Tag:

Suspense

Review

Burn This Night

by Henrietta Thornton

Kate Myles has a lot going on. The former LAPD cop, her career ruined by a pain-pill addiction brought on by a car crash, has lost her marriage and custody of her beloved daughter, Amelia. She’s now working as a private detective, rolling her eyes at old-time movie assumptions. It’s far from glamorous, and she’s far from ready for more drama in her life. But no matter: while living at her mom’s, she discovers paperwork that leads her on a quest to find biological relatives, a plot line that includes an intriguing aspect of the use of DNA in crime cases, and that also leads her to Idlewood, a town with a sad history. Hired to clear the name of a drug addict who’s accused of killing his sister in an arson attack, she also investigates a local cold case, of a young woman who was killed years before. How all these things are related is the story of every small town, with Kenna perfectly portraying the intertwined regrets, missed opportunities, and love that make each place unique. Better again is her portrayal of Myles, a gutsy, lovable character who pushes herself to the brink and more for those she loves. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

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Review

Anyone But Her

by Henrietta Thornton

The love surrounding a beloved neighborhood institution shines through in Swanson’s latest, in which a 1979 Denver record-store owning mom is shot dead in a robbery, her forlorn young daughter, Suzanne, left behind. But Suzanne’s hapless dad has the perfect solution. It’s all figured out! His old girlfriend, Peggy, is moving in. Peggy seems much too eager for this arrangement. She’s also far more motherly toward Suzanne’s devastated little brother, Chris, than Suzanne would like, while nasty toward Suzanne herself. But Suzanne’s mom used to call her daughter “my little seer,” and indeed, after some time, she gets visits from her mom, hearing again her “warm, round voice–like the sun speaking.” When we fast forward in alternating chapters to 2004, adult Suzanne is moving back to Denver from California with her husband, disgruntled teenage daughter, and nine-year-old son. Trying to settle in, she opens a new business in her mom’s old shop, but sinister things start cropping up–a girl is missing in town, and elements of the case are strangely familiar. Then there’s the rat left on the family’s doorstep. What it all means leads this protagonist on a frightening and gripping path to the truth about what happened in 1979, a tale that is enriched with details on the music of the time and the feeling of enduring love. For fans of T. Jefferson Parker’s A Thousand Steps, which is steeped in the same emotions, and all who love a solid mystery

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Review

The Big Empty

by Jeff Ayers

Traci Beller is a popular influencer with millions of followers inspired by watching her bake. It’s been ten years since her father, Tommy, never returned home, with the local police attributing it to him abandoning his family. Now, Traci wants answers. She reaches out to the best detective to learn the truth, Elvis Cole. Elvis has his work cut out for him trying to track down someone missing for a decade, but he’s willing to give it a shot, though he’s doubtful he will uncover anything more than what the police could find. But the detective stumbles upon a mystery involving the last person who saw Tommy alive and refuses to talk about it. He starts seeing the same dark-colored vehicle following him and soon learns that people don’t want him to discover the truth and are willing to kill anyone to keep everything secret. This case started as a simple missing person case for Elvis, but becomes the one that could be his last. Crais masters compelling crime fiction by blending humor, terrific main characters, and suspense into a phenomenal package. Empty might be in the title, but this story is far from it.

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Review

Alter Ego

by Henrietta Thornton

Comics-creator Segura is back with another mystery that takes a penetrating look at the comics industry, particularly its treatment of women creators. In Secret Identity, the 1975-set prequel to Alter Ego, Carmen Valdez was a struggling artist at Triumph, a small comics publisher. She was promised by a male coworker that if she wrote a new female character, the Legendary Lynx, he would pretend he was the lone creator and reveal her work once the character was successful. You can imagine how that went, only add some murder to the shadiness to get the full picture. This book is set in the present and finds another Cuban American woman artist, Annie Bustamante, going through career struggles. She’s had some success, and she longs to bring back the Lynx, even drawing the character in her spare time. When she’s approached by the son of Triumph’s previous owner to bring the character to the big screen and more, she’s nervous that he’s clueless and she has a hard time getting real details on the project. But when, like Carmen before her, she encounters far more sinister elements of the business, including messages from someone only calling themselves Apparition, things turn very scary. There’s no need to read the previous book to enjoy this one, but readers should grab both for an immersive look at this industry, the muddled ego/fear feelings it engenders, and a great set of murder mysteries.

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Review

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

by Jeff Ayers

How do you represent a defendant in a court of law when that person is someone you have not trusted since you were a kid? That is Keera Duggan’s dilemma in this terrific follow-up to Her Deadly Game. Keera and Jenna Bernstein were rivals as children, and Keera never liked Jenna, though she tried several times. Jenna would always manipulate Keera and even get her in trouble merely to satisfy her ego. Later, Keera’s dad got Jenna cleared of a murder charge and now she is CEO of a biotech company. Circumstantial evidence has Jenna in hot water again, and only Keera can prove her innocence this time. Dugoni is one of the best in the legal-thriller world, and he finds compelling ways to tell stories that involve injustice. Keera has her work cut out for her because she might believe Jenna is innocent of this crime, but does that make her not guilty of others?

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Review

Clever Little Thing

by Henrietta Thornton

Most of this book takes place in the past, when Londoner Charlotte; her American husband, Pete; and their eight-year-old daughter, Stella, await the arrival of a new baby. Charlotte is mainly focused on Stella, but she resists a diagnosis for her while a mom friend with an autistic child urges her to confirm why their children are so alike. The only person Stella seems to get along with is her odd—bordering on sinister, if you ask Charlotte—babysitter, a young Armenian woman named Blanka. She’s not very attentive to Stella, plays odd games, and will only respond “oh, yes,” to every suggestion Charlotte makes, while never once following through. Things take a turn for the stranger after Blanka dies suddenly. Now Stella seems exactly like her former caregiver, craving her strong meat stew (though the family is vegetarian), speaking like her, and in all ways seeming to channel the strange young woman. Readers will be rapt as the family members each retreat to their different corners of the house, literally and mentally; Charlotte’s beliefs are torn apart; and terrible danger looms ever closer. An unusual debut; readers will certainly be on the lookout for more from Echlin and her brilliant portrayal of doubt, fear, and fractured families.

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Review

The Sequel

by Brian Kenney

Yes, in nearly every way The Sequel is The Plot Redux, but don’t let that stop you for a minute. In most regards, The Sequel is more fun, more sardonic, and much darker—although this is one of the few series in which reading the first book before the second pays enormous dividends. We are back in the world of Anna Williams-Bonner, whose late husband, novelist Jacob, died by suicide. His novel The Plot found its way to the top of the Times bestseller list, leaving Anna doing everything she can to succeed as a literary widow—including touring across the country in Jacob’s stead. Anna gets so into the publishing groove that she actually authors her own debut novel. If only the story could end there. Anna undergoes harassment from someone who knows all too much about her life, her husband, and even her brother. But this anti-hero isn’t one to go down easily. I have no doubt Anna will be kicking her way into #3, to the delight of her many fans.

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Review

Someone in the Attic

by Henrietta Thornton

Talk about domestic suspense. Julia has moved back to Dublin from San Diego with her kids, who hate their new environment, and her ex-husband, Gabe, who trades time at home with her. Weekends she’s in the house with the children and he’s in a nearby apartment; weekdays the opposite. It’s all very pally, but there’s one big problem: their family seems to be a victim of a social media prank that involves people hiding in attics and jumping out to terrify the residents. Repeated Tik Tok videos, not made by the family, show views of their home as though made by someone inside. And wasn’t there that case, her kids insist, where someone lived in an attic and came out at night to wander the house? Her son is especially terrified—the depth of his fear is clear when his mom tells him not to be afraid to be alone, and he says his fear is that he isn’t alone—prompting Julia to investigate. Weird neighbors and the family’s recent and more distant past offer multiple possibilities for who’s terrorizing them, and readers will enjoy Mara’s taut plotting and believable family dynamics (especially the eye-rolliness of the teen daughter). Julia and her children’s fear comes through so palpably that you’ll be ready to help them move again while silently cursing the useless authorities and blithe Gabe. A gripping read.

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Review

Vantage Point

by Henrietta Thornton

The ultra-wealthy Wieland family seems determined to prove that money can’t buy happiness. Their pain-filled past has created a persistent myth that they’re cursed, with family members dying in spectacularly awful ways, including on the Titanic. The deaths all happen in April, and as this absorbing thriller opens, so does that terrible month. Orphaned by the curse, or so she believes, is Clara, who’s long suffered from bulimia and lives in a house on the grounds of her family’s compound in Maine. In the neighboring mansion, Vantage Point, live her brother, Teddy, and his wife, Jess, who’s Clara’s best friend and formerly a poor local. Teddy is running for the U.S. Senate and the stakes are high for the family to portray a happy, successful front, which means keeping the uninhibited Clara mostly hidden. But someone has other ideas, and a brutal sex video is released to the public featuring a much younger, drunk, emaciated Clara (details are very much on the page). It’s the first in a line of humiliating videos that Clara thinks are fake but can’t be sure, making technology an interesting plot point alongside the family turmoil. Sligar’s character creation and portrayal of family and class dynamics are superb, adding to a realistic and gripping tale with a satisfying ending.

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Review

A Long Time Gone

by Brian Kenney

The third in Moehling’s Ben Packard series is far and away the best. Deputy Packard is off work—he’s on leave, pending an investigation into a shooting—which gives him the time to investigate some new information about the disappearance of his older brother, Nick, who left their lakeshore family home when they were just kids, never to be seen again. The new information attracts his mother, Pam, to northern Minnesota, as much to check in on Ben as to explore where Nick may be buried. Pam—one of Moehling’s greatest creations—is a New Age, crystal wearing, sex-positive, Wiccan practitioner who would like nothing more than to see Ben find a boyfriend and does everything in her powers to hook him up. While the search for Nick takes a bit of a back seat, Ben can’t help but pursue a far more expansive and contemporary investigation that exposes corruption among County officials. See why so many people were happy to see Ben out of the picture? Add to this another story, brief but hugely meaningful, that provides yet more information about Nick. It’s amazing how Moehling keeps all these narrative balls in the air, but even more amazing is how they eventually come together. For those who love classic mysteries, police procedurals, and family drama.

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