Archeology student Greer Dixon is about to find her life’s purpose on a dig that becomes personal. Her professor is much more than he seems, leading her into a world unseen by most for a royal battle for good. This debut novel blends elements of the occult with romance and family relationships, as it draws the murder of Greer’s mother into her heroic role against ancient evil.
Detective Annalise Vega mixes personal with business when she is put on the case of a murderer who must be a copycat of the serial killer who murdered her mother. The victim is a member of a sleuthing group investigating the serial killer. The series following Detective Vega is off to a good start. If you like murder mystery series with a tough, emotional detective, I think this will suit you. I recommend the series based on the first story. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher Minotaur Books through NetGalley.
After an unexpected inheritance, struggling artist Layla ends up on a road trip with her half-sister, who was raised by their father, a man many years in prison and completely estranged from Layla. She may finally learn the details of her mother’s death, and perhaps find a second chance at family. Castrodale keeps up the adrenaline with the ambiguity turning Layla’s heart around and the terrifying people connected to her father. I recommend this story I was fortunate to receive from the publisher Imbrifex Books through NetGalley.
A real-world game pulls people in and gets them killed. There’s something wrong with the game that’s causing the world to rupture. For some reason, the narrator is the savior of the game, though he appears to be the only one unaware that he is actually playing the game. Like most of the story, the climax is smoke and mirrors, as if the main character awakes from a dream at the end. This book feels like gorging on junk food and ending up in a stupor of satisfaction despite the queasiness. Like the answer to a secret taken to the grave, it leaves the reader with a suspended sense of closure, prolonging the unease of real-life unanswerable questions. For some reason, this works for me, and I really wanted the game to be real despite the death toll, because that would never happen to me, right? Read this book and explain it to me! I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher Del Ray Books through NetGalley.
This book started off with a great story of a young boy caught in an impossible situation, a black teenager killing a Klansman in self-defense in 1913. The second section, a young woman unknowingly marrying a mobster, began another storyline that intersected tangentially with the first. This was really two distinct stories, both good, but not related enough to be in one novel. It tries to be historical fiction by mentioning historical events, but the characters are not really affected, just referencing them. Even with these niggles, the characters are solid, interesting, and endearing, even the ones who struggle the most to be good, and I recommend it for that alone. It’s really like getting two stories in one, actually. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the author through NetGalley.
There are a lot of twists and turns in this story of two missing women and a girl. My niggle is that the plot twist came out of nowhere, with no hints to back it up and provide the reader with that aha moment, so it didn’t come across as credible as it might have. Kubica is great at representing the messy, ambivalent, guilt-ridden emotions of human nature. I definitely like her work. I just wish she had led up to her climax more ambiguously, so that her red herring didn’t come across so clunky. I do recommend her for her storytelling talent. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher Park Row through NetGalley.
I will read anything by Mary Kay Andrews. In her latest, Letty takes her niece from New York to a little motel in Florida after finding her sister murdered. Letty discovers her sister’s past and a potential romance that she cannot allow herself. Andrews tackles big subjects with a light touch, making this an easy beach read that’s hard to forget. I always recommend her work. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
This is a nice thriller with flawed characters that keep you wanting to yell at them to stop being so careless. It felt like watching CSI or NCIS renegade agents. There are some excellent scenes, like Sloane getting almost eaten by Big Bill in the pond, but overall. I’d recommend it if you like crime series, though this one at least is a decent standalone. I received a digital copy from the publisher Thomas & Mercer through NetGalley.
In this Agatha Christie-esque cozy mystery, two young women’s deaths set an unofficial investigation by the family into motion. Captain Jim wishes to help his friend, and maybe get closer to his sister, who demands to aid in finding out who killed her sisters-in-law. Though the romance feels a bit forced, and unrealistic (even Captain Jim knows it), the story is entertaining. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher Minotaur Books through NetGalley.
Claire is marrying into money and finding out even before the wedding exactly how far his family will go to maintain their reputation . At the family villa, isolated off the coast of Italy, with a storm killing power, Claire doesn’t know who to trust as those around her are killed. This is an excellent thriller and I highly recommend anything by J.T. Ellison. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher MIRA through NetGalley.