Tag: Mystery

Book Review – A Fatal Grace

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny / Genre: Mystery

SYNOPSIS:

Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.

No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he’s dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?

With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.

THOUGHTS:

I really enjoyed this book! It’s the second in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series and while I liked the first book (A Still Life) a lot, I think this book was even better! I was happy that some of the characters from the first book were in this one as well and I got to know them even more. Anyone who has read these books probably mentions Ruth at some point in their reviews . . . she is quite the character and I hope I will see more of her in this series!

I will be honest in that I was able to figure out ahead of time one of the twists in the book. That didn’t disappoint me though because I didn’t see the ending coming at all.

If you haven’t started reading this series, I would absolutely recommend diving in. Reading them in order is probably the best way to read them (in my opinion).

I gave this book 4.5/5 stars.

Book Review – You Are Not Alone

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

You probably know someone like Shay Miller.
She wants to find love, but it eludes her.
She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end.
She wants to belong, but her life is so isolated.

You probably don’t know anyone like the Moore sisters.
They have an unbreakable circle of friends.
They live the most glamorous life.
They always get what they desire.

Shay thinks she wants their life.
But what they really want is hers.

Thoughts:

I liked this book and it kept my interest from beginning to end; however, there weren’t that many twists and turns in it and only one that I didn’t see coming. This is the second book I’ve read by these authors and I definitely liked the other book (The Wife Between Us) better. Don’t get me wrong, this book was good but I just don’t think it was as good as the first book I read by them.

I gave this book 3/5 stars.

Book Review – The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all–a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they’ve kept for years.

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family–a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist. 

Thoughts:

I absolutely loved this book! It had twists and turns right from the beginning and they continued throughout. The ending was awesome!! Can’t wait to read more by this author.

I gave this book 5/5 stars.

Book Review – The Chalk Man

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same.

In 2016, Eddie is fully grown, and thinks he’s put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank . . . until one of them turns up dead.

That’s when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.

Thoughts:

This book took me a bit to get into, but once I did, holy cow what a ride! I had to read it during the day because it is definitely full of creepy vibes. And let’s talk about the ending . . . blew me away!!! I’m definitely going to check out some of C.J. Tudor’s other books.

I gave this book 4/5 stars.

Book Review – The Turn Of The Key

The Turn Of The Key by Ruth Ware
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.

It was everything.

She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

Thoughts on the book:

I enjoyed this book. It was definitely a fast read and the chapters were mostly short which I enjoy in a book. I feel that there were parts of the book that felt a little drawn out. I did not see the twists coming at the end of the book and I actually had to read the first twist over again because I was so surprised as to what had just unfolded. I was a little disappointed with the ending of the book because I felt it ended abruptly and left me feeling like there were still questions that needed answering.

Overall, I liked this book and gave it 4/5 stars.

Book Review – Truly Devious

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Genre: Young Adult/Mystery/Thriller

This book centers around a private school in Vermont, the Ellingham Academy, where the wife and daughter of the school’s founder were kidnapped and murdered in the 30’s. The only clue was a riddle that was signed “Truly Devious”.

Flash forward to current day and we follow Stevie Bell. Stevie is obsessed with true crime and becomes a student at Ellingham Academy in hopes of solving the murders that took place all those years ago. One big problem is that Stevie thinks she sees a new riddle which is also signed by Truly Devious . . . how can that be?

This book reads really fast and I loved the cliff hanger/teaser at the end! I can’t wait to read the next book in this series.

I rated this book with 4/5 stars.

Book Review – The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Aiden Bishop has been given eight days to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. No one knows who Aiden is because each day he wakes up, he is in the body of someone else and the day of Evelyn’s murder begins all over again. If he doesn’t solve her murder in time, he won’t be allowed to escape back to his own life. Will he be able to trust everyone he encounters and will he be able to solve this murder?

It took me some time to get used to all of the characters in this story. The days also jumped around which was confusing until I got used to it. I will say, however, that once I was able to wrap my head around these things I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride filled with great twists and turns and an ending I wasn’t expecting!

I rated this book 4/5 stars.

Book Review – The Summer We Lost Her

The Summer We Lost Her by Tish Cohen
Genre: Mystery

This was a great suspenseful story about a parent’s worst nightmare.

Matt and Elise Sorenson are at their family camp in Lake Placid with their daughter, Gracie, when she is abducted. Their marriage is already on shaky ground and now they struggle with what their future may hold if Gracie isn’t found safe. In addition to Gracie being gone, Matt discovers a family secret that shakes him to his core. It had me routing for this family right up to the end!

I rated this book a 4/5 stars.

Book Review – Tell Me Everything

Tell Me Everything by Cambria Brockman
Genre: Mystery / Thriller

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book which comes out on July 16.

This book follows a group of friends at an elite college in New England. Malin, the main character has a family secret and she’s learned to be very good at hiding it from everyone and making them think she is concerned with those around her. We also find out that Malin is not the only one in her group of friends keeping secrets.

On Senior Day, the secrets of Malin and those of her friends are revealed and a chain of events take place that end in a murder.

I loved this book! It had me hooked from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down. I’m not a fast reader, but I finished it in 6 days which is very fast for me! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the Mystery/Thriller genre.

This book received a 5/5 stars from me!

May 2019 Wrap-Up

I was able to finish 2 books during the month of May. Both books were from authors that were new to me and one of the books was another ARC that I received through NetGalley!

In Total I read 837 pages and my average rating was 4.25 stars.

Full reviews of both books are in prior posts on my blog but short recaps of the books are below:

Miracle Creek
Genre: Mystery
5/5 Stars
From my Book of the Month subscription
The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams
Genre: Historical Fiction
3.5/5 Stars
ARC from NetGalley
Publish Date: July 9, 2019

Now that nicer days are finally here (we seem to have gone through a monsoon season instead of Spring here in the Northeast!), I’m looking forward to spending time out on my deck with a book in hand!

Happy reading friends!! 🙂