Gone At Midnight, The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam by Jake Anderson was a really good true crime story of a very bizarre case.
I first heard about Elisa Lam from another fan of true crime almost one year ago to the day. I was instantly intrigued and read up on the story but this book provides a more detailed look. The place where this takes place is the Hotel Cecil in downtown Los Angeles. It has a very dark and creepy history, with violence and suicide as part of its claim to fame.
Twenty-one-year-old Vancouver student Elisa Lam was last heard from on January 31, 2013, after she checked into downtown L.A.’s Cecil Hotel–a 600-room building with a nine-decade history of scandal and tragedy. The next day, Elisa vanished. A search of the hotel yielded nothing. More than a week later, complaints by guests of foul-smelling tap water led to a grim discovery: Elisa’s nude body floating in a rooftop water tank, in an area extremely difficult to access without setting off alarms. The only apparent clue was a disturbing surveillance video of Elisa, uploaded to YouTube in hopes of public assistance.
As the eerie elevator video went viral, so did the questions of its tens of millions of viewers. Was Elisa’s death caused by murder, suicide, or paranormal activity? Was it connected to the Cecil’s sinister reputation? And in that video, what accounted for Elisa’s strange behavior? With the help of web sleuths and investigators from around the world, journalist Jake Anderson set out to uncover the facts behind a death that had become a macabre internet meme, as well as a magnet for conspiracy theorists.
In poring through Elisa’s revealing online journals and social media posts, Anderson realized he shared more in common with the young woman than he imagined. His search for justice and truth became a personal journey, a dangerous descent into one of America’s quiet epidemics. Along the way, he exposed a botched investigation and previously unreported disclosures from inside sources who suggest there may have been a corporate conspiracy and a police cover-up. In Gone at Midnight, Anderson chronicles eye-opening discoveries about who Elisa Lam really was and what–or whom–she was running from, and presents shocking new evidence that may re-open one of the most chilling and obsessively followed true crime cases of the century.
The book was so well written, researched in-depth and provided a lot of details. I know that my fellow true crime junkies will like reading it however, you cannot help but have compassion for Elisa and her family as her death was such a tragic occurrence.
This book comes out on February 25! Pre-order here.
What an amazing book! Mercy House by Alena Dillon is an excellent read, highly recommended. I like the premise of the nuns who run a home for victims of domestic violence and the character of Sister Evelyn was extremely well rounded and enjoyable.
Synopsis:
In the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn stands a century-old row house presided over by renegade, silver-haired Sister Evelyn. Gruff and indomitable on the surface, warm and wry underneath, Evelyn and her fellow sisters makes Mercy House a safe haven for the abused and abandoned.
Women like Lucia, who arrives in the dead of night; Mei-Li, the Chinese and Russian house veteran; Desiree, a loud and proud prostitute; Esther, a Haitian immigrant and aspiring collegiate; and Katrina, knitter of lumpy scarves… all of them know what it’s like to be broken by men.
Little daunts Evelyn, until she receives word that Bishop Robert Hawkins is coming to investigate Mercy House and the nuns, whose secret efforts to help the women in ways forbidden by the Church may be uncovered. But Evelyn has secrets too, dark enough to threaten everything she has built.
Evelyn will do anything to protect Mercy House and the vibrant, diverse women it serves—confront gang members, challenge her beliefs, even face her past. As she fights to defend all that she loves, she discovers the extraordinary power of mercy and the grace it grants, not just to those who receive it, but to those strong enough to bestow it.
This is one of those books that isn’t a traditional suspense/thriller but you keep reading and turning the pages because you want to know what’s going to happen next and the characters are all sympathetic and your heart goes out to them.
Coming out on Feb.11, get it here!
Looking for a slow burn of a thriller? Then you need to get your hands on Watch Over Me by Jane Renshaw!
I love the premise of this book, take a look:
Flora and Neil are happily married, but they can’t have children so decide to adopt. And when Flora meets little Beckie it’s love at first sight. Deep in her heart, she knows they’re meant for each other, destined to be mother and daughter.
When Flora officially becomes Beckie’s mum, it’s like a part of her that’s always been missing is finally in place. She is complete, every day filled with purpose and joy.
There’s only one problem. Beckie was taken from her birth family, the Johnsons, because they have a history of violence and criminal behaviour and so are judged to be unfit to care for a child.
But the Johnsons don’t agree. As far as they’re concerned, Flora has stolen their little girl and they are determined to get her back. They’re very smart, utterly ruthless – and they have a plan. One that will turn Flora’s life into a living hell and push her to the very edge of insanity.
This wasn’t a super intense page-turner, the characters weren’t especially loveable but I enjoyed the story as a whole and if you want to give this book a whirl, I think you will enjoy it.
This book is FREE with Kindle Unlimited here!
Ten Days Gone by Beverly Long is what is called a police procedural. It focuses on catching the criminal rather than from the point of view of the victim. It used to be that most mysteries and suspense type books were from the eyes of the detectives/police or from a legal perspective, a courtroom drama but then the shift was towards domestic suspense. This books swings us back to the detectives and Ten Days Gone sets the stage for more cases with the character of A.L. McKittridge.
They know exactly when he’ll strike… They just have to find him first. In all their years working for the Baywood police department, detectives A.L. McKittridge and Rena Morgan have never seen anything like it. Four women dead in forty days, each killed ten days apart. With nothing connecting the victims and very little evidence, the clock is already counting down to when the next body drops. A.L. and Rena will have to act fast if they’re going to find the killer’s next victim before he does. But identifying the killer’s next likely target is only half the battle.
With pressure pushing in from all sides, a promising breakthrough leads the detectives to Tess Lyons, a woman whose past trauma has left her too damaged to appreciate the danger she’s in. Unwilling to let another woman die, A.L. and Rena will put everything on the line to keep Tess safe and end the killer’s deadly spree once and for all–before time runs out again.
A great fast-paced book with a very intriguing mystery and plot. A must-read for fans of police procedurals!
You can order the book now and it will be magically delivered to your Kindle on February 18!
I think the last courtroom drama I read was Thirteen by The Holdout by Graham Moore brings us to the courtroom and provides a thought-provoking story where a juror believes the man accused of killing a woman is innocent. From that case she is inspired to go to law school and become a lawyer herself.
Fast forward ten years and Maya is brought back to the case where it all started thanks to a documentary looking at the case again. But what happens when a fellow juror is found dead in Maya’s hotel room?
Juror Maya Seale is convinced that African American high school teacher Bobby Nock is innocent of killing the wealthy white female student with whom he appears to have been involved and persuades her fellow jurors likewise. Ten years later, a true-crime docuseries reassembles the jurors, and Maya, now a defense attorney, must prove her own innocence when one of them is found dead in Maya’s room.
I liked this book! It was a murder case wrapped in another murder case. A book in a book. Two stories in one. The writing was thoughtful, Maya was smart and sympathetic, the story flowed. There was nothing I didn’t enjoy about this novel. A solid and compelling read!
Order this book here, it comes out on February 18!
Imagine being swept up in a romance, getting married and a few short years later, your husband dies. When his brother comes to view the body, he says, “That’s not my brother.”
Then who on earth were you married to? That’s the premise behind The Man She Married by Alison James and I love the idea of this!
Since Alice’s fiancé walked out on her, she never thought she’d meet ‘The One’. But all that changes when she meets Dominic. Handsome, charming and kind, Alice can’t believe her luck when he proposes a few months later and moves into her West London home.
Three years on, Alice’s catering business is thriving and she is married to a man she adores. So when she sees that little blue line, it should be the happiest moment of her life: they’re going to have a baby. But then the police knock on her door and Alice’s whole world is turned upside down… Dominic is dead.
Distraught, Alice goes to identify the body. There’s no doubt that it’s her husband. Yet when his estranged brother comes to view the coffin, he insists the man lying there is not Dominic. Alice refuses to believe it at first, but when confronted with irrefutable proof, she finally has to face the truth:
The man she married is not the person he said he was. And if he lied about that, what else was he hiding from her?
The book is told in present/past timelines and also from Alice/Dominic. Its a great suspense and I wanted to shake Alice and a few times and tell her to wise up! I love books that keep me guessing and I look forward to more from this author.
Get this for 99 cents on Kindle!
The After Wife by Melanie Summers was a nice break from some of the heavier suspense I’ve been reading.
After losing her husband, writer Abigail Carson has all but given up on life. Having spent the last year cocooned in her Manhattan apartment, Abigail is suddenly forced to find a new home where she can stretch her dwindling savings. Intent on isolation, she moves to a tiny village in Nova Scotia where she’ll have no one to interrupt her solitude.
Little does Abigail realize that small-town life offers far less privacy than the big city. With neighbors knocking on the door bearing homemade treats and invitations, Abby soon finds herself immersed in the lives of the people of South Haven. She forms an unlikely friendship with Liam Wright, the handyman renovating her dilapidated cottage, and his daughter, seven-year-old Olive.
As the dark cloud engulfing Abigail lifts, she begins to believe she may have found love again. But just as Abigail is ready to leap, she discovers Liam carries with him a shocking secret that will ultimately cause everything to unravel. Abigail must decide if she will turn away from his pain or open her heart in the most hopeless of circumstances.
I love the premise of the book and wonder how often a woman loses her husband and moves to a new place to start over. I thought the author did a wonderful job of creating a character that we, the readers, could root for and want to see succeed and be happy. I also enjoy a cute small-town setting. All in all, a very good book!
Get this for $3.99! Go here to download to your Kindle.
The Outcast Girls by Shirley Dickson was so, so good. Shirley is a wonderful writer and I am keeping an eye out for future books from her. I always forget how I love historical fiction especially when it tugs at your heartstrings like this one.
England, 1937: After a devastating childhood at Blakely Hall Orphanage, fifteen-year-old Sandra is released. She finds work as a housemaid, finally able to put her past behind her. But the start of World War Two throws the country into turmoil, and her brother Alf is sent away to fight, leaving her completely alone.
Germany, 1939: Eleven-year-old Frieda is about to board a ship bound for England with her brother, Kurt. Life at home is perilous, with synagogues set alight and innocent lives lost to the Nazis. They have no choice but to flee, with only their identity cards and a small suitcase. But at the last moment, as Frieda stands on the deck crammed with frightened children, she spots her brother jumping off, back to land.
England, 1943: Joining the Land Army, Sandra is sent to a farm in the remote countryside where she meets evacuee Frieda. The girls are grappling with their own tragedies – Sandra fretting over whether Alf, flying a bomber in the heavens, will see tomorrow, and Frieda distraught that Kurt abandoned her, uncertain whether he is alive.
Sandra and Frieda form a friendship that sees them through the darkest of days, but in times of war heartbreak is always just around the corner. Will the girls ever be reunited with their loved ones? And will the relationships they have fostered amidst the terror of war survive?
I knew from the first page that I would love the book and I did. Shirley knows about to make the reader feel emotions and empathy for the characters in her books. The Orphan Sisters is another book by this author which I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND. You can read both books back to back, they are heart-tugging pages turners.
Ninety-nine cents on Kindle, worth every penny! Loved it.
Hot off the press! The Liars Daughter by Claire Allan just came out and its a well-written story that is tough to take in parts, but all in all, an excellent read. Claire is an excellent writer and I’ve read several of her books and really enjoyed each one. She knows how to build suspense, create sympathetic characters and construct a storyline that keeps the tension tight and the pages turning.
Joe McKee – a pillar of the Derry community – is dead. As arrangements are made for the traditional Irish wake, friends and family are left reeling at how cancer could have taken this much-loved man so soon.
But grief is the last thing that Joe’s daughter Ciara and step-daughter Heidi feel. For they knew the real Joe – the man who was supposed to protect them and did anything but.
As the mourners gather, the police do too, with doubt being cast over whether Joe’s death was due to natural causes. Because the lies that Joe told won’t be taken to the grave after all – and the truth gives his daughters the best possible motive for killing him…
You will be caught up in this story from the first page until the last. Abuse is such a difficult subject and Clarie deals with it well.
Less than five dollars, what a deal! Go here to buy it for $3.99.
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