, miscalculates catastrophically when he undertakes curing a mysterious and profoundly dangerous patient.

In a series of online posts, Parker H., a young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England. Through this internet message board, Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient.

We learn, as Parker did on his first day at the hospital, of the facility’s most difficult, profoundly dangerous case—a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at age six. This patient has no known diagnosis. His symptoms seem to evolve over time. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.

Desperate and fearful, the hospital’s directors keep him strictly confined and allow minimal contact with staff for their own safety, convinced that releasing him would unleash catastrophe on the outside world. Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes it upon himself to discover what ails this mystery patient and finally cure him. But from his first encounter with the mystery patient, things spiral out of control, and, facing a possibility beyond his wildest imaginings, Parker is forced to question everything he thought he knew.

Fans of Sarah Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes and Paul Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World will be riveted by Jasper DeWitt’s astonishing debut.

My Review

My gosh it has been a long time since I’ve written a book review! I have been reading, I just…have been really lazy and haven’t reviewed any books in a while. Not sure why, honestly – I think about how … Continue reading

3.5 stars
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Book Title:
Let Her Be
Book Author:
Lisa Unger
Book Series:
Hush, #6
Page Count:
59
Publishing Date:
July 30th, 2020
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
March 5th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A writer’s misguided suspicions ruined his life once before. This time he plans to prove he’s right in a New York Times bestselling author’s haunting short story of what happens when seeing is not believing.

Will, an aspiring novelist, can’t stop parsing his ex-girlfriend’s popular social media accounts for clues that her ideal new rural life with the perfect man has a dark side. After all, nobody he knows has actually seen the blissful blogger in the flesh for nearly a year. When Will draws a wary friend into his “investigation,” the real question becomes who’s truly in danger.

Lisa Unger’s Let Her Be is part of Hush, a collection of six stories, ranging from political mysteries to psychological thrillers, in which deception can be a matter of life and death. Each piece can be read or listened to in one truly chilling sitting.

My Review

Let Her Be, the sixth and final short story in the Hush collection from Amazon Original Stories, is one of the best in the collection. Written by Lisa Unger, it is the second short story in one of these collections that … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
The Gift
Book Author:
Alison Gaylin
Book Series:
Hush, #5
Page Count:
28
Publishing Date:
July 30th, 2020
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
March 3rd, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

What’s a desperate mother to do when her child suddenly disappears? Anything it takes to keep the family together in USA Today bestselling author Alison Gaylin’s short story with a sting.

It’s dreaded news for actress Lyla McCord and her husband, Nolan. Their eight-year-old daughter has vanished. To find her, Nolan reaches out to a psychic gifted with uncanny visions about the lost girl. But Lyla thinks she sees right through him. Is he a con artist or the real thing? Either way, he might be telling the truth. And that’s too frightening for Lyla to bear.

Alison Gaylin’s The Gift is part of Hush, a collection of six stories, ranging from political mysteries to psychological thrillers, in which deception can be a matter of life and death. Each piece can be read or listened to in one truly chilling sitting.

My Review

The Gift is the fifth short story in the Amazon Original Stories Hush collection, which features short mysteries and thrillers that are designed to keep you on the edge of your seat while you read through each installment in one … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Buried
Book Author:
Jeffery Deaver
Book Series:
Hush, #4
Page Count:
80
Publishing Date:
July 30th, 2020
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
March 3rd, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

An old-school reporter discovers that the search for the truth is still full of surprises in a twisty short thriller from bestselling master of suspense Jeffery Deaver.

After a long run as a respected journalist, Edward “Fitz” Fitzhugh is on his way out when he stumbles across the story of a lifetime. The Gravedigger is a serial kidnapper who taunts the police with riddles. The other puzzle is his motive, which Fitz is determined to piece together. When an eyewitness to the latest abduction leads Fitz closer to the facts, he realizes that the last great story of his career is not at all what it appears to be.

Jeffery Deaver’s Buried is part of Hush, a collection of six stories, ranging from political mysteries to psychological thrillers, in which deception can be a matter of life and death. Each piece can be read or listened to in one truly chilling sitting.

My Review

Once again, I have gotten the chance to read an author that I have never read before thanks to the short stories in Hush, a collection of thrillers and mysteries from Amazon Original Stories. This is the fourth book in … Continue reading

3 stars
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Book Title:
Slow Burner
Book Author:
Laura Lippman
Book Series:
Hush, #3
Page Count:
33
Publishing Date:
July 30th, 2020
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
March 2nd, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A woman watches her marriage implode over text message and decides that ignorance is not bliss in this bitterly satisfying short mystery by the New York Times bestselling author of Lady in the Lake.

Liz Kelsey promised herself she’d never again spy on her feckless husband, Phil. But then she discovers a string of suggestive texts on his secret burner phone. Even worse, he’s flirting with the woman who shook their unstable marriage once before. But knowledge is power. What’s more dangerous—what Liz knows or what Phil doesn’t know?

Laura Lippman’s Slow Burner is part ofHush, a collection of six stories, ranging from political mysteries to psychological thrillers, in which deception can be a matter of life and death. Each piece can be read or listened to in one truly chilling sitting.

My Review

Slow Burner, the third book in the Hush short story collection from Amazon Original Stories, was such as deliciously wicked thriller that I absolutely enjoyed so much – in fact, I think it was one of the best short stories … Continue reading

4.5 stars
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