Tag:

Suspense

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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Review

This is Why We Lied

by Jeff Ayers

Will Trent and Sara Linton’s honeymoon gets cut short in Slaughter’s latest page-turner. Will surprises his new bride with a trip to an idyllic lodge isolated from people and technology. At first, it’s lovely, and they tell the other guests that Will is a mechanic and Sara’s a teacher. That ruse dissipates quickly when the manager of the lodge, Mercy, is stabbed to death, and Will accidentally impales his hand on the knife. Everyone staying there is an immediate suspect, whether it’s the other guests with secrets or Mercy’s family, who all have a shady past. Verbal and physical abuse is as common as drinking water to these depraved individuals, and all of them had a motive to kill Mercy. Will finds a phone connection and gets his partner at the GBI, Faith, to help discover the true killer. The ABC show Will Trent was renewed for a third season, to premiere in January 2025. While fans wait for the show to start again, they can dive into this intense, disturbing, and fascinating story of depravity, betrayal, and hope. The surprise ending shocks and satisfies, and the next Will Trent novel cannot come fast enough.

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Review

The Last One at the Wedding

by Brian Kenney

I’m going to call it like it is: this is one of the best books of the year. Frank Szatowski—widower, UPS deliverer, and all-around good guy—gets a call from his daughter, mid-twenty-something Maggie, inviting him to her wedding in rural New Hampshire. The two have been estranged for several years, so this invite is a big deal for Frank, who brings along his sister (she’s practically Maggie’s mother). But from the moment they arrive at the incredibly lavish estate, nothing is what they expect. Maggie, it turns out, is marrying into a vastly rich tech family—think the Dells—and Frank’s attempts to connect to Maggie’s new family only succeed in making both him and the family members increasingly suspicious. Son-in-law Aidan Gardner is a recluse, accused by the locals of murder; Mom is hiding up in the main house, a drink- and drug-addled shadow of a woman; Dad is a complete control freak who enforces his own time system (seriously); and Maggie is the cheerleader, backing the families’ crazy decisions. Frank’s dialog—both internal and external—is one of the joys of the book, and Frank keeps discovering new forms of evil, like so many nesting Babushka dolls, as he investigates the Gardners. But will he be able to convince his daughter to leave? Strong characterization, a fascinating environment, and a good wallop of suspense makes for one compelling read. Relish it.

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Review

Dead Money

by Henrietta Thornton

Dead money is slang for wealth that’s held up by a clause in a will, and after Elon Musk-type Trevor Canon is found dead in his San Francisco tech-bro office, investigator Mackenzie Clyde finds that he recently had just such an amendment inserted into his will. A lawyer who now works as a sort of fixer at a venture capital firm, Mackenzie isn’t the most likely candidate to help the FBI with their case, but she’s ambitious and jumps at the chance when her boss wants to know what happened. Investigating Trevor’s associates is much more complicated than it should be. She’s also subjected to more exposed ankles in mens suits than she’d like, not to mention corporate babble like one associate’s drive to “leverage the leader that lays dormant within clients…to manifest a corporate identity in ways they’ve never crystallized” (snort). The FBI agent she works with, a rich kid who bucks the stereotypes of his upbringing, is having none of it, and together the duo relentlessly digs to the center of a technical and political tangle. Get ready for some startling revelations along the way. Lawyer and debut author Kerr was one of the first employees at Airbnb, and his absorption of the BS is our gain.

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Review

Den of Iniquity

by Jeff Ayers

After a long gap, Jance brings back former Seattle Homicide Detective, now Private Investigator, J.P. Beaumont, and, like a fine wine, Beaumont ages well. He lives in Bellingham with his wife, and when his grandson arrives out of nowhere and wants to live with them to finish school, Beaumont realizes that his family is not living the idyllic life he thought. His daughter and her husband are separated, his son-in-law has a new girlfriend, and the living arrangements were too much for his grandson to handle. When a friend from his past asks for help, he can’t say no. A death ruled accidental due to a fentanyl overdose was officially closed by the authorities, but those who knew the victim say he would not touch drugs. As Beaumont investigates, he discovers that there are more “accidental” deaths, and the truth is more complicated than he can imagine. It doesn’t help that he’s also investigating the new girlfriend who broke up his grandson’s parents, and records show she is not who she claims to be. All of this plays out in February 2020, as the world is about to shut down, creating an impending doom in which the reader knows what is about to happen and longs to warn Beaumont and his family. Jance’s mysteries are like comfort food, guaranteeing readers a great story with authentic and realistic characters that will leave them wanting more after the last bite.

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