Tag Archives: suspense

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:
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:
Malorie
Book Author:
Josh Malerman
Book Series:
Bird Box, #2
Page Count:
301
Publishing Date:
July 21st, 2020
Publisher:
Del Rey
Date Read:
October 4th, 2020
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence.

There remains no explanation. No solution.

All Malorie can do is survive—and impart her fierce will to do so on her children. Don’t get lazy, she tells them. Don’t take off your blindfold. AND DON’T LOOK.

But then comes what feels like impossible news. And with it, the first time Malorie has allowed herself to hope.

Someone very dear to her, someone she believed dead, may be alive.

Malorie has already lost so much: her sister, a house full of people who meant everything, and any chance at an ordinary life. But getting her life back means returning to a world full of unknowable horrors—and risking the lives of her children again.

Because the creatures are not the only thing Malorie fears: There are the people who claim to have caught and experimented on the creatures. Murmerings of monstrous inventions and dangerous new ideas. And rumors that the creatures themselves have changed into something even more frightening.

Malorie has a harrowing choice to make: to live by the rules of survival that have served her so well, or to venture into the darkness and reach for hope once more.

My Review

In the aftermath of a world shattered by unseen horrors, a lone figure stands firm: Malorie. Twelve years since she led her children blindfolded to safety, the fragile line between sanity and chaos endures, bound by the fabric of a … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Phantom Limb
Book Author:
Lucinda Berry
Page Count:
260
Publishing Date:
July 10th, 2017
Publisher:
Kindle Press
Date Read:
February 27th, 2020
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

Emily and Elizabeth spend their childhood locked in a bedroom and terrorized by a mother who drinks too much and disappears for days. The identical twins are rescued by a family determined to be their saviors.

But there’s some horrors love can’t erase…

Elizabeth wakes in a hospital, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak. The last thing she remembers is finding Emily’s body in their bathroom. Days before, she was falling in love and starting college. Now, she’s surrounded by men who talk to themselves and women who pull out their eyebrows.

As she delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Emily’s death, she discovers shocking secrets and holes in her memory that force her to remember what she’s worked so hard to forget—the beatings, the blood, the special friends. Her life spins out of control at a terrifying speed as she desperately tries to unravel the psychological puzzle of her past before it’s too late.

My Review

Okay, I had never read anything by this author before this, and I seriously didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. This is definitely the best book I’ve read so far in 2020. In fact, this … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
The Marriage Lie
Book Author:
Kimberly Belle
Page Count:
334
Publishing Date:
December 27th, 2016
Publisher:
MIRA
Date Read:
January 26th, 2020
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Library

Synopsis

Even the perfect marriage has its dark side…

Iris and Will's marriage is as close to perfect as it can be: a large house in a nice Atlanta neighborhood, rewarding careers and the excitement of trying for their first baby. But on the morning Will leaves for a business trip to Orlando, Iris's happy world comes to an abrupt halt. Another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board, and according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers on this plane.

Grief-stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding. But as time passes and there is still no sign of Will, she reluctantly accepts that he is gone. Still, Iris needs answers. Why did Will lie about where he was going? What is in Seattle? And what else has he lied about? As Iris sets off on a desperate quest to find out what her husband was keeping from her, the answers she receives will shock her to her very core.

My Review

The Marriage Lie is another one of those thrillers that I have wanted to read for some time now, and I was lucky enough to find a copy at my local library, so I picked it up there. I had … Continue reading

3 stars
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Book Title:
The Party
Book Author:
Robyn Harding
Page Count:
352
Publishing Date:
June 6th, 2017
Publisher:
Gallery/Scout Press
Date Read:
January 18th, 2020
Format:
Paperback
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

In this stunning and provocative domestic drama about a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, a wealthy family in San Francisco finds their picture-perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed, and their friends turned to enemies.

One invitation. A lifetime of regrets.

Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming of age, a milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong?

But things do go wrong, horrifically so. After a tragic accident occurs, Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies, dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and the truth about their perfect daughter, Hannah, is exposed.

Harkening to Herman Koch’s The Dinner, Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap, and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, The Party takes us behind the façade of the picture-perfect family, exposing the lies, betrayals, and moral lapses that neighbors don’t see—and the secrets that children and parents keep from themselves and each other.

My Review

The Party was one of those books that I wanted to read for ages, but have pretty much forgotten about it over and over again. I’d see it in the store, or online as a recommended book, but I never … Continue reading

4.5 stars
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Book Title:
When the Lights Go Out
Book Author:
Mary Kubica
Page Count:
332
Publishing Date:
September 4th 2018
Publisher:
Park Row
Date Read:
January 13th, 2020
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Library

Synopsis

A woman is forced to question her own identity in this riveting and emotionally charged thriller by the blockbuster bestselling author of The Good Girl, Mary Kubica.

Jessie Sloane is on the path to rebuilding her life after years of caring for her ailing mother. She rents a new apartment and applies for college. But when the college informs her that her social security number has raised a red flag, Jessie discovers a shocking detail that causes her to doubt everything she’s ever known.

Finding herself suddenly at the center of a bizarre mystery, Jessie tumbles down a rabbit hole, which is only exacerbated by grief and a relentless lack of sleep. As days pass and the insomnia worsens, it plays with Jessie’s mind. Her judgment is blurred, her thoughts are hampered by fatigue. Jessie begins to see things until she can no longer tell the difference between what’s real and what she’s only imagined.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier and two hundred and fifty miles away, another woman’s split-second decision may hold the key to Jessie’s secret past. Has Jessie’s whole life been a lie or have her delusions gotten the best of her?

My Review

…What did I just read? I’m absolutely baffled by this book, blown away by the huge twist at the end. I don’t mean it in a bad way, either – I’m just so…wow. Just when I think thrillers can no … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Then She Was Gone
Book Author:
Lisa Jewell
Page Count:
359
Publishing Date:
April 17th, 2018
Publisher:
Atria Books
Date Read:
January 6th, 2019
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Library

Synopsis

THEN

She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW

It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?

My Review

Then She Was Gone was one of the best books that I have ever read. It was one of the most terrifying tales of psychological suspense that I have read to date – as a mother, this book will for … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
Watching You
Book Author:
Lisa Jewell
Page Count:
320
Publishing Date:
December 26th, 2018
Publisher:
Atria Books
Date Read:
February 2nd, 2020
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Library

Synopsis

Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…

My Review

I’ve been reading a lot of Lisa Jewell books lately – it all started when I chose The Family Upstairs as my Book of the Month, and I’ve been excitedly going through her books, because I loved that one so … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
I Invited Her In
Book Author:
Adele Parks
Page Count:
432
Publishing Date:
February 15th, 2019
Publisher:
MIRA
Date Read:
October 10th, 2019
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Imagine the worst thing a friend could ever do.

This is worse.

When Mel receives an unexpected email from her oldest friend Abi, it brings back memories she thought she had buried forever. Their friendship belonged in the past. To those carefree days at university.

But Abi is in trouble and needs Mel’s help, and she wants a place to stay. Just for a few days, while she sorts things out. It’s the least Mel can do.

After all, friends look out for each other, don’t they?

I Invited Her In is a blistering tale of wanting what you can’t have, jealousy, and revenge from Sunday Times best-seller Adele Parks.

My Review

I don’t read a lot of books that aren’t young adult, but when I come across one that sounds amazing, I can’t not pick it up. That was the case for me with I Invited Her In by Adele Parks. … Continue reading

4 stars
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