Tag:

Thrillers

Review

Such a Perfect Family

by Henrietta Thornton

Tavish Advani has found an idyllic new life. He’s newly arrived in New Zealand, having eagerly left Los Angeles to live with the love of his life, Diya Prasad, in her home country. But Tavish can’t leave behind a dogged LA cop’s suspicion that he caused the deaths of several women he was involved with there. When a fire consumes the lavish home he lives in with Diya and her wealthy doctor parents, is he responsible? The savvy local police officer assigned to the case thinks so. Case notes by that officer and the LA cop who still suspects Tavish of murder are sprinkled throughout the story of the young man’s desperate efforts to clear his name and will lead readers to think that the legal picture doesn’t look so good for him. But as the details of Diya’s earlier life with her family and their friends unspools, a toxicity emerges that makes things far less clear cut. A suffocating family is perfectly drawn here, and Tavish’s early life has its own surprises; with the brilliant twists bestselling Singh drops in, it all adds up to a gripping tale.

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Review

A Killer in the Family

by Willy Williams

Ali Azeem is a successful Mumbai wedding photographer, but, to his worried Ma, his life will only begin when he marries the right Ismaili Muslim girl. However, on his first arranged meeting with pretty and reserved Maryam Khan, the daughter of New York real-estate tycoon Abbas Khan, Ali is attracted, not to Maryam, but to her divorced older sister, the sensuous and mercurial Farhan. Still, because of his father’s financial difficulties, Ali agrees to the match with Maryam. After the wedding (a marathon, multiday affair vividly described), the newlyweds move to Manhattan, and Ali finds himself in a glamorous world of money, power, and prestige. But the naive bridegroom soon learns that beneath the glittering surface lie dark family secrets. Farhan, with whom Ali has embarked on a torrid affair, warns him against her domineering father: “Papa is a monster.” What is Abbas’s connection to the serial murders of young Indian women in Queens, as Farhan implies? Shifting between Ali’s first-person narrative and Farhan’s diary entries, Ahmad skillfully builds page-turning suspense with carefully plotted twists and red herrings that keep readers guessing until the chilling conclusion. His exceptional thriller is also a layered portrait of an immigrant family that has made it big in America and the moral costs paid for this success. With rich character development (Farhan is larger than life) and emotional storytelling, it’s hard to believe this is a first novel.

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Review

Antihero

by Jeff Ayers

The search for a missing young woman forces Evan Smoak, also known as the Nowhere Man or Orphan X, into a rabbit hole of dark depravity. Is he strong enough to escape? Teaming up with those he can trust most, Evan learns that the woman had a seizure on a subway train and was kidnapped by a gang that specializes in making content for an adult entertainment site. After Evan finds her and gets her medical help, she wants justice, but also wants Evan to promise that he will not kill the gang members. Promising not to put them into the ground goes against his instincts and training, but he agrees. As he pursues the gang, he also has to battle himself to balance the mix of craving violence to achieve his goals and the need to be a human with a handle on his emotions. Who knew caring could be so difficult? Hurwitz does a terrific job maintaining the fast pace while exploring the people that Evan loves and the brutal world he inhabits. This is the perfect place to start for newcomers to the series, while fans will eagerly want to see what happens next. Hurwitz and his antihero get better with each book.

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Review

The French Honeymoon

by Henrietta Thornton

Through the alternating viewpoints of the newlyweds and someone who’s watching them, we follow the unhappy Paris honeymoon of Olivier and Cassie and the time before and after it. Olivier’s time in Paris is a reluctant trip home, given that his tenuous immigration status means that he shouldn’t have left the U.S. But spoiled Cassie, who seems mainly to enjoy the trip as a chance to look glamorous on Instagram, insisted. What Cassie wants, Cassie gets, especially since their marriage is Olivier’s ticket to a life outside France and his gigantic debts there. The person following their every move and Cassie’s every social-media post can see that things aren’t as perfect as Cassie would have her followers believe and delights in the obvious discord. This look at the Paris sojourn alternates with the story of the couple’s short time dating and the aftermath of their immigration-fueled decision to wed, when they live with Cassie’s sister in the family’s former inn. It’s far from the cozy getaway spot and possible moneymaker that Cassie described, adding to the feeling that both parties here have been had. The crime-filled ending of the honeymoon, a twist readers won’t see coming, and life back home deliver on the promise of the increasingly dark relationship and save tantalizing reveals until the very end. Try The Paris Apartment while you wait for this absorbing thriller.

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Review

Trust No One

by Jeff Ayers

Sharyn Karr, an American student studying at the University of Exeter, wants nothing more than to focus on her postgraduate work involving witchcraft and folklore. A professor she admires gives her a book with a strange cover and inscriptions, telling her to hide it and trust no one. Shortly after, she learns that the library where she was given the book caught fire, and her professor’s burned remains are found. Since she was the last person to see him alive, she’s the primary suspect. Sharyn and some of her friends attempt to solve the mystery surrounding the book, which was supposedly handwritten by enigmatic eighteenth-century mystic the Comte de Saint-Germain. They will dodge bullets, fight treachery, and play detective in various parts of the world while staying one step ahead of ruthless killers determined to obtain the volume at all costs. Fans of Rollins will find his terrific blend of historical facts, relentless action, and relatable and realistic characters on full display. Newcomers to this master of adventure will read this in one sitting and then will want to dive into his earlier novels. Trust this reviewer, and get Trust No One.

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Review

The Insomniacs

by Henrietta Thornton

The three insomniacs who first meet online and then at an all-night New York City diner have more in common than their tossing and turning. They’re each living a life that’s a lie. Famous baseball player Zeke believes he can only do one thing well—pitch—but isn’t sure he wants to do it anymore. Quiet older gentleman Julian is hiding his stressful past as an FBI agent. Sybil, a protective mom to the group, wants more than the stay-at-home life she quit medicine for. And the biggest lie of them all is that of the waitress they befriend, Betty, who pretends her parents are dead and her past is unremarkable. Flashes to her younger years reveal that she grew up the child of an abusive cult leader, and how she found her way to New York is a gripping plot point that grows in prominence as her insomniac customers try to help her. You’ll stay up late reading this cross between Maeve Binchy-esque strangers-becoming-family story and Tara Westover’s Educated, and fall in love especially with the Zeke and Sybil dynamic.

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Review

Silent Bones

by Willy Williams

Book of the Week September 11, 2025

When a mudslide blocks a highway near Edinburgh, the debris also exposes a skeleton with a damaged skull, indicating signs of murder. Detective Inspector Karen Pitrie and her Police Scotland Historic Crimes Unit are called in to investigate. It’s spring 2025, five years after the traumatic COVID-related events of Past Lying. Research indicates that the skeleton, soon identified as that of freelance journalist Sam Nimmo, was buried back in 2014 when the road was constructed. At that time, Nimmo was the prime suspect in the killing of his pregnant girlfriend. Was his death an act of vengeance? Or was his investigation into a possible sex scandal connected to the 2014 referendum for Scottish independence the motivating factor? Pirie and her team also probe the so-called accidental death of a hotel manager with ties to a mysterious book club called Justified Sinners, whose members are wealthy, entitled men. Flavoring her writing with colorful Scottish slang, McDermid combines compelling, intricate plotting with strong character development. It’s nice to see DC Jason Murray developing his sleuthing skills and confidence under Karen’s patient mentoring, while talented but impulsive DS Daisy Mortimer occasionally still irritates her boss. The unsettled ending may disappoint some readers (real life is not always so neatly tied up), but McDermid’s passion for justice shines through.

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Review

The Italian Secret

by Danise Hoover

In a spectacular example of a post-war noir novel we have Billie Walker, a hardboiled PI following in her father’s tradition, with her specialty helping women out of terrible marriages by finding evidence of infidelity. The Sydney, Australia PI has a loyal and supportive staff, an attractive police officer to back her up, and a mystery in her background. In her father’s files, she finds an old picture, taken in an Italian town near Naples, of him, another woman, and a young girl. There follows the suspicious death of a client, a sea voyage with her mother to Naples, vendettas, the search for her father’s other family, and a deadly chase through the tunnels under the city. This is non-stop action, with an authenticity of mood, clothing, travel detail, and attitude that makes it special.

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Review

The Tumbling Girl

by Henrietta Thornton

In the acknowledgments to this immersive debut, Walsh explains that she took a novel-writing course partly to convince herself not to write this series opener; readers will be happy that she went ahead anyway. Walsh drops us deep into the world of Minnie Ward, who writes music for Victorian London’s Variety Palace Music Hall. The shabby venue hosts a plate spinner whose dressing room sounds like breaking crockery and sobs, a soprano who only sometimes hits a note, a wayward monkey that likes to have its way with the ventriloquist’s dummy, and other downmarket wonders. When kindly detective Albert Easterbrook is hired to find the killer of a young woman who worked at the Palace, it brings him into Minnie’s world. She’s not content to sit on the sidelines of the investigation—she knows far more than Albert does about the workings of her realm, not to mention that those he needs to question aren’t going to open themselves up to a “toff.” While working through his exasperation with headstrong Minnie, Albert begins to fall for her, a situation she rebuffs as it will never work out—class divides loom large here. Their sometimes-parallel, sometimes-together work exposes both to dangers and horrors that will keep readers rapt; a side plot involving a serial killer who is terrorizing London closes the book and creates an opening for a sequel, which readers will eagerly await.

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Review

Five

by Jeff Ayers

At 7:01 AM on an ordinary day, five people with significantly different backgrounds arrive at a London subway platform. One will die when the train arrives at 7:06 AM. Is it the gambler, a young man who can’t seem to shake the need to burn money for his habit? The child, a violent boy who takes pleasure in other people’s pain? The suffering mother who can’t seem to control her unruly kid? Or perhaps the old woman whose upbringing makes it difficult for her to convey emotions? The businessman whose quest for power overshadows his family obligations? As time ticks down to what is inevitable, Bannister explores the stories behind this unique group. Readers will choose favorites among them, rooting for some to succeed while wanting others to be lying on the tracks and hit when the time comes. The story the author has woven, and the way she delivers it on the page, is a stroke of genius that shouldn’t work, but it does. Bannister forces us to realize that everyone we see every day has a background that reflects how they became who they are. We all have a story. Five is worth the leap and will make a terrific audio experience as well.

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