I didn’t realize that the book I downloaded, The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin, was just sneak peek! I started getting into the story and suddenly- it ended! WHAT?
I have never settled in with a book and only had a couple of chapters to read so I was a little annoyed. But the good news is that this novel is out in its entirety now and I do plan on continuing to read it.
Here’s what you need to know:
Local police have announced that they’re closing the investigation of the suspected drowning of 37-year-old painter Colleen Westcott. She disappeared on April 11, 2010, and her car was found parked near the waterfront in Cleveland two days later, but her body has never been found. The chief of police has stated that no concrete evidence of foul play has been discovered in the probe.
I close the online search window, annoyed. These articles never have enough detail. They think my husband’s first wife disappeared or they think she is dead. There’s a big difference.
My phone rings, jarring me away from my thoughts, and when I pick it up, it’s an unknown number. The only answer to my slightly breathless hello is empty static.
When the voice does finally come, it’s female, low, muffled somehow. “Where is it, Claire? What did you do with it? Tell me where it is.”
A woman. A real flesh-and-blood woman on the other end of the phone. She’s not just in my head.
A wave of panic spreads under my skin like ice water. It’s Colleen.
I liked the writing from the first page, it’s casual and easy to read but pulls you in. I look forward to reading more later and actually finishing it. I just downloaded the full novel.
This is out now, read it on your kindle- order here.
Judging a book by its cover, which one should never do, I assumed A Murder on Jane Street by Cathy Cash Spellman was going to be a light mystery. WRONG. The author included lots of interesting “conspiracy theory” type details which I personally loved, with genuine suspense regarding a mysterious woman’s death.
I enjoyed this novel and kept turning the pages, interested in how everything was going to conclude. It was a great book!
Synopsis:
The brutal murder of the little old lady next door puts FitzHugh Donovan on the case. A retired New York City Police Chief, he knows a cover-up when he sees one and his Irish Cop conscience can’t let that happen.
Now, Fitz, his family and his quirky band of Bleecker Street Irregulars are ensnared in the bizarre secret the woman died to protect.
Is this a cold case turned hot again, or an unspeakable conspiracy that could alter the course of history?
Fitz doesn’t yet know how high the stakes are, that failure isn’t an option, and that the little old lady was so much more than she appeared. But he’s trying to keep everyone alive long enough to find out.
I’m not a huge fan of detective series (I tend to burn out on the same characters) but this one is off to a strong start. If you are someone who enjoys mysteries, suspense, conspiracies, then you will want to get your hands on A Murder on Jane Street.
Order here, due out soon!
Did you read Linwood Barclay’s novel, A Noise Downstairs? It was so good! Go and get it right this minute, you will want to read it if you love being on the edge of your seat while reading a fast-paced novel. I love nothing more than a fantastic story that will give me goosebumps.
I was very excited to see this author has a new book coming out called Elevator Pitch.
Check it out:
It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.
Right to the bottom of the shaft.
It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world—and the nation’s capital of media, finance, and entertainment—is plunged into chaos.
Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And it’s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men in women working in offices across the city refuse leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.
Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find the answers before the city’s newest, and tallest, residential tower has its Friday night ribbon-cutting.
With each diabolical twist, Linwood Barclay ratchets up the suspense, building to a shattering finale. Pulsating with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible . . . and will chill readers to the bone.
I cannot wait to cuddle with the dogs and get started on this one. It’s due out in September so pre-order now.
Linwood has lots of other books to read while you wait but if you want a nail-biting thriller that takes place in an elevator, check out The Escape Room by Megan Goldin I LOVED it.
If domestic psychological thrillers make your palms sweat and your heart pound in the best way possible, then you will want to get a copy of The Marriage Trap by Sheryl Browne. This will have you clearing your schedule so you can read this in a single afternoon. What could be better on a summer day than a good book? Then again, every day is a good day for reading!
Here’s the synopsis:
Karla watches silently as Jason hurriedly packs his belongings into a suitcase. She knows that her stillness is unnerving him as she watches his every move from the doorway of their bedroom.
Clothes are screwed up and packed into the case, along with a watch she bought him for his last birthday and his precious laptop. He takes everything from his bedside table. Everything except the framed wedding photo, which now stands alone. Karla strains to see the smiling faces in the photo. If only she knew then what she knows now.
‘I’ve fallen in love with someone else,’ he’d said to her, just moments earlier. The brutality of those words hit Karla hard and she struggled to breathe as she took in each word in turn.
You may think you know what Karla will do next. But you’ll be wrong. Because Karla isn’t who you think she is. Only she knows what’s about to happen. And you will never see it coming.
This is a smartly written story with twists in it, a great plot which features the themes of love, loss, secrets and of course marriage.
Pre-order the book here, only $2.99 on Kindle!
I love a book where a cast of characters gathers in one place like An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena or an Agatha Christie novel. In The Retreat by Sherri Smith, a group of women get together for a weekend at a wellness retreat. Sounds fun, right? Maybe not…
Four women.
Four secrets.
A weekend that will change them forever…if they survive.Katie Manning was a beloved child star until her mid-teens when her manager attacked and permanently scarred her face, effectively ending her career and sending her on a path of all-too-familiar post-Hollywood self-destruction.
Now twenty-seven, Katie wants a better answer to those clickbait “Where Are They Now?” articles that float around online. An answer she hopes to find when her brother’s too-good-to-be-true fiance invites her to a wellness retreat upstate. Together with Katie’s two best friends–one struggling with crippling debt and family obligations, one running away from a failed job and relationship–Katie will try to find the inner peace promised at the tranquil retreat. But finding oneself just might drudge up more memories than Katie is prepared to deal with.
Each woman has come to the retreat for different reasons. Each has her secrets to hide. And at the end of this weekend, only one will be left standing.
This is an entertaining read, the plot and smooth writing keep the pages turning quickly.
I just finished As Long As We Both Shall Live by Joann Chaney. I began the book thinking it was headed in one direction but it took a left turn and ended up being something else. It was a good book, I enjoyed reading it. When it started, I figured the story would focus on the wife, Marie and the trouble in her marriage. I was wrong.
Matt shoves Marie off the edge of a cliff- maybe- and moving forward its more about the detectives trying to discover where Marie’s body is, did she really die? What’s going on with Matt, anyway and how did his first wife die?
Here’s the plot:
“My wife! I think she’s dead!” Matt frantically tells park rangers that he and his wife, Marie, were hiking when she fell off a cliff into the raging river below. They start a search, but they aren’t hopeful: no one could have survived that fall. It was a tragic accident.
But Matt’s first wife also died in suspicious circumstances. And when the police pull a body out of the river, they have a lot more questions for Matt.
Detectives Loren and Spengler want to know if Matt is a grieving, twice-unlucky husband or a cold-blooded murderer. They dig into the couple’s lives to see what they can unearth. And they find that love’s got teeth, it’s got claws, and once it hitches you to a person, it’s tough to rip yourself free.
So what happens when you’re done making it work?
Prepare yourself that this isn’t traditional domestic suspense but more about the detectives looking into Matt’s past and present.
This novel is out now, buy it here.
