No Road Home

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

For years, single father Toby Tucker has done his best to keep his sensitive young son, Luca, safe from the bigotry of the world. But when Toby marries Alyssa Wright—the granddaughter of a famed televangelist known for his grandiose, Old Testament preaching—he can’t imagine the world of religion, wealth, and hate that he and Luca are about to enter.

A trip to the Wright family’s compound in sun-scorched Texas soon turns hellish when Toby realizes that Alyssa and the rest of her brood might have some very strange plans for Toby and his son. The situation only grows worse when a freak storm cuts off the roads and the family patriarch is found murdered, stabbed through the heart on the roof of the family’s mansion.

Suspicion immediately turns to Toby, but when his son starts describing a spectral figure in a black suit lurking around the house with unfinished business in mind, Toby realizes this family has more than murder to be afraid of. And as the Wrights close in on Luca, no one is prepared for the lengths Toby will go in the fight to clear his name and protect his son.

Review

 I loved John Fram’s debut, The Bright Lands. It was so surprising and unique and I was happy to find out about No Road Home which is just as unique and thrilling.

Toby is a single parent to Luca and he’s married rather quickly to Alyssa. He’s never met her family but he knows of them. Her grandfather is a famous televangelist and the whole family has a role in keeping the business running smoothly. Now everyone is getting together at the Wright family compound in Texas.

Things immediately feel creepy and shady. Then the grandfather is found murdered on the roof and a storm has everyone trapped. That’s when the atmosphere becomes extremely charged and intense. Toby’s anxiety ramps up as he realizes the family’s agenda and what they intend for his son.

He desperately tries to find a way out of the situation they’re in. To get out of their clutches physically and otherwise. He might have a possible ally but it’s hard to trust anyone. As if that wasn’t enough there’s a man only Luca can see. So yeah, this book has it all and seriously had me stressed!

I loved how protective Toby was of his sweet little boy who makes origami roses and wears sparkly socks. I love how this story was written, supernatural and reality melded perfectly. Nuanced characters and a lot of depth and emotion. Which I also found in The Bright Lands. It’s safe to say John Fram is a favorite author of mine and I highly recommend his books.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: July 23, 2024

House of Glass

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny – in the midst of her parent’s bitter divorce – and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella’s mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there’s something eerie about the house itself: It’s a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny’s murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny’s boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella’s supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

Review

I jumped at the chance to read Sarah Pekkanen’s latest novel. I enjoy her solo writing just as much as the work she does with Greer Hendricks. House of Glass is one entertaining thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat!

Stella’s job is to decide the best interests of a child in custody cases. She takes on Rose Barclay as a client, a girl who can’t speak after seeing her nanny fall out a window and die. What complicates matters is the nanny might have been pushed, making Rose the only witness to a murder.

So Stella is under a lot of pressure, she doesn’t want to recommend a possible murderer gets primary custody of Rose. But there’s also something off about Rose herself. She’s a very intelligent girl who is secretly stockpiling weapons in a house where suddenly no glass is allowed..

Stella investigates thoroughly, questioning Rose’s parents and her grandmother that came to stay after an injury years ago and never left. Stella tries to gain Rose’s trust despite her unpredictable moods and actions. And it’s no secret Rose’s father was having an affair with the nanny, hence the divorce. Suffice to say, the whole family is suspicious!

The whole situation is very trying for Stella. She has her own traumatic childhood that is being dredged up as she gets in deeper with the investigation. Finally finding out the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death when she was little is also part of the story.

I enjoyed every bit of House of Glass. I suspected everyone and had no idea what the outcome would be! The suspense and tension never lets up, I raced through this book desperate to know what would happen. I highly recommend House of Glass!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: August 6, 2024

The Last Murder at the End of the World

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.

Outside the island there is the world destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island it is idyllic. 122 villagers and 3 scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And they learn the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay.

If the murder isn’t solved within 92 hours, the fog will smother the island – and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer – and they don’t even know it…

Review

Stuart Turton is one of my favorite authors. He is so creative and talented. Each book he writes is completely unique and entertaining. If you like captivating characters working against the clock to solve a mystery, you will love any of his books.

In Turton’s latest masterpiece, the setting is an island in the post apocalyptic future. A deadly fog destroyed the world and the island is the only safe place. This is thanks to a barrier some scientists created. The scientists and over a hundred others live in harmony with the scientists never questioned and everyone else doing all the day to day work.

Emory is the one villager that questions everything and as a result isn’t popular with everyone else. But her inquisitive nature is an asset when a beloved scientist is murdered. Their death takes down the barrier keeping everyone safe. And everyone’s memories of the incident have been erased.

What follows is a fast paced investigation as Emory searches the island and questions everyone. She has within 92 hours to find the murderer as it’s the only way to restore the barrier. I was trying so hard to think ahead and figure things out and I couldn’t!

The Last Murder at the End of the World seamlessly blends multiple genres and is so well written. The characters are all unique and fleshed out. There is also a reference to his previous book I enjoyed coming across.

I highly recommend reading Stuart Turton’s other books if you haven’t already. And definitely read The Last Murder at the End of the World when it comes out!

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Lost to Dune Road

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

For a disgraced reporter, unraveling a conspiracy of murder could mean redemption in a powerful novel of suspense by the bestselling author of Out of the Ashes . Reporter Lee Ellerin’s investigation into a young woman’s unsolved murder gained national attention―only for her to lose everything due to a tragic mistake. After being publicly ridiculed for causing a suspect’s death, Lee is forced to leave her career behind. Five years later, pregnant college student Amanda Hartley lies in a coma. The police say she attempted suicide, but the details don’t add up. Where is the father? Who was paying for Amanda’s Manhattan penthouse? Why did Amanda have a note with Lee’s name in her backpack? There’s also one alarming Amanda was last seen on Dune Road in the Hamptons―where the murder victim in Lee’s previous investigation disappeared. As she’s pulled back into the still-unsolved case that destroyed her career, Lee sees the chance to amend the mistakes of her past. But finding a killer and unearthing Amanda’s secrets sends her down a darker path than she has ever walked before.

Review

Lee is a private investigator asked to look into what happened to a pregnant woman in a coma by the woman’s mother. Everyone believes Amanda tried to take her own life but her mother believes otherwise. Besides, Amanda had Lee’s name written down.

Lee used to be a reporter until she investigated a woman’s disappearance and subsequent murder. She made a mistake that led to her downfall. She soon discovers there’s a connection with the case she reported on and what happened to Amanda.

It’s a very interesting story, Lee is determined to gather enough evidence to take the person(s) responsible down. The only problem is they’re all rich connected men and it’s all much bigger than she even imagined.

I liked the story but had trouble getting into it at some points. There were lots of characters, lots of facts thrown at you from the past and present crimes. I found myself reading whole paragraphs that refused to stick in my mind. This book actually read like a true crime novel or an investigative report. The tone was pretty much emotionless a lot of the time.

I love everything that Kara Thomas writes. It pains me to give her book three stars. Which isn’t bad at all! I did like this book, I just didn’t love it.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: April 16, 2024

The Father She Went to Find

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A road trip to find closure… or a reckless chase that could turn deadly?

Penny has never met anyone smarter than her. That’s par for the course when you’re a savant–one of less than one hundred in the world. But despite her photographic memory and super-powered intellect, there’s one mystery Penny’s never been able to solve: why did her father leave when she was in a coma at age seven, and where is he now?

On Penny’s twenty-first birthday, she receives a card in the mail from him, just as she has every year since he left. But this birthday card is different. For the first time ever, there’s a return address. And a goodbye.

Penny doesn’t know the world beyond her mother’s house and the special school she’s attended since her unusual abilities revealed themselves, but the mystery of her father’s disappearance becomes her new obsession. For the first time ever she decides to leave home, to break free of everything that has kept her safe, and use her gifts to answer the questions that have always eluded her. What Penny doesn’t realize is she might not be able to outsmart a world far more complicated and dangerous than she’d ever imagined…

Review

I jumped at the chance to read a new Carter Wilson book. I was blown away by this thrilling tale of an extraordinary young woman going out into the world for the first time.

Penny is a savant due to a brain injury when she was a child. She has a photographic memory among other abilities. She’s been sheltered ever since, being schooled and studied at an institute, never having to deal with real life matters.

She receives a birthday card every year from her father who disappeared while she was still in a coma. She has now turned twenty-one and his latest card is to be the last. That prompts her to finally venture out on her own to track her father down. She remembers a road trip they took together when she remembers nothing else before she was injured. He put notes in bottles in random towns so that’s the path she follows.

She has to navigate an unfamiliar world and figure out how to make money. It leads to her meeting Travis. Things quickly take a turn after that. What ensues is a non-stop thrill ride. Penny has to put her genius mind and survival instinct to the test to get through the wild circumstances with which she finds herself.

What I loved about this book was how there was a lot of dialogue. It made the story flow perfectly and added to the thrills throughout. It makes the story unfold like a really good movie. There was never a dull moment. Basically what I’ve come to expect from a Carter Wilson novel.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press, NetGalley and Carter Wilson for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: April 2, 2024

How to Solve Your Own Murder

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club , an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate… Now it’s up to her great-niece to catch the killer. 

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

Review

I tend to avoid cozy mysteries but this is the kind I can get into. I would categorize How to Solve Your Own Murder as a cozy-spicy mystery.

Annie goes to Castle Knoll after she received a letter regarding her great aunt’s estate. She’s never met the woman and doesn’t know why she wants Annie to inherit everything. Once there, the body of Great-Aunt Francis is discovered in her home. Her will stipulates that if Annie solves her murder, she gets everything. But Annie is not the only one who could solve it and take all.

So it becomes a race against time, Annie has to figure out who wanted Francis dead more. She mainly depends on a journal Francis kept in the 60s. It’s all about her and her bored friends stuck in a small village. Annie only reads it in bits and pieces and decides on various people’s guilt based on the feelings and motivations she’s attached to all these strangers.

It’s a solid three stars, I liked it. But it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I agree with others that the premise is good but the execution.. It’s mostly my personal preference I’m sure. And since it’s a series there’s opportunity to really get to know Annie and the other villagers better.

Thank you Dutton and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: March 26, 2024

Listen for the Lie

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast “Listen for the Lie,” and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.

Review

I had a feeling I would enjoy this but I had no idea how much I would love it. Listen for the Lie is definitely going to be on my Best of 2024 list. I know we’re only a month into the year but it’s safe to say this book will be #1 for me. I’m going to try to put into words why Listen for the Lie is so good when all I want to do is babble incoherently and tell you to trust me and just read it yourself.

Just five years ago, Lucy and her best friend Savvy, attended a wedding. The night ended with Lucy wandering alone on a road covered in Savvy’s blood. Because of a head injury, she doesn’t remember anything. When her memory doesn’t come back, she goes from fellow victim to suspect. Her own parents and husband are convinced of her guilt. It’s a small Texas town so everyone knows each other and they all don’t believe Lucy is innocent either.

She moves to Los Angeles and tries to accept she’ll never know what happened and can’t go back. She’s pretty much convinced she must be guilty too. She writes romance novels using a pseudonym and is in a relationship that’s basically over. Then a true crime podcast ‘Listen for the Lie’ becomes focused on Savvy’s murder.

Lucy’s grandma convinces her to come back for her 80th birthday. Once there she meets Ben, the podcast host. Eventually she agrees to talk to him and try to figure out what happened that night. She has to talk to all the people from her past and discovers they all have secrets of their own.

I flew through this book, it sucks you in and doesn’t let go. Listen for the Lie is so well written, perfectly paced and suspenseful. I loved that it has a lot of dialogue that flows well. The podcast segments were great too, they added to the story in the right places and don’t take you out of it.

I loved Lucy, she’s a great main character. She’s real and flawed, snarky and dark. I loved her grandma Beverly, the only one who believes in Lucy’s innocence. I can’t say enough good things about that character. I loved how dark the book was but it also had so much humor. Listen for the Lie is such an enjoyable and satisfying read from start to finish.

Speaking of that ending, I promise you will not figure out exactly what happened. And I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by a certain scene towards the end. All I’ll say is it was very satisfying how Lucy reacted when things finally clicked into place. Okay, I’m still going to tell you just trust me and read it. Ugh, I am disgusted. No book has the right to be this good. If it’s at all possible to make this into a series, please do so.

Thank you Celadon Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early.

And thank you Amy Tintera for writing such an impressive and unforgettable book!

Expected Publication Date: March 5th, 2024

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

What if everything you know about the worst night of your life turns out not to be true?

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.

Review

A solid debut! I thoroughly enjoyed this intriguing psychological thriller. As the synopsis states, Charlie is a woman who went through a traumatic experience at her school. Her mind has blocked out the details of that night to protect her and she’s done her best to move on with her life. But she still deals with anxiety and being triggered by certain things.

A former classmate upends her fragile existence by wanting to make a movie that will tell the real truth of that night. Charlie needs to make it go away and she also decides with the help of her therapist to remember everything she has repressed. Charlie is an unreliable narrator so she just might have her own reasons for not wanting the movie made.

What happened that Christmas Eve? Charlie is clearly traumatized but is she more involved in what happened than she’s let on? I love that I never knew what to expect and the twists were shocking. Go into this with an open mind and enjoy the ride. I was impressed and I will definitely read whatever Jenny Hollander writes next!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: February 6, 2024

Where You End

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

From bestselling nonfiction author Abbott Kahler comes a spellbinding fiction debut: an unusual form of amnesia upends the lives of identical twins, forcing them to face the indelible, dangerous shadow of the past.

When Kat Bird wakes up from a coma, she sees her mirror image: Jude, her twin sister. Jude’s face and name are the only memories Kat has from before her accident. As Kat tries to make sense of things, she believes Jude will provide all the answers to her most pressing questions:

Who am I?
Where am I?
What actually happened?

Amid this tragedy, Jude sees an irresistible opportunity: she can give her sister a brand-new past, one worlds away from the lives they actually led. She spins tales of an idyllic childhood, exotic travels, and a bright future.

But if everything was so perfect, who are the mysterious people following Kat? And what explains her uncontrollable flashes of violent anger, which begin to jeopardize a sweet new romance?

Duped by the one person she trusted, Kat must try to untangle fact from fiction. Yet as she pulls at the threads of Jude’s elaborate tapestry, she has no idea of the catastrophe she’s inviting. At stake is not just the twins’ relationship, but their very survival.

Intensely creepy and beautifully written, Abbott Kahler’s Where You End is an unforgettable tale of intrigue, revenge, and the quest for redemption.

Review

Kat and Jude are twins. Not only that but they are specifically mirror twins. After an accident Kat wakes from a coma to discover she remembers nothing about herself or her life. The only thing her mind held onto is her sister. Once they’re back home, Jude starts to tell her all about their lives now and when they were children. She also tells Kat to not leave their place because she’s fragile.

Kat has to explore their town despite Jude telling her not to. Eventually she starts to question what Jude has told her and wonders why she’d have to lie. The present is in the early 80s but there are also flashbacks set in the 70s that reveal their time in a New Age cult.

This is a three star read for me because I did like it, I just didn’t fully enjoy it. I will say it does have the feel of a dark gritty 80s movie. And the flashbacks do have a trippy sense of unreality to them. Those parts weren’t as seamless and kinda threw me off after being in the present with a totally different feel to those scenes.

So I guess the tone of the book does work considering the subject matter. And the ending was satisfying. Even though the story was nothing like what I was expecting I still liked it for what it was, more literary thriller than psychological, so keep that in mind.

Thank you Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Expected Publication Date: January 16, 2024

The Stranger Upstairs

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A social media influencer with a secret past buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this gothic psychological debut.

Sarah Slade is starting over. As the new owner of the infamous Black Wood House—the scene of a grisly murder-suicide—she’s determined that the fixer-upper will help reach a new audience on her successful lifestyle blog, and distract her from her failing marriage.

But as Sarah paints over the house’s horrifying past, she knows better than anyone that a new façade can’t conceal every secret. Then the builders start acting erratically and experiencing bizarre accidents—and Sarah knows there’s only so long she can continue to sleep in the bedroom with the bloodstained floor and suffer the mysterious footsteps she hears from the attic.

When menacing notes start appearing everywhere, Sarah becomes convinced that someone or something is out to kill her—her husband, her neighbors, maybe even the house itself. The more she remodels Black Wood House, the angrier it seems to become.

With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. Though she desperately clings to the lies she’s crafted to conceal her own secrets, Sarah Slade must wonder . . . was it all worth it? Or will this house be her final unraveling?

Review

What did I just read?! I am blown away and unsettled by this impressive debut! This is one psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat and jumping at every little sound you hear.

Most people wouldn’t buy a house where a murder-suicide took place. They certainly wouldn’t buy one to take their life in a nice new direction. To help their career and resuscitate their struggling marriage. But Sarah Slade isn’t most people. She is desperate and determined to renovate Black Wood House and in turn renovate her life in the process.

She quickly discovers she might have bitten off more than she can chew. The community is not open to new people and her neighbors especially aren’t eager to have anyone fix Black Wood House. One neighbor in particular is downright hostile towards her. The house itself doesn’t seem to want to be fixed either…

Sarah puts on a facade of happiness and excitement for her followers as she takes them along her journey. But in reality the cracks are only getting wider. Strange things keep happening and she hears noises upstairs. She’s alone a lot of the time in this unfamiliar and unsettling place.

You soon realize though that Sarah is an unreliable narrator. There’s things in her past she’s running from. She also can’t completely trust her own mind. So when she’s increasingly paranoid, you also have no idea if someone or something is out to get her. The tension and pacing were perfect from beginning to end, I was desperate to know exactly what was going on right along with Sarah.

It takes a lot to creep me out reading wise. And let me tell you, I was genuinely creeped out in certain scenes! The Stranger Upstairs would definitely make a great movie or tv show. There’s a lot going on but the genre blending all goes together so well. Is the house actually haunted or malevolent? Are her neighbors or husband out to get her? Or is her past catching up to her? Is it all in her head? Seems the only one she can trust is her cat, Reaper. I love Reaper. And yes, he makes it to the end. A small spoiler but I felt like it should be mentioned.

I recommend not skipping the author’s note at the end. Lisa M. Matlin doesn’t use Sarah’s mental health issues for shock value. She has personal experience and she is open and honest about it. The more we talk about these things, the more we remove the stigma surrounding it.

With Spooky Season swiftly approaching (not fast enough for my liking!) pre-order The Stranger Upstairs now and be able to read it at the most perfect time! It’s a fantastic horror tinged psychological thriller that will stay with you long after you’ve finished. I will read anything Lisa M. Matlin writes!

Thank you Bantam, NetGalley and Lisa M. Matlin for the opportunity to read this early!

Expected Publication Date: September 12, 2023