Reviews

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NIGHTWATCHING by Tracy Sierra

Publisher’s Synopsis:

A mother is forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruder.

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise — old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.

She sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender.

In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is — and what he wants.

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication Date: February 6, 2024
Source: Borrowed from the Library
Rating: 3.5 Stars

My Thoughts:

NIGHTWATCHING is a nerve-wracking literary thriller about a mother and her two young children hiding from a man who’s invaded their home. There were parts of this book that were truly terrifying, and it’s something I would not want to read if I was home alone!

Overall, I’m left with mixed feelings. There were so many flashbacks that slowed the pace, and the main character’s ongoing inner monologue was a bit much. On the flip side, the home invasion parts were riveting.

The book highlights the ways women are gaslit by men not wanting to believe them, and all the men in this book were pretty awful. Even her 5-year old son was annoying. UGH! I ended up very frustrated with the main character several times, and maybe that was the point. The reader gets to feel the same frustration that she does. NIGHTWATCHING was good, but I didn’t love it.

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Blog Tour Review: MURDER ROAD by Simone St. James

Publisher’s Synopsis:

A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: March 5, 2024
Source: Review copy from NetGalley
Rating: 5 Stars

My Thoughts:

Eerie ghost story meets 90s nostalgia in MURDER ROAD, the latest gripping paranormal thriller from Simone St. James. I loved everything about it, and if you’re new to her spooky books, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend starting with this one.

It’s summer 1995, and a young honeymooning couple gets entangled in a paranormal murder mystery when they pick up a doomed hitchhiker along a deserted Michigan road. While police keep them in town for questioning, April and Eddie discover that road is known for a string of unsolved murders going back to the 1970s, and also the local legend of the Lost Girl. With some time to kill and a desire to clear their own names, they investigate the history of this haunted road on their own.

I enjoyed the complex mystery in this one, and the supernatural elements blended in perfectly for many chilling moments. The characters are what I loved most about this book. April was flawed from the emotional baggage of her past, yet so brave and clever in their current precarious situation. And then there’s Eddie — be still my heart. Even the secondary cast was well-rounded and compelling.

I’ve read MURDER ROAD twice because it is addictive, and I wanted to experience the creepy goodness again. The ominous atmosphere, the dark supernatural, the genuine characters, and the 90s make this an unputdownable read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC. Opinions are my own.

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MIDNIGHT by Amy McCulloch

Publisher’s Synopsis:

In this pulse-pounding thriller, a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Antarctica — to camp beneath the legendary midnight sun — becomes a desperate battle for survival against a killer determined to follow their prey to the ends of the earth.

THE SUN NEVER SETS AND THIS KILLER NEVER SLEEPS

Olivia Campbell has always dreamed of spending a sunlit night on the frigid Antarctic continent. But as an actuary who assesses risk for a living, she never imagined she would have the chance. So when her career takes an unexpected detour, and her boyfriend — a high-powered art dealer with a taste for the finer things in life — decides to stage an ostentatious, career-making auction on a luxury liner to Antarctica, Olivia is thrilled. That is, until things start to feel a bit strange. In addition to the scores of wealthy patrons and potential buyers, they’ll also be traveling alongside a small group of beleaguered employees of Pioneer Adventures — the company responsible for managing the ship — and their charismatic, divisive CEO.

When the first bodies are discovered, it’s easy enough for Olivia to write it off as a terrible accident. But as the situation heats up and the temperatures continue to plummet, she begins to wonder whether she might have booked a one-way ticket to her own demise.

Publisher: Doubleday Books
Publication Date: January 2, 2024
Source: Borrowed from the Library
Rating: 3.25 Stars

My Thoughts:

For me, this book’s strong point is the atmospheric setting. As an armchair traveler, the Antarctic cruise in MIDNIGHT was amazing. Sailing along with these characters as they cross the treacherous Drake Passage and camp on the frozen continent is about as close to Antarctica as I’ll get. What a ride!

The mystery within the pages was just ok, though there were enough twists and tense moments to keep me reading. Olivia was a frustrating main character. There were times when she would discover something seemingly important, but then fail to follow up with simple inquiries. The pacing was on the slow side, and probably a few too many characters to keep track of.

Though I’m left with mixed feelings about this book, the incredible sense of place the author created made me want to keep reading. I’m curious about her previous novel, BREATHLESS, another cold weather/harsh elements thriller.

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EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD by Jenny Hollander

Publisher’s Synopsis:

She has everything to live for — and everything to hide.

Nine years ago, with the world’s eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a “witness” to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve — events known to the public as “Scarlet Christmas” — though Charlie knows she was much more than that.

Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She’s the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie’s former classmates threatens to shatter everything she’s worked for, Charlie realizes how much she’s changed in nine years. Now, she’s not going to let anything — not even the people she once loved most — get in her way.

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: February 6, 2024
Source: Review copy from NetGalley
Rating: 3 Stars

My Thoughts:

With that title, how could I resist? It’s been nearly a decade since Charlie was the only witness to a horrific incident at her grad school known as “Scarlet Christmas.” Someone who was part of her friend group then wants to make a movie about the ordeal for its 10th anniversary, but that’s the last thing Charlie wants, since she’s unsure of what really happened. With the help of her therapist, she’s trying to bring those deeply buried memories to the surface.

The book started off strong, and the mystery and unreliable narrator had me intrigued for a while. What annoyed me was that it took forever to learn what Scarlet Christmas actually involved, other than it was a tragedy in Charlie’s past that she didn’t want revisited. I understand withholding some secrets, but after a while I started losing interest. There was a great twist at about halfway, but I feel like ultimately it didn’t go anywhere. The ending was a bit underwhelming given that it took so long to find out what actually happened. Overall, this was an ok read, but I felt like it was missing something.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

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Three Quick Reviews: Short Stories of Suspense

STOCKHOLM by Catherine Steadman
Publication Date: August 31, 2022
Length: 42 pages
Rating: 4 Stars

“An extravagant anniversary trip turns into a desperate scramble for survival in an unsettling short story about desire, manipulation, and revenge by a New York Times bestselling author.”

Not gonna lie, this short story gave me anxiety. It’s a quick read but packed with a lot of dread, as an abused wife plans an escape from her ghastly husband during an anniversary trip to Sweden. I enjoyed this one, from the isolated snowy setting to the intense and unexpected ending. I’ve enjoyed previous books by Catherine Steadman, and this mini thriller did not disappoint.

BIG BAD by Chandler Baker
Publication Date: September 26, 2023
Length: 59 pages
Rating: 4.5 Stars

“For a family trying to make an isolated farmhouse into a home, fear and rage are getting harder to control in a primal short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Network and Cutting Teeth.”

BIG BAD is my first taste of Chandler Baker’s writing, and I’m hooked. This is a gruesome tale of a broken marriage with two kiddos caught in the middle, plus a menacing presence lurking around and within their farmhouse walls. Who’s the real baddie? The character development was impressive, especially considering the book was under 60 pages. I greatly enjoyed this creepy and emotional family drama/horror story.

THE MOSQUITO by B.A. Paris
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
Length: 32 pages
Rating: 4 Stars

“After his marriage fails, he hopes a vacation in France will relax and restore him. But fate has something more poisonous in store in this biting tale from bestselling author B. A. Paris.”

THE MOSQUITO is a fun story about a pesty bug and an even pestier house guest named Rupert. When I first encountered Rupert, he made me think of Colin Robinson, only without Colin’s charm, lol. (Any What We Do in the Shadows fans?) I enjoyed the symbolism in this short tale, and I especially loved the satisfying ending.