5 Thrilling Books To Read Past Your Bedtime

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

“Thrilling. . . . a must-read!” — Mary Kubica â€œMasterful.” — Wendy Walker â€œI couldn’t put it down.” — Joseph Finder

In a world of wealth and privilege, a killer is hiding . . .

The internationally bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish follows that success with an addictive novel filled with shocking twists about the aftermath of a brutal high-society murder.

Dr. Kate English has it all. Not only is she the heiress to a large fortune; she has a gorgeous husband and daughter, a high-flying career, and a beautiful home anyone would envy.

But all that changes the night Kate’s mother, Lily, is found dead, brutally murdered in her own home. Heartbroken and distraught, Kate reaches out to her estranged best friend, Blaire Barrington, who rushes to her side for the funeral, where the years of distance between them are forgotten in a moment.

That evening, Kate’s grief turns to horror when she receives an anonymous text: You think you’re sad now, just wait. By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll wish you had been buried today. More than ever, Kate needs her old friend’s help.

Once Blaire decides to take the investigation into her own hands, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems in Baltimore high society. As infidelity, lies, and betrayals come to light, and tensions rise to a boiling point, she begins to alienate Kate’s friends and relatives with her relentless, accusatory questions, as she tries to find Lily’s killer. The murderer could be anyone—friend, neighbor, loved one. But whoever it is, it’s clear that Kate is next on their list. . .

In The Last Time I Saw You, Liv Constantine takes the lightning pace of The Last Mrs. Parrish and raises the stakes, creating an exquisitely tension-filled and absorbing tale of psychological suspense in which innocent lives—and one woman’s sanity—hang in the balance.

The Last Time I Saw You by Liv Constantine is essentially a rich people thriller. The book opens up with a murder, the main character’s mother. What follows through the rest of the story is Dr. Kate English trying to figure out who murdered her mother while also dealing with some psychological terrorism. It seems as though Kate can trust no one. It’s too bad, because Kate has everything – wealth, a gorgeous husband, a wonderful daughter and a fulfilling job. The Last Time I Saw You is an enthralling read despite some characters that are hard to relate to.

So, when Kate’s mother’s funeral happens, her former best friend Blaire attends. She has not spoken to Blaire for fifteen years. However, Blaire picks up right where they left off and it is like an immediate closeness again. Meanwhile, Kate has received a couple dead animals and nursery rhymes. She’s scared that she’s about to be murdered next but has no idea who is doing it and so trusts no one, not even her husband. Actually, she does trust Blaire though.

Okay, so this book does read very, very fast. Like, it is the kind of book you could read in a day, if not a single sitting (where are all my fast readers at). However, I really did find it hard to connect or care that much for either Kate or Blaire. I guess it was a case of rich people problems, I could not care less. Focusing specifically on just the who committed the murder/big secrets being revealed/all that glitters is not gold aspects though, The Last Time I Saw You is so compelling. I like a good down fall and some good gossip. This book basically is like rich people gossip at certain parts. So if you’re into things like controversies, you’d definitely enjoy those parts.

You Are Not Alone by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks is everything I want a thriller book to be. It’s thrilling, OBVIOUSLY. The characters are compelling. I had an oh shit, SHIT shit SHIT moment while reading – which is just the best. I was so absorbed in this story. Now I feel like I do not need to write thrillers off as a genre. Plus, I am excited that there’s another book by this duo that I have yet to read - The Wife Between Us.

You Are Not Alone is about a young woman named Shay Miller who witnesses the suicide of another young woman named Amanda who leaps from a subway platform. She goes to Amanda’s funeral for closure but finds herself drawn to the sleek world of Cassandra and Jane. The sisters are glamorous and Shay really wants them to like her, as she is lonely and they are so cool. Unfortunately, them liking her may lead to her doom.

Thanks to Libro.fm, I had a copy of the audiobook to listen to as well as the eARC from Netgalley. Listening to the audiobook was an amazing experience. It is well produced. There are two narrators, Barrie Krenik and Dylan Moore. I was unsure which narrator was who – one was used for the Shay chapters and the other voiced all the other chapters for the other characters. The audiobook is 11 hours long basically and it goes by quick. I listened to this at 1.25 and 1.5 speed and LOVED it. If you want a good commute or road trip or exercise listen, grab You Are Not Alone. It’s absolutely excellent. I can’t wait for more from Pekkanen and Hendricks.

Try Libro.FM free through this link.

Mirror Image by Sandra Brown was QUITE the ride, I’ll tell you. When I cracked open this re-issue of the book originally published in 1990 I was expecting something along the lines of the movie Face Off, but truly I did not know what I was in for. This was my first thriller by Sandra Brown and I am absolutely on the fence about if I’ll read more by Brown.

Mirror Image is about Avery Daniels who is the victim of a plane crash. She survives but is mistaken for Texas Senatorial Candidate Tate Rutledge’s wife, Carole Rutledge. As Avery can’t speak or write she is unable to stop the facial reconstruction surgeon from giving her Carole’s face. While recovering in the ICU, someone comes into her room and says something about their plan to kill Tate on election night. So, Avery decides to just keep being Carole in order to protect Tate.

I do have to hand it to Brown, this book was very hard to put down. The plot has so many twists and turns. I could not guess who the assassin/master mind of the plot would be. And there’s a couple things that happen totally out of left field. On the other hand, I did find the slurs for people who are gay in this book to be distasteful. There’s also some racism towards Mexicans and Indigenous Americans. I feel like if you’re going to reissue a book from 1990, maybe clean that up a little? It’s not as though this is a book with classic commentary on anything serious, so I think it’s okay to edit that stuff.

I don’t even know how to begin this review of I’ll Be Watching You by Leslie A. Kelly except to say that was a real page turner. Despite being about 400 pages, I consumed this book in about 4 hours – all in one day. I did not quite love this book and again, I don’t know if I chalk it up to the genre or me. I am trying very hard to get more into the thriller genre, but more books are duds for me than fits.

I’ll Be Watching You is about this director Reece Winchester who sees Jessica Jensen through the security camera of his aunt’s art gallery and decides he simply must have her. Based on that line, you’d assume he is the stalker bad guy. Nope, he’s actually the romantic lead and the good guy. Reece and Jessica have this growing attraction but they end up getting shot at. There’s also a fire before all these events really take place. Oh and there’s stalking. There is revenge. Don’t forget the shady Hollywood characters with gross proclivities.

I left this feeling like the characters were a bit one dimensional. It would have been more appealing to me if we had gotten more of Jessica’s backstory. And maybe more interaction between Jessica and her sister Liza. Instead, there’s all these adult time scenes between Reece and Jessica which, okay, great, but that doesn’t lead to an interesting character driven suspenseful thriller. It’s just adult times. That’s all. I do appreciate that I’ll Be Watching You was such a fast paced book, but I don’t know that I’ll be returning to check out the other books in this series.

The cool thing about being a new reader to the thriller, mystery, suspense genre is that there’s this whole cadre of authors that I have yet to sample and now it feels like a buffet where there is so much I have not tried. Tess Gerritsen is an author where I have heard of her and absolutely have seen her books around. Plus there’s a TV show based on her Rizzouli and Isles books. So, when The Shape Of Night crossed my desk, I was eager to get to it. Apparently, not that eager, as I’ve had it for months and am just now reading it.

The Shape Of Night is a suspenseful book about a cookbook author named Ava who is spending the summer and a bit of fall staying in Tucker’s Cove. She rents this house called Brodie’s Watch at a steal because the previous tenant left very suddenly. Ava spends the summer working on her new cookbook that she will call The Captain’s Table while also trying to heal from a traumatic event that occurred New Year’s Eve back in Boston. Meanwhile, Ava is visited at night by the ghost of Captain Brodie and it gets very steamy. A bit too steamy for me.

The book gets suspenseful as we try to figure out if the ghost is real, what the traumatic event was with Ava and what happened to the previous tenant. Also, Ava may just be in danger herself. The Shape Of Night is a very quick and compelling read. The ghost bits were weird and just I was not into that at all. However, the sense of place – of Maine and Tucker’s Cove was fantastic. I thought Gerritsen really excelled with the setting. I did not care all that much for Ava or really her ending. And the whole danger bit was a little rushed for me. On the whole though, I did like this book and will be reading more from Gerritsen – especially when I need a book that is suspenseful with a fast pace.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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