Dangerous Women by Hope Adams

Title: Dangerous Women

Author: Hope Adams

Publisher: Berkley 2021

Genre: Historical Thriller

Pages: 334

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

London, 1841. One hundred eighty Englishwomen file aboard the Rajah, embarking on a three-month voyage to the other side of the world.
They're daughters, sisters, mothers—and convicts.
Transported for petty crimes.
Except one of them has a deadly secret, and will do anything to flee justice.
As the Rajah sails farther from land, the women forge a tenuous kinship. Until, in the middle of the cold and unforgiving sea, a young mother is mortally wounded, and the hunt is on for the assailant before he or she strikes again.
Each woman called in for question has something to fear: Will she be attacked next? Will she be believed? Because far from land, there is nowhere to flee, and how can you prove innocence when you’ve already been found guilty?

What a meh book… Seriously, I was just so incredibly bored. There’s a spark of a great story here in the actual history. After reading the author’s note, I was interested in learning more the real story of the women aboard the Rajah. It’s definitely a part of history that I know very little about. Unfortunately, the actual novel just doesn’t do the history justice. Out of the 200 women on the ship, we only get to know three of them and I didn’t really connect to any of those three women. I was just bored with this book. Definitely not for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

Title: Confessions on the 7:45

Author: Lisa Unger

Publisher: Park Row 2020

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 315

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Currently Reading - Everyone Loves on Bookstagram

Selena Murphy is commuting home on the train when she strikes up a conversation with a beautiful stranger in the next seat. The woman introduces herself as Martha and soon confesses that she’s been stuck in an affair with her boss. Selena, in turn, confesses that she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny. When the train arrives at Selena’s station, the two women part ways, presumably never to meet again.

Then the nanny disappears.

As Selena is pulled into the mystery of what happened, and as the fractures in her marriage grow deeper, she begins to wonder, who was Martha really? But she is hardly prepared for what she’ll discover…

This has really cemented the idea that I do not like thrillers. I’m just always so incredibly disappointed and the twists and turns seem so predictable. This particular book had too many coincidences for my taste. I just couldn’t get behind all the silly things characters, especially Selena, did throughout the story. I got to the end of the book and felt like I had wasted my time.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Title: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides

Publisher: Celadon Books 2019

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 336

Rating: 1/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; Unread Shelf Project Reading Challenge - February

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations―a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

Boring, boring, boring… and then I started to see all the plot holes and got really angry at the book. Even with the first chapter I was a bit bored with the story. I could see that we were getting an unreliable narrator and a mystery that probably wasn’t much of a mystery. All my fears for this book were confirmed about half way through. I got to the end of the book and wanted to just throw this book at the wall. I hated all the characters. I hated the plot. I hated how all the female characters were treated. I hated the giant black holes of plot inconsistencies. I can’t believe that this was one of the Book of the Month books of the year for 2019. Waste of my time.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Widow by Fiona Barton

Title: The Widow (Kate Waters #1)

Author: Fiona Barton

Publisher: Berkley 2016

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 331

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Currently Reading - Read with Buddy

There’s a lot Jean hasn’t said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment.

Now her husband is dead, and there’s no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage.

The truth—that’s all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything...

Boring. That’s my one work review for this book. It was billed as a thriller, but there’s nothing thrilling about it. We are told in the first few chapters what happened and then are strung along for the rest of the book until everything is revealed. I don’t love books that have multiple unrealistic twists, but this one felt so very boring without any surprise or twist. To be fair, there is a surprise revelation towards the end of the book, but I guessed it in the first chapters. Not a real surprise. And the characters were all limp dishrags. I didn’t really care about any of them. Plus, we say practically no character growth throughout. Boring boring boring.

Kate Waters

• #1 The Widow

• #2 The Child

• #3 The Suspect

Next up on the TBR pile:

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Title: Leave the World Behind

Author: Rumaan Alam

Publisher: Ecco 2020

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 256

Rating: 1/5 stars - Hated it

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Unread Shelf RC - Book with High Expectations

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other? 

I completely despised this book. I cannot decide if Alam wanted the reader to just feel like he was talking down to them the entire time or he really meant it. Right from the get-to, the reader is put into an uncomfortable position and doesn’t get to relax. Okay, I get that stylistically. But then I read through the entire story and fail to find any message or reason to read it. There is absolutely no hope to be found in the storyline or the characters. All of this had definitely dropped down the ratings. I’m okay reading bleak books, but this one just fell down a deep hole and didn’t come back up. Was this book supposed to be a mirror to the worst of human behaviors? If so, congratulations, you accomplished the task, but do I want to read it? Nope. I don’t. Combine all this with the oddly sexual descriptions throughout the book and I was completely done with it.

Next up on the TBR pile:

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Title: There’s Someone Inside Your House

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton Books 2017

Genre: YA Thriller

Pages: 298

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: TBR Random

It's been almost a year since Makani Young came to live with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska, and she's still adjusting to her new life. And still haunted by her past in Hawaii.

Then, one by one, the students of her small town high school begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, Makani will be forced to confront her own dark secrets.

Random book from my TBR pile. I didn’t quite know what to expect but ended up really enjoying this teen slasher book. I loved how Perkins threw the audience right into the action. We start with a murder and don’t stop until the last page. She does a great job of creating realistic teen characters that actually act their age. (Seriously something that is often goes wrong in many young adult books.) There was enough jump scares and mystery to keep me interested in the plot. I really did not see the ending coming. Perkins sowed enough doubt that I was constantly questioning my own predictions. My biggest problem with the book was Makani’s dramatic backstory. It just seemed unnecessarily melodramatic. I think with a few tweaks, this could have been a 5 star book for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Title: The Last Flight

Author: Julie Clark

Publisher: Sourcebooks 2020

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 320

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move, making sure she's living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.

A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets—Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.

Borrowed this one from a friend. Thrillers are not usually my genre, but a friend recommended this one. I picked it up and basically couldn’t put it down. It was a ride from start to finish. I was desperate to find out the back stories of Claire and Eva, but especially Eva. Claire’s story felt a bit one note after awhile and it seemed like she was just doing half of the narration to reveal to the audience Eva’s story. I would have liked a bit more of a balanced narration. Beyond that, I felt like that was a too-convenient coincidence towards the end involving a few side characters. That made me roll my eyes. Overall, I did really enjoy reading this book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Holdout by Graham Moore

Title: The Holdout

Author: Graham Moore

Publisher: Random House 2020

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 336

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

It’s the most sensational case of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar real estate fortune, vanishes on her way home from school, and her teacher, Bobby Nock, a twenty-five-year-old African American man, is the prime suspect. The subsequent trial taps straight into America’s most pressing preoccupations: race, class, sex, law enforcement, and the lurid sins of the rich and famous. It’s an open-and-shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed—until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, convinced of Nock’s innocence, persuades the rest of the jurors to return the verdict of not guilty, a controversial decision that will change all their lives forever.

Flash forward ten years. A true-crime docuseries reassembles the jury, with particular focus on Maya, now a defense attorney herself. When one of the jurors is found dead in Maya’s hotel room, all evidence points to her as the killer. Now, she must prove her own innocence—by getting to the bottom of a case that is far from closed.

As the present-day murder investigation weaves together with the story of what really happened during their deliberation, told by each of the jurors in turn, the secrets they have all been keeping threaten to come out—with drastic consequences for all involved.

A very readable murder mystery / thriller / court room drama. I actually read half of it in one setting. The story really does pull the reader along and I needed to see what happened next. I was interested in the overall mystery and needed to find out the identity of the killer. I wondered about the second murder but was actually less interested in that. I wanted to find out Rick’s secret more than anything. The ending felt rushed and I wasn’t so excited about the reveal of Rick’s killer. I really wished that it had been something more sinister. I did enjoy the glimpse in the various juror’s lives, but wanted a bit more on that aspect. Overall a fun light read for a strange a week.

Next up on the TBR pile:

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Title: My Sister, the Serial Killer

Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite

Publisher: Anchor 2019

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 240

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook

Korede’s sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola’s knife. Korede’s practicality is the sisters’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her “missing” boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.

I really enjoyed this book until the last chapter. I was along for the increasing tension as the story moves on. I wanted to know more about the history of the sisters and their family and the coma patient. I was hoping that actions would be confronted. But the story did not end the way I wanted it to end. And more importantly, the ending felt incredibly unfinished. Not ambiguous (I don’t mind those ending), unfinished. I would have liked to see an actual resolution to anything in the story. I disliked the ending, but I think that Braithwaite did an amazing job creating such atmosphere in just a few pages.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The End of October by Lawrence Wright

Title: The End of October

Author: Lawrence Wright

Publisher: Knopf 2020

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 400

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020

At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons--microbiologist, epidemiologist--travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city . . . A Russian émigré, a woman who has risen to deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security, scrambles to mount a response to what may be an act of biowarfare . . . Already-fraying global relations begin to snap, one by one, in the face of a pandemic . . . Henry's wife, Jill, and their children face diminishing odds of survival in Atlanta . . . And the disease slashes across the United States, dismantling institutions--scientific, religious, governmental--and decimating the population. As packed with suspense as it is with the fascinating history of viral diseases, Lawrence Wright has given us a full-tilt, electrifying, one-of-a-kind thriller.

I was so excited when this popped up on BOTM and the Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Read Guide. I am always up for a good infectious disease book (fiction or nonfiction) and heard this one was a great ride a la Michael Crichton. This is akin to one of the bad Michael Crichton novels. Bad, flat characters that act completely off type many times. Too many convoluted storylines instead of one straight narrative. Lots of teaching the read about pandemics and viruses and politics and foreign relations and lots of other random things. This book was a complete slog and left me wanting to throw it at the wall. Boring and complicated with no likable anything.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Title: The Guest List

Author: Lucy Foley

Publisher: William Morrow 2020

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 320

Rating: /5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Theme

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner  – The bridesmaid – The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

I borrowed this one from a friend in a BOTM exchange. I sped through this one in only two days, flipping the pages to see who was killed and who was the killer. This is a standard thriller where a murder happens but there are multiple suspects with various motives. I liked the shifting points of view to get the stories of the various guests. Foley slowly unravels motives for at least half of the characters in the story. We learn past mistakes and current secrets. By the second half of the book, I was speculating on the whos. I called who was murdered, but did not quite grasp the murderer until the reveal. And it’s a good one! Definitely an enjoyable murder mystery.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb

Title: Daughters of the Lake

Author: Wendy Webb

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing 2018

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 319

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook

After the end of her marriage, Kate Granger has retreated to her parents’ home on Lake Superior to pull herself together—only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed into the shallows. Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is an infant, as cold and at peace as its mother. No one can identify the woman. Except for Kate. She’s seen her before. In her dreams…

One hundred years ago, a love story ended in tragedy, its mysteries left unsolved. It’s time for the lake to give up its secrets. As each mystery unravels, it pulls Kate deeper into the eddy of a haunting folktale that has been handed down in whispers over generations. Now, it’s Kate’s turn to listen.

As the drowned woman reaches out from the grave, Kate reaches back. They must come together, if only in dreams, to right the sinister wrongs of the past.

I really wanted to like this book. The opening chapter is amazing and very very intriguing. I was sucked into the story very quickly. But then, things just started going off the rails. I was constantly annoyed by the the characters randomly stopping and drifting off into memories every so often. It was so clunky and really pulled me out of the present narrative so that when the character came back to the present, I had to really remind myself where we were in the story. Annoying. Beyond the writing style, I was ultimately bored with the story and the characters. The constant references to the various ghosts wasn’t really intriguing; it was a weird intrusion. Overall, I was just bored of the book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Title: The Family Upstairs

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publisher: Atria Book s2019

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 352

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

First read from my UnRead Shelf and I was a bit disappointed. The story moves along at a fast clip, but I wasn’t super invested in the characters and the ending left much to be desired. I was intrigued by the family mystery and the identity of the baby. wanted to know what happened in the house on Cheyne Walk. I kept reading because I really wanted to find out what happened. And yet, I found myself not really caring about the book after I finished it. Libby was a bit of a limp noodle throughout causing me to not quite care about her. As for the ending, I’m not a fan of the very sinister last chapter. I don’t need my books to always have a happy ending, but this ending was a little too dark. I won’t be keeping this book on my shelf.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan

Title: The Scholar (Cormac Reilly #2)

Author: Dervla McTiernan

Publisher: Penguin Books 2019

Genre: Crime Thriller

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

When Dr. Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit-and-run outside Galway University early one morning, she calls her boyfriend, Detective Cormac Reilly, bringing him first to the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID that will put this crime at the center of a scandal--her card identifies her as Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland's most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy--it has even funded Emma's own ground-breaking research.

As the murder investigation twists in unexpected ways and Cormac's running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question himself and the beliefs that he has long held as truths. Who really is Emma? And who is Carline Darcy?

The Girly Book Club selection for January. I had to read the first book in the series as I am a completionist, but it’s not necessary to understand this volume. I really liked this story of murder and corporate intrigue. I loved following the murder mystery and DS Reilly. This is not my usual type of book, but I did enjoy it. I wasn’t a huge fan of the background storyline of Emma and her involvement in the case. It seemed a bit much and I could have done without that storyline piece. I’m pretty sure that I’ll read the third book in the series when it releases.

Cormac Reilly

• #1 The Ruin

• #2 The Scholar

• #3 The Good Turn

Next up on the TBR pile:

The One by John Marrs

Title: The One

Author: John Marrs

Publisher: Hanover Square 2018

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 416

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner—the one you’re genetically made for.

That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.

Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others…

I grabbed this one from the Prime Reading selections after hearing good reviews from various bloggers. Once I started reading, I just couldn’t stop. I read at a break-neck pace not wanting to wait to see what happens to each of the main characters. I hated that the storylines kept switching as I kept wanting to know exactly what happened next. It’s hard to really categorize this book, but I felt that this ended up being a thriller. Very entertaining. It definitely kept my attention. I loved Nick and Ellie’s stories the best, but each story was interesting in it’s own right.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan

Title: The Ruin (Cormac Reilly #1)

Author: Dervla McTiernan

Publisher: Penguin Books 2018

Genre: Crime Thriller

Pages: 380

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Cloak and Dagger

When Aisling Conroy's boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib, the police tell her it was suicide. A surgical resident, she throws herself into study and work, trying to forget--until Jack's sister Maude shows up. Maude suspects foul play, and she is determined to prove it.

Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the re-investigation of a seemingly accidental overdose twenty years ago--the overdose of Jack and Maude's drug and alcohol addled mother. Detective Reilly is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers a piece of evidence that will change everything...

This unsettling small-town noir draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland, where corruption, desperation, and crime run rife. A gritty look at trust and betrayal where the written law isn't the only one, The Ruin asks who will protect you when the authorities can't--or won't.

Our Girly Book Club selection for January is the second in this series (The Scholar). I couldn’t possibly read the second without reading the first, so I grabbed this from the library last week. It took me a few days to get through this one, but I ended really enjoying this murder mystery. The conclusion shocked me a bit and there were definitely some horrific bits. Obviously the series will follow Cormac Reilly’s cases, and I’m interested to see what happens next.

Cormac Reilly

• #1 The Ruin

• #2 The Scholar

• #3 The Good Turn

Next up on the TBR pile:

Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Title: Relic (Pendergast #1)

Author: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Publisher: 1995

Genre: Horror / Thriller

Pages: 484

Rating: 4 /5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsugar - Imaginary Creature; Horror

The New York Museum of Natural History is built over a subterranean labyrinth of neglected specimen vaults, unmapped drainage tunnels and long-forgotten catacombs. And there's something down there. When the mutilated bodies of two young boys are discovered deep within the museum's bowels, Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta of the NYPD fears a homicidal maniac may be at large. FBI agent Aloysius X.L. Pendergast believes they may be facing something much worse. As the death toll mounts, and with the opening of the museum's new 'Superstition' exhibition just days away, the two men must work together to prevent a massacre.

As a part of our spooky movie month, we wanted to watch The Relic (1997), but I realized that I had never actually read the original novel that the movie is based on. Off I went to the library to get the book so we could watch. And to my surprise, I really enjoyed the book. It’s a horror thriller in the vein of Michael Crichton’s works. We get a mysterious event, a disbelieving population, scientific discovery, and tons of carnage. I loved all the action bits and the larger mystery of the creature and the murders. I wasn’t quite excited about the long scientific passages. I think the book could have been cut by about 75 pages and still have all the relevant information. I may just have to pick up the next book in the series.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

Title: The Broken Girls

Author: Simone St. James

Publisher: Berkley 2018

Genre: Thriller / Horror

Pages: 334

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Literary Escapes - Vermont

Vermont, 1950. There's a place for the girls whom no one wants—the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall, and local legend says the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming—until one of them mysteriously disappears....

Vermont, 2014. Twenty years ago, journalist Fiona Sheridan's elder sister’s body was found in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And although her sister’s boyfriend was tried and convicted of the murder, Fiona can’t stop revisiting the events, unable to shake the feeling that something was never right about the case.

When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during renovations links the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past—and a voice that won’t be silenced....

This was the Girly Book Club selection for October and it is absolutely the perfect read for the month! I really really loved this page. St. James blends a murder mystery (well three actually) and a ghost story to create the perfect blend of thriller and horror book. I immediately fell for the 1950 storyline. The atmosphere was perfect for the plot. I felt very claustrophobic, just like the girls stuck at Idlewild. I was terrified of turning my head and seeing Mary Hand standing in my bedroom. Very scary! I loved the suspenseful moments sprinkled throughout. The modern storyline was not as good, at least for the first half of the book. I wasn’t a fan of Fiona, but she started to grow on me once we dove deeper into her emotions and goals. Once she met with Margaret Eden, I was finally onboard with Fiona’s story. From there, the book kicked into high gear and didn’t stop until the last page. Loved it!

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

Title: The Mother-in-Law

Author: Sally Hepworth

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press 2019

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 340

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Cloak and Dagger

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly, and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. And as a pillar in the community, an advocate for female refugees, and a woman happily married for decades, no one had a bad word to say about Diana…except Lucy.

That was five years ago. 

Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body. 

But the autopsy finds no cancer. 

It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation. 

Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her children, and their spouses? And what does it mean that Lucy isn’t exactly sad she’s gone?

Another pick from Anne Bogel’s Summer Reading Guide. I was expecting a very pedestrian thriller type of mystery, but this one really had depth. About 50 pages into this novel, I was fully invested in uncovering the secrets of the Goodwin family. I could not stand Diana and loved Lucy at the beginning of the book. By the end, things switched a bit and I began to really see Diana as the strong woman she was. I really enjoyed the back and forth in point of view and time periods. It added so much layer to the storyline and characters. I really enjoyed this one so much. Great pick from the Summer Reading Guide.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Title: Lock Every Door

Author: Riley Sager

Publisher: Dutton 2019

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 384

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's sordid past and into the secrets kept within its walls. What she discovers pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

My Book of the Month selection for July and I’m so glad I picked it. I needed a book that was exactly what I was expecting it to be and this one delivered. I wanted an edge of my seat thriller full of suspense, interesting characters, and a satisfying conclusion. I got it! I read this book in less than 8 hours. It was a ride from page one until the very last page. I loved following Jules as she navigates the horror housed in the Bartholomew. Could not put it down! Now I really need to pick up Sager’s other two thrillers.

Next up on the TBR pile: