Tag:

Suspense

Review

Serial Killer Games

by Brian Kenney

It’s dark. It’s humorous. And everything about it is completely unexpected. Dolores dela Cruz has been on the lookout for a serial killer, and Jake Ripper fits the bill. A temp in her office, Jake is charming, handsome, and in possession of a pair of classic “strangler gloves.” What more can you ask for? Jake, meanwhile, is smitten with his mysterious colleague, from her severe wardrobe to the abuse she occasionally dumps on him. Slowly, the relationship between the two morphs into a morbidly intense but weirdly romantic obsession. The dialogue—a good part of the pleasure this book offers—runs from full-on snark to flirtatious banter. And while there are plenty of those head-swiveling moments suspense readers love, more shocking is the tenderness that grows between the two. Are we dealing with real murderers here, or do some serial killers just want to have a little fun? Weird enough to appeal to a broad swath of crime fiction readers.

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Review

The Language of the Birds.

by Henrietta Thornton

Arizona’s beloved father, the only one besides her mother and precious dog, Mojo, who really got her, died recently in a motorcycle accident. He was on a solo ride while mom and Arizona stayed in the trailer they travel in while the 17-year-old is being homeschooled. Mom and Arizona—who seems to be on the autism spectrum—are back in Bodie Historic Park, the California ghost town near where the accident took place, planning to spread Dad’s ashes. Arizona is barely holding things together as it is, she misses her father so viscerally, but things spiral out of control even further when her mom goes missing. It’s hard for Arizona to trust others at the best of times. But when it’s clear that harm may have come to her mom, a realistic and touching new friendship is a chance for readers to watch the girl force herself to open up to another. This is an inwardly focused book, with debut novelist Merson taking us inside Arizona’s sharp mind and exploring her feelings at having to depend on others while pushing relentlessly to uncover what happened to her family. A sparkling debut; readers, including young adults, will definitely want more from this new author.

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Review

Deep Beneath Us

by Danise Hoover

Tabitha is compelled by the spiteful actions of her ex-husband to move back to her childhood home. This is not a cozy, safe space as one might hope. It is a sort of compound: two schoolhouses on different sides of a reservoir, one occupied by her family, the other by her uncle’s family. In the past, four cousins, Tabitha the youngest, ran and played like a pack. But her mother is an unstable artist, her father and uncle killed themselves, and her sister and cousin married each other at age 16. Now, cousin Davey purportedly dies by suicide as well, leaving his property to Tabitha. But is that what really happened? Davey’s two cronies, along with three smart teens, use skills learned from TV crime dramas and DNA analysis to get to the bottom of it all. The characters are captivating, the atmosphere is dark and dour, and the wretched weather contributes to the overall tone of the book. The novel is set in Scotland and the use of Scottish dialect and expressions is sometimes daunting, but never gets in the way of the telling. To say that the plot here is a tangled mess may be an understatement, but the untangling is a treat.

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Review

The Memory Ward

by Jeff Ayers

Mailman Hank Davies lives in the small town of Bethlam, Nevada, and delivers to the same people every day. It’s predictable and consistent. One morning, he accidentally trips over a tree branch, and one of the envelopes opens, and he can see the letter inside. The page is blank. He secretly opens a couple more letters, which are also blank. When he talks to his wife, Iris, about the mystery, she shrugs it off and reminds him he needs to take better care of himself and not stress over trivial things. After Hank’s accident, his doctor warns him to take things easy. As Hank begins questioning his life and memories, a neighbor comes by in the middle of the night and says, “You can’t trust them. They mean you harm.” This cryptic message sends Hank on a perilous journey, questioning everything and everyone in his life. But if he learns the truth, it won’t set him free: It will destroy him. Bassoff weaves a tale that mixes Ira Levin with the best horror films, where you want to yell at the screen to warn a character of what is about to happen. This novel is an atypical chain, in which the more the story twists, the tighter the chain becomes instead of unwinding. Readers will not be able to put this book down until they learn the mystery behind the façade.

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Review

Such a Good Mom

by Henrietta Thornton

There’s more medical follow up for a sprained wrist than for having a baby, Brynn Nelson notices. She tells everyone she’s fine after her son’s birth though she’s very far from it. Every other sleepless new mother does just fine, she thinks, so there must be something wrong with her. Her husband, Ross, loves the time he spends with his son but it’s a few moments here and there and he has no idea of the deep pit of fear his wife is in. Brynn has more or less lost touch with her own mother since staying on Martha’s Vineyard with her well-off new in-laws while her poorer parents moved off-island. She’s now firmly a Nelson, and when Ross tells her a family secret after a young woman’s body washes up on the beach, Brynn finds that she has much more facing her than the exhaustion and fear of new motherhood. This thriller excels in portraying the social dichotomy that is life in an expensive resort town, a split that’s echoed throughout the book in breaks between Brynn and her family of origin, the break between the life she could have had if she had chosen another boy and this one, and her life pre- and post-motherhood. Absorbing and satisfying.

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Review

Not Who We Expected

by Jeff Ayers

Black mixes her knowledge of crime-scene analysis with the terrifying world of cults in her latest thriller. Billy Diamond, a legend in the music business, approaches forensic analysts Rachael Davies and Ellie Carr, who run the prestigious Locard Institute, a research center. His daughter, Devon, went on a retreat with her boyfriend, Carlos, and neither came back. When Carlos’s body is found near the ranch, and his death does not appear to be accidental, Rachael and Ellie work out a plot to learn the truth. Ellie goes to the retreat as a recruit, while Rachael tries to understand how Carlos died. Ellie feels comfortable at first, but the more she learns, the more terrified she feels. And the person she’s supposed to find, Devon, appears to have no interest in leaving and might be the cult leader’s number two in the organization. Black handles suspense like a pro, and every element of the story is unpredictable, with misdirection, manipulation, and challenging of the reader’s expectations. The cult and everyone following Galen, the leader, come across as realistic and sympathetic. Readers will understand why these people are devoted and not questioning what’s really going on. Familiarity with the previous books is unnecessary, and be prepared to say after finishing this novel, “That was not what I expected.”

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Review

Famous Last Words

by Brian Kenney

An expert novel of incredible suspense. A moving love story. And certain to be one of the best books of 2025. Camilla (Cam) wakes up early one morning only to find that her husband, Luke, has disappeared, he’s left a rather ambiguous note, and no amount of telephoning or texting is bringing him back. But enough about him. This is also Cam’s first day back from maternity leave and their nine-month-old daughter’s first day at nursery. Enough anxiety? Well, there’s more. Cam is just getting settled into her publishing job when she sees footage of a hostage situation in Central London. Then the cops arrive at her office, wanting her to identify herself. Luke’s being held hostage? Horrifying. But no, actually. He’s the hostage taker. Now don’t think I’m giving away the plot, this is just the beginning of a story that spreads out over years, confronting how you can love a spouse whom the world believes is a criminal. Who manages to disappear for years after killing two of the hostages, but never manages to contact you. A man who you think you know, but can’t help and wonder if your relationship was built entirely on lies. But hang in there. The resolution—when it does come—is as shocking as it is gratifying. By the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick Wrong Place Wrong Time.

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Review

The Quiet Librarian

by Brian Kenney

As a single, 47-year-old librarian in Minnesota, Hana Babic leads a quiet life. Until one day when a police detective stops by the library to inform her that her best, and really only friend, Amina, has been murdered. Hana and Amina share a history that extends back to the Bosnian War, when Hana witnessed the rape and murder of her entire family by Serbian soldiers, murders Hana swore to avenge. Joining Bosnian militia fighters, Hana transformed herself into a fierce warrior who became known as the deadly Night Mora—a legend among Serbian troops. But with a price on her head, she eventually poses too much of a risk to her fellow soldiers, and is sent to the Bosnian community in St. Paul to reinvent herself. Amina’s murder decades later does more than just reawaken Hana’s horrible memories. It convinces her that she is being hunted, and to survive, she must reawaken the Night Mora, drawing Amina’s murderer into a trap. Written in chapters that alternate between Bosnia in the 1990s and present day Minnesota, the book eventually merges into one astonishingly powerful narrative that is nothing less than genius. Like Eskens brilliant The Life We Bury, this would make an excellent choice for a book discussion, especially since many participants will know nothing about the Bosnian War. Eskens includes scenes of sexual violence and other war crimes.

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Review

Saltwater

by Brian Kenney

“Let me tell you about the very rich,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald. “They are different from you and me.” And Kathy Hays’s Saltwater does a spectacular job of illustrating not just how they are different, but why. Back in 1992, Sarah Lingate—a Lingate by marriage, not blood—took a tumble down the cliffs behind the family’s villa in Capri during their annual vacation. She left behind Helen, her three-year-old daughter; Richard, her madly controlling husband; and other relatives and hangers-on. Was Sarah pushed or did she jump? Pushed is what most of the island thought, but with their vast resources, the old-money Lingates were able to insure that her death was ruled an accident. Thirty years later the Lingates, like so many swallows, are making their annual pilgrimage, as though to prove to the world that they are beyond public opinion. But as one disturbing incident after another occurs—who sent them the necklace Sarah wore to her death?—cracks and fissures begin to show. Written from three points-of-view: that of Helen, who desperately wants to escape from the family; Sarah, speaking right before her death; and Lorna, a personnel assistant who has disappeared, this novel creates a world and then takes it apart, in the most shocking of ways. For readers who enjoy contemplative crime dramas.

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Review

The Ones We Love

by Henrietta Thornton

The Jansen family is newly arrived in LA from Melbourne, Australia. Janus, the father of the family, is sure the screenplay of his successful novel will be their fortune. Things take a very sinister turn when daughter Liv wakes with a hangover and bruises, and her parents seem furious with her. Her bedroom is padlocked shut—it’s the law, Janus and wife Kay say, because there’s a mold issue. Son Casper suspects that there’s something much worse afoot; his parents won’t talk to each other and barely seem aware of him, and that locked room is suspicious. Liv herself can’t remember anything but starts to catch on that there’s a problem when her friend who was out with her on the mysterious night in question won’t return texts. What happened? That’s carefully revealed in a tense psychological thriller that masterfully examines love and fear from every angle. The fully fleshed out teenage characters make this a solid YA crossunder. Get it on your TBR list!

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