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Suspense

Review

The Inheritance

by Brian Kenney

Succession meets Canyon Ranch in this terrifying family reunion. The deeply complex and über-rich Agarwals family (parents, three adult kids, a daughter-in-law), with homes scattered about the map, have gathered together on an island off Scotland. The estate is owned by Myra, the oldest daughter. She’s putting the finishing touches on the conversion of the mansion into a luxe resort and wellness center, and losing buckets of money in the process. But for now it’s just the Agarwals’ playground. And there’s plenty to celebrate, including the parents’ fortieth anniversary (Shalini, the mother, is very needy) and the announcement by patriarch Raj of his long-awaited succession plan (he’s pretty arrogant). Narrated by both Myra and Zoe, the middle-class daughter-in-law who is a fake influencer, everyone’s dirty laundry gets exposed as they wait to see who gets the biggest cut of the pie. With the addition of some angry Scots—this is their land!—and the arrival of former family members, you have a recipe for murder that is certain to shock most readers. Here’s a clue: if the Agarwals motto is “family first,” where does that leave everyone else?

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Review

All the Other Mothers Hate Me

by Brian Kenney

She ain’t lying! All the moms do hate her. Because Florence Grimes is quite the unrepentant good-time girl who gets all the side-eye from the moms and smirks from the dads. She has a collection of lovers that’s like a deck of cards. Her get-ups are designed to provoke, at the very least. And her last, and only, job—years ago—was in a girl band that ended in humiliation. The one ray of light is her ten-year-old son, Dylan, who is a radical environmentalist and attends a fancy London all-boys school. But when Alfie Risby, Dylan’s bully and heir to a frozen-food empire, suddenly disappears during a class trip, and Dylan is the prime suspect, Flo starts to wake up and realizes that she is the only one that can save Dylan. Rich in satire, hugely funny, with a running wink-wink to the reader, this novel is pure comedic gold.

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Review

Nemesis

by Jeff Ayers

Hurwitz delivers another knockout thriller as Evan Smoak, Orphan X, deals with the fallout of his battle with the killer, Wolf. Missions to secure justice for those who can’t find it in other ways involve Evan distancing himself from personal feelings. This time is different, as someone he has known for a long time and who supplies his special gear has betrayed him, and now Evan needs to betray a code and eliminate someone he cares about. Tommy has a unique way of making things right, which conflicts with Evan’s core beliefs. He was Evan’s friend and confidante until he betrayed his friend by supplying the Wolf weaponry that almost put Evan in the ground. To make things even harder, Evan also must deal with his “adopted” daughter, Joey, who makes a mistake for the entire world to see on the Internet, putting their relationship on rocky ground. Evan has nowhere to turn but himself, as he is forced to fight and make amends with people who are closer than family to him. It’s a good day when Hurwitz has another Orphan X novel for us to devour, and this is perfect for thriller readers waiting for the next Jack Reacher to hit the shelves (but Nemesis is better!).

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Review

Whiteout

by Brian Kenney

I’ve always been a fan of ice thrillers, and Burnett’s Whiteout is perfectly terrifying in every way. When we meet Rachel, an Oxbridge scientist, she’s living alone in a tiny tent in Antarctica. She can’t reach anyone, and the only broadcast she can receive is a public service announcement from the BBC stating that there has been a nuclear attack and not to leave your home. But even if the world no longer exists, Rachel soldiers on, collecting samples every day, if only to retain a feeling of normalcy. There’s plenty Rachel doesn’t understand, but even more that the reader must struggle to put together. Add to this Rachel’s guilt-ridden memories of leaving behind her baby girl and husband and nature’s increasing violence that seems to want to destroy her, and you have a recipe for a meltdown. Burnett is a genius with pace, and the book gains speed as Rachel manages to push past one obstacle after another to the final confrontation. Pack all the down you have, you’re going to need it.

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Review

The Tokyo Suite

by Brian Kenney

A deep investigation into the lives of two women: a mistress and her maid. Maju is one of scores of the “white army,” maids and nannies in São Paulo; she cares for young Cora, whose parents pay the child little attention. Fernanda, Cora’s mother and a successful TV executive, is uniquely self-involved; even when Maju and Cora disappear one day, Fernanda can’t stop obsessing over an affair she’s having long enough to focus on her own daughter’s abduction. Dad, meanwhile, has pretty much checked out. But once Fernanda does realize her daughter is gone, her whole world begins to cave in. Maju and Cora, meanwhile, have boarded a bus for a multi-day trip that Maju barely plans—they have limited food and money—and that begins to unravel after the first day. Each woman is confronted by a harrowing series of events that forces them to confront maternal guilt, poverty, and society’s expectations.

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Review

Follow the Butterfly

by Brian Kenney

Appreciate dark psychological thrillers packed with twists and turns? Then this book is for you. Clarissa Virtanen, a renowned but troubled therapist, who remains guilt-ridden over the death of a young patient, takes on Ida, another young client. Ida is one disturbing young woman: angry, damaged, messed up, full of suicidal ideations. But Clarissa believes she can help Ida, providing that Ida agrees to refrain from self-harm for six months—enough time for Clarissa to unlock her past, learn her secrets, and save her. But what Ida has in store are murderous secrets that she’s been harboring for years, and that may well be Clarissa’s undoing.

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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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