The Night Stalker - Chris Carter

 

This is the third book in the Robert Hunter series and we're back following Hunter and Garcia when an unidentified woman is found dead.  The cause of death is unclear - she has no signs of injuries or wounds except her mouth and vagina have been sown shut. A few days later, another body is found with similar stitches and the investigation heats up and leads Hunter to cross paths with a private investigator who is working a missing persons case.  Hunter suspects the killer might be abducting and keeping multiple women hostage at one time, getting rid of them one at a time. In order to find the killer, Hunter must find the link between not only the victims but also the unique signature of the killer.

TW/CW: stalking, abduction, domestic violence

Being the third book in the series, Carter really feels like he's found his stride.  As with the previous books, we get an interesting and ingenious killer as well as some gruesome deaths.  However, we didn't get as much of the killer on page as I would have liked. 

This killer hit on some very specific fears of mine which meant that there were a few scenes which I found genuinely scary.  Obviously, your mileage may vary with that particular point.  More generally, I did find this killer a bit more grounded and solid than the killers in the previous books.  We don't see a lot of the killer on page but the little we do see don't make him seem like some sort of almost super-human psychopath.  The kills felt much more technical and less intense than the previous killers - the kills had a bit of a Saw vibe to them where the killer was removed from the deaths. I think having the bodies be found with not even a scratch on them was an interesting choice that really highlighted how different this killer is from the previous ones we've seen in the series. The first two books in the series were pretty heavy on the on-page gore and while this might not be as outwardly bloody, the kills are certainly not for the faint of heart. 

I really enjoyed the characters in this entry, but it felt like we pulled back from the team dynamic and instead were following Hunter on his own a bit more.  I really that the plots in these books are following the same pace as publishing them (approximately 1 year between books).  However, this means that we are missing a lot of character development between books.  Hunter and Garcia are partners all year long, not just when a particularly gruesome case pops up.  They've been working together for 3 years now and have a really great rapport that I just wanted to see more of this time around.  We do get some really great scenes with them together and they're getting real close to the "finish each other's sentences" level of partnership.  I just wanted to see them more together and get some character development that way instead of seeing Hunter being moody and then going off on his own to investigate. We also get the PI character who I really liked but didn't feel like she got enough page time to really create a full character.  I would have liked to see her and Hunter teaming up more - again, looking for Hunter to be more than just a lone wolf.

The investigation worked really well for me but I think there were some places where it dragged on just a bit too much between reveals.  Also, we had a ton of moments where one character would discover something, basically say "OMG, is that what I think it is" and then the chapter would end and we'd have to wait longer to find out what they found.  This might just be a pet peeve of mine, but I find this a very artificial way to build tension and suspense, especially when it is done so often. I'm on board when it happens occasionally and makes sense in the plot (an example would be when Hunter suddenly realized where he recognized someone from and then had to rush off to find Garcia).  But it felt like most of the clue reveals were done in this manner and I just got annoyed with it.  The reveals aside, the actual plot of the investigation was well done and I enjoyed the amounts of red herrings/dead ends we got.  I think the investigation plot was very logical and didn't overly rely on Hunter being a super genius to figure things out. 

Overall, this was a really solid entry in the series and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the 4th book next month.

The Wild Girls - Phoebe Morgan

 

This isolation thriller follows a group of four friends as they reconnect over a long birthday weekend.  Grace, Alice, Hannah, and Felicity were best friends until one night, two years ago.  After the events of that evening, the friend group fractured and they haven't been in much contact since - until they all receive invitations for Felicity's birthday party at a safari lodge in Botswana.  Flying from London to Botswana for a long weekend may seem excessive, but the friends are eager to catch up and maybe even mend their friendship.  Everything looks great upon their arrival until they start to realize there's no sign of a birthday party, barely any phone signal, and no other guests or staff.  They're on their own and that is when things really start to go wrong.

TW/CW: sexual assault, sexual assault by a family member, miscarriage, forced sterilization, stalking, domestic violence

The first 50% of this book was fantastic. The characters were intriguing, the setting was atmospheric, there was a perfect slow trickle of information as well as growing sense of unease.  Then Part 2 opened and all of that building and layering and work that Morgan did in the first half was, for me, basically instantly shredded. I read an ARC, so there is a possibility that things could change for the final version, but based on what I read the first 1/2 was shaping up to be a 5 star read and then the second 1/2 felt like it was still actively being drafted and was a few versions behind the beginning. 

My favorite aspect (and the main reason I requested to read an ARC of this) was the messy friend group.  Messy friend group + isolation thriller = (almost always) a 4 or 5 star read. It is trope candy for me and I think it is because I do prefer character-focused thrillers.  We know that there was some even 2 years prior that caused the friend group to basically dissolve but the reader doesn't know exactly what happened.  We do get multi-POV from mainly 3 of the friends - Grace, Alice, and Hannah and each of them have slightly different thoughts about what happened that night.  I always like getting multi-POV in these types of books and I think each of the friends were interesting in their own way so I didn't have a preferred character to be following.  Morgan did a fantastic job of really giving each of them their own voice so it was easy to tell them apart.  I did find it strange that Grace's chapters were told in 1st person while Alice and Hannah's were told in 3rd person and each time we would switch from one to the other it took my brain a page or two before I got back in the groove.  I really enjoyed how we got to see the cracks in this friend group even when they are all trying to focus on being happy to be back together but little side comments really needled at their relationship.  I really wish we got more of this slow breakdown of the friend group throughout the book instead of the structure that we ended up with (that I'll complain about further below).

The pacing almost killed this read for me.  The first 50% of the story was great.  We got this slow build up of excitement as these characters were getting ready to leave their normal lives to go on this vacation/birthday party. Then as tensions rise when they realize this vacation isn't exactly as advertised and I was 100% on board.  We get more and more hints at what happened on the disastrous night 2 years prior but I felt like I was gathering each new scrap of information and trying to put together the answer before the book could give it to me (which I love!).  Bodies start dropping and I'm ready for this book to really kick it up a notch when it grinds to a sudden stop and we flash back to 2 years prior and see the events of the evening play out.  Now, suddenly, we're removed from this high-tension setting and situation that we were getting really deep into and we're starting this new part of the book in a pretty mundane place.  We do, eventually, get some good tension in this flashback portion, but it takes a long time to build it back up.  And, more annoyingly, I felt there were a good many details that didn't really have any impact on the plot.  Sure, it was more background info on the characters and their dynamics, but that new information didn't really expand on the characterization or their actions.  In this section of the book, we do find out a pretty big piece of information early on but we have to sit through pages of what feels like pretty mundane conversations before that big reveal comes into play.  So just when I think the pacing is going to pick up and have some shit hit the fan in the story, it gets dragged out and by the time we actually see the impact play out on page, it doesn't have the same emotional impact.  We do, eventually, get back to the present day plot in the lodge but by that point, I had lost my emotional connection to that story line so I didn't really care how things got wrapped up.  I think this was a case where if we really wanted to see the whole night in flashback format, having alternating chapters of the different timelines I think would have been much more effective. 

Almost all of the CWs I listed above come in in the last 1/3-ish of the book so it ended up feeling like a huge info dump of all these traumatic experiences.  And, of course, traumatic things don't always need some sort of big meaning or outcome to them - sometimes shitty things happen.  However, the way in which these reveals were framed made me feel like I should have been more affected by them than I actually was.  I don't think we got to see enough of the characters to make some of these reveals really hit the emotional point it felt like Morgan was going for. For example, the forced sterilization reveal. When we get this information, it was shocking and surprising, but then the plot moves on in basically the same way it would have even if the character was just infertile through a natural condition instead of a forced medical procedure. So, since the traumatic and shocking element didn't seem to make much of an impact to the character and plot overall, it felt unnecessary. This happened a number of times where we didn't see enough of this character's life to really make these reveals mean anything in terms of the current plot.  Also, there weren't any breadcrumbs in the early part of the book that I could point to and say "ah, character X does Y because of A trauma".  If these reveals were maybe done earlier as sort of a red herring situation where we think maybe a certain reveal will end up being the reason people are dead, then I could see them working much more effectively.  However, since they come pretty close together in the last 1/3ish of the book, I was expecting them to have much more weight to the plot instead of them being more like sprinkles of extra background information for the reader. 

I really enjoyed the setting and thought it was a nice way to refresh the typical isolation thriller locales of a snowed in cabin or creepy family manor.  The descriptions we got were borderline over-done but I enjoyed them because Morgan was really able to imbue a particular atmosphere with her descriptions.  That being said, I wish more was done with the setting. At the end of the day, from a plot perspective, this plot could have happened in pretty much any isolated location.  It could have been a birthday party on a private island or in a secluded mountain cabin. The main tension the setting provided was that the characters were far away from their relatives and the cellphone service was spotty.  Again, no points that make the setting stand out.  I'll admit, I was hoping someone would get eaten by a lion.  I was expecting the setting to play a much bigger role in the mystery of the deaths - was character A pushed or did they accidentally fall in the crocodile infested river, as an example.  Also, while I could picture the lodge pretty well as far as the decorations and scale, I really could have used a map because what I was picturing wouldn't have exactly allowed some of the plot points to happen.  A non-spoiler example would be that when the friends arrive to the lodge that first night, they find a table decked out with food but they haven't seen any staff members or anyone else around who could have laid out such a feast.  What I was picturing was a large lodge, where there were only a handful of large rooms but in order for that type of situation to occur, I would think the lodge would have to be either much larger or have many more rooms than I was picturing.  This sort of mis-match in my brain made it so I wasn't quite able to latch on to the proper level of creep-factor that I think Morgan was going for.

Overall, I think this book had a lot going for it but it really fell apart for me.  I loved the first half and would almost recommend people to read up to the beginning of Part 2 and then stop and just let your imagination fill in the rest.  

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC

Expected publication date is April 26, 2022

The Devil Crept In - Ania Ahlborn

 

This supernatural/creature horror follows 10 year old Stevie as his cousin (and best friend) Jude goes missing.  Stevie and Jude spend all their free time together, running through the woods surrounding the town of Deer Valley, Oregon.  Stevie is convinced Jude just got sidetracked and is working on a fort or something in the woods.  However, when the days start to pass with no sign of Jude, Stevie starts to get worried, especially when the town starts to whisper of another boy who disappeared years prior - only a pile of gnawed on bones left of him.  The inhabitants of Deer Valley have always known their town was a little off, but they mostly shrug it off.  Stevie is determined to find out what really happened to Jude and in doing so, he just might find out more than he bargained for.

TW/CW: animal death, death of a child, death of a parent, kidnapping, miscarriage, pregnancy, domestic abuse, blood/gore, mental illness

This was my first read from Ahlborn but it won't be my last.  This book worked for me in basically every way and as this is one of her lower-rated books on Goodreads (3.63/5 average), I'm excited to read more from her soon.  I always like to read through reviews when I've finished a book and there were two main points that kept coming up in reviews that were lower-rated - Stevie's character being annoying and the Part 2 storyline being cliche.  For both of these, I can see why some readers would say that but those aspects really worked for me (as I'll explain later). 

The characters and narrative voice really go hand in hand in this story.  It is told in 3rd person POV and, for the majority of the time, we are following Stevie very closely.  However, as it is 3rd person, we do hop around a bit and follow some of the other characters.  This hopping does cause a bit of a disconnect, at times, but really just took some getting used to on my part.  Since we are following Stevie so closely, we get a lot of information filtered through a 10-year old boy's perspective.  For example, Stevie goes to the movie with his older brother and his brother's girlfriend who end up doing some hand-sexy-times in the theater. Stevie can see, but doesn't know exactly what is going on so he describes his brother 'adjusting himself' as if his pants were too tight.  Stevie also has a history of some sort of un-diagnosed mental illness or medical condition.  We are told he had occasional hallucinations and has verbal ticks such as repeating himself or speaking in rhyme, especially in moments of high emotion.  That, combined with the usual overactive imagination of a 10 year old boy, makes Stevie a somewhat unreliable narrator.  His emotional responses to situations can feel very over-the-top and he has a very child-like disposition of not being able to understand the 'why' behind certain decisions.  For example, when his mom doesn't want him talking to a certain character because Stevie might upset them if he asks too many questions.  Stevie thinks that the character should want to talk to him about what happened because his mom always says it is good to talk about hard things. This disconnect between the reader and Stevie can make the narration and some of Stevie's choices come off as annoying.

The pacing and structure of the book was a little slow in the first 1/3 but picked up after that.  There's a good amount of set up and repetition in that first section where we're seeing Stevie and how he experiences the world and Jude going missing.  I think this beginning is really where Stevie only being 10 years old is a bit of a hindrance to the overall story because he (and, as a result, the reader) aren't getting a lot of details about Jude's disappearance or how the search is going.  We see Stevie asking a lot of questions, but not getting a lot of answers. He somewhat starts investigating, but hits some pretty significant walls early on that an older character probably wouldn't have.  Then, once the pacing starts picking up with some big reveals, everything grids to a halt when we get Part 2 of the book which switches away from Stevie to a whole new POV.  Initially, I was annoyed at this switch because it is coming 1/3 of the way through the book with no previous indication that this would be a dual POV read.  I love dual POVs, but I was already so set in Stevie's POV that this Part 2 really threw me off.  However, this Part 2 really kicked off pretty quickly and I could see how it would tie back to Stevie eventually.  I think the choice to have Part 2 POV shift so dramatically paid off in the end, but in the moment it really killed any forward momentum we had with Stevie.

The horror elements were fantastic. I really loved the gradual shift from the horror being unknown and possibly not even real to being so incredibly vivid. I think Ahlborn did a great job taking those pretty standard kid-level fears of shadows in the dark or the one creepy house in town and really elevating them to the next level. Sure, the storyline introduced in Part 2 of the book has been done before and even as someone new-ish to the genre, I could list off a handful of other examples of that same storyline. From reading reviews, some readers were looking for more originality from this plot aspect and were disappointed.  Maybe it is just because I don't read/watch horror widely, but I thought the focus being on Stevie for the majority of the book was a bit of a new twist on this particular trope.  I also think seeing this particular trope in an extended timeline type situation was new enough to pique my interest.  In my (limited) experience, this trope is usually cut off at a certain point (I can't elaborate due to spoilers).  However, in this case, we see how this trope might look in the time after that very popular cutoff point and I liked that exploration.  There is a good amount of pretty descriptive animal deaths in the book which, for me, were getting close to bordering on excessive.  It didn't quite tip too far, but there's a particular aspect of the animal deaths/maiming that becomes important to the plot later and I think I just picked up on that aspect pretty early on so I didn't quite see the point to continuously showing this on page.  However, the characters in the story need some more time to put together what, exactly, is going on so we keep getting these details until everyone has caught on.  The escalation of these more gory elements did up the tension and stakes for our characters which, once we're in the last 10% of the story, really made it so I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. 

Oof, that ending.  I've been gradually reading more horror and the endings are almost always a gut-punch.  I read so much romance (where there's always a happy ending) or thriller/mysteries (where there is, most likely, a happy-ish ending).  So when I do read a horror (which almost never has what can be called even remotely a 'happy' ending), I find myself hoping that the last 10% of the book isn't going where I think it is going.  This was no exception.  I kept checking the % at the bottom of my tablet, hoping there was enough book left for everything to work out okay.  It didn't end up going exactly where I thought it was, but it ended in a much more heart wrenching way than I was expecting.  While the book ended exactly how it needed to end, it wasn't, necessarily, satisfying in an emotional way like I was hoping for - but it was satisfying from a plot perspective.  The epilogue was the perfect way to wrap up some loose ends and give the reader some context as to what happened in the years after the main events.  There are some questions that never get answered, which may annoy some readers.  There was also a moment in the epilogue that really opened up the ending to maybe some different interpretations which I really liked.  This really felt like the type of ending where you want to find people who also read it to see what they thought of it.  

Overall, this was a great read for me.  Maybe some very seasoned horror readers would find it a bit unoriginal but I was invested pretty much from the beginning.  The opening 1/3 is a bit slow, but things ramp up quickly after that.  I loved Stevie as our protagonist and loved watching him come to realize and understand, as much as he could, what is happening in his town. Great horror elements and I really couldn't imagine a more appropriate ending than what we got.

Romance Wrap-up 3/1/22 to 3/15/22

 Take a Hint, Dani Brown - Talia Hibbert

This is the second book in the Brown Sisters trilogy and follows middle sister, Dani.  She's a PhD student and is solely focused on reaching professional success with only time for some casual stress relief (no strings attached / friends with benefits sex). After her latest friends with benefits caught feelings and ended poorly, she asks the universe to send her someone perfect for her particular needs.  Zafir is the security guard for the building Dani teaches in and when Zafir rescues Dani from a fire-drill gone wrong and the whole thing is caught on camera and posted to social media within minutes, the two agree to fake date and use the situation for their own gains. Of course, the universe isn't letting Dani get away that easy and soon, the two are entangled in feelings that seem more and more real every day. This was perfection.  I loved Dani and Zaf even more than Chole and Red (which I didn't think would be possible).  They worked so well together and even their friendship seemed like a perfect match. This is a friends to lovers where the friendship really feels rock solid before the relationship starts.  I absolutely loved how Zaf's anxiety was woven into the story and how he and Dani navigated that part of their relationship.  I also adored Dani and her attitude in life - if she wanted it, she would work for it until she got it.  I liked how she was the more forward one in their fake dating scheme and kept the relationship moving forward.  These two are the pinnacle of accepting your partner for who they are and agreeing to work together to make the relationship work.

TW/CW: death of a family member

 

The Date From Hell - Gwenda Bond

This is the second book in the Not Your Average Hot Guy duology and picks up soon after the events in the first book. Callie and Luke have been spending more time together - both on Earth and in Hell.  Callie has big ideas for how to improve Hell and after proposing one such change to Lucifer, she and Luke find themselves tasked with chasing a wayward soul around the globe.  If they can prove this soul can be redeemed, then Lucifer will consider their proposal.  This soul - Sean - was a thief in his life and has no intention of stopping now that he's back to Earth.  Instead, Sean wants to steal the Holy Grail. Now Callie, Luke, and their friends an enemies are chasing after Sean on his Grail quest - the outcome of which could have consequences of celestial importance.  This was a great finish for Luke and Callie's story - it gave me everything I liked from the first book and a bit more romance.  I'd categorize this as a paranormal rom-com romantic suspense.  I loved the more in-depth look we get of Callie and Luke's relationship now that they're a few months into their dating and working together to win Lucifer's challenge.  Some of the details that Lucifer throws their way are meant to test (and Lucifer is hoping, break) their bond, but they mostly bring Luke and Callie closer together which I really liked.  I'm so glad we got to see more of the secondary characters from the first book as well.  This had a good amount of puzzle-solving (as did the first) and I loved how the worlds of Heaven and Hell were more developed. I, just like the first one, wish we had more cutesy romance moments on page between Callie and Luke.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is April 5, 2022

A Very Vegas St Patrick's Day

This is the third book in the Very Holiday series and follows single mom, Cora, and notorious wild card, Nolan.  Nolan and Cora meeting by chance in an airport bar and spending 5 days together while she's traveling for a business trip.  They don't exchange last names or any significant details about their lives. They both understand this week was a casual fling, but neither can stop thinking about the other - Nolan especially.  So when fate brings them back together, in Vegas, and they get tipsy-married, Nolan isn't letting Cora go easily.  They agree to hide their marriage and date for a month to see if they have the same chemistry in the real world as they do in a hotel room.  This was fantastic and I loved how we got to see Nolan falling hard and fast for Cora.  We've seen Nolan pop-up in the previous 2 books in the series as the wild cousin who is always down for a good time.  He's more of the same here, with him being a bold and shameless flirt.  I loved how we see his character change even during that first 5 day stretch with Cora and then even more when he realizes just how much he could see himself being with her long term.  I loved his relationship with Cora's son and how difficult it was at first.  I think a lot of times in romances, the kids are usually pretty young and fairly easy for the new person to win over.  In this case, Cora's son was 10ish and he wasn't giving Nolan an inch he didn't earn.  I do think the conflict was a little forced and over-reacted but with the big Oceans 11 ending love declaration, I couldn't be too upset.

Getting Schooled - Christina C Jones

This is the first book in The Wright Brothers series and follows youngest brother, Jason, and Reese.  Reese is the grad assistant for her mother's English class and Jason is one of the students.  The two get off to a rocky start after butting heads over a paper grade - neither willing to back down. But as the semester continues on, their lives becoming increasingly intertwined and soon that sharp banter turns more playful and they actually find they might be just about the best match for each other. I really enjoyed this shorter, low angst read. I loved how Reese fell in love with Jason's writing in the class before even really knowing who he was.  I think both of them had such interesting backgrounds that they didn't immediately seem like they'd be a match on paper, but they just worked together so well!  I loved how the verbal sparring went from being serious to more and more playful as the story progressed.  Jones does a great job at getting the subtle differences across in writing.  I loved how much we see of the side characters, especially Jason's brothers.  I really enjoy when we can see our MCs talk about their feelings with their friends and get a different perspective on the relationship.  I do wish we got a little more of Jason and Reese actually dating and building their relationship once they made it official.  I can't wait to continue on in the series!

The Sun Down Motel - Simone St James

 

This mystery/suspense takes place in Fell, a small town in upstate New York.  In 1982, Viv Delaney finds herself in need of a place to stay for the night and agrees to be the new night clerk for the Sun Down Motel in exchange for a temporary room.  She wasn't planning on staying in Fell for long, but something about the town and the Sun Down intrigues her and she stays for a few months until disappearing without a trace.  Now, in 2017, Viv's niece Carly comes to Fell in the hopes of finding some connection to her aunt and finds herself also working as the new night clerk.  Carly initially only planned on this trip taking a week or so at most but when strange things start happening at the Sun Down and Carly picks up a thread of what might have happened to her aunt, there's no way she's leaving the Sun Down until she uncovers the truth.

This was a phenomenal read and I can see why it had such a large following when it was released in 2020.  This was a fantastic mix of mystery, suspense, and supernatural horror in the perfect ratio for me. I loved all the characters and how the dual timeline and dual perspectives were used to keep the reader engaged in the story from start to finish.  This has been on my TBR for quite some time but I needed to let the hype die down a bit.  I very much look forward to reading more from St James soon!

We get alternating chapters throughout the story from Viv in 1982 and Carly in 2017 and initially, I thought Carly's chapters investigating her aunt's disappearance would be more interesting.  However, I actually found myself drawn to Viv's chapters as she was working on her own investigation.  I really loved how the two timelines were similar enough to draw some great parallels between them but still each engaging enough on their own.  I also liked how, of course, we get some overlap with Carly finding out something about Viv and then we see that exact same thing in Viv's chapters.  However, since Carly is sort of working backwards from the disappearance to try and figure out what happened to Viv and Viv's chapters are going forward in time from when Viv arrived in town the two plot lines don't exactly match up.  I think this does make the overall story more interesting and I really loved when Carly starts putting everything together because the reader has all the information from reading Viv's chapters.  I read the audiobook and they used different narrators for Viv and Carly which I always like. 

The mystery elements were interesting and the investigation on both plot lines didn't feel like a typical mystery with red herrings and twists and dead ends.  Instead, they felt more like a scavenger hunt where each nugget of information answered part of a question but left enough of a question for the characters to move on to search for the next nugget of information. They then had to puzzle all these pieces of information together and figure out how they all fit.  I, generally, don't mind this format of mystery and I think St James does a fantastic job of laying out all the clues in a very logical manner.  I didn't feel like any of the investigation jumps were unearned or came down to just dumb luck so it really felt like the endings of both timelines were worth the wait.  

I completely was not expecting the supernatural horror elements to be in this book.  We see them almost immediately and I was shocked initially (especially since I was listening to the audiobook) but them I was 100% on board. I think having both Viv and Carly work the night shift was a fantastic way to guarantee they'd be at the  I absolutely loved how the horror elements were a pretty consistent source of tension throughout the book. We do, slowly, get the background of the horror elements and where they come from, which fit nicely into the mystery investigations.  I also loved the slow escalation of danger that these supernatural events gave us since the mystery aspects were pretty low-stakes (at least initially).  The supernatural elements also fit well into the ending resolution in a really satisfying way.

I really loved all the characters we meet in both timelines.  Fell is a town that seems to attract lost people and people who are searching for something in life so all the characters are all flawed in their own way.  Viv, Carly, and all the secondary characters were all so interesting and came together really well.  I liked the idea of all these characters finding themselves and each other at just the right time.  This read had a 'found family' trope feeling to it with these somewhat loners coming to work together.  While we do get a good amount of information about the side characters, most of the character development is focused on Viv and Carly. I thought it was really nice how Viv and Carly's stories were so similar, especially since Viv disappeared before Carly was born.  It gave the story an almost fantastical feeling, at points, because we can see these two relatives traveling the same path, taking the same steps, 35 years apart.

The ending was more bittersweet than I was expecting but I really liked where both plot lines ended up.  There were a good number of twists but I wasn't really surprised by any of them necessarily because St James would almost spoil the twist, in a way, before we got it.  For example, at one point there is a piece of evidence found and a character is so incredibly sure the evidence is X.  They keep saying over and over that the evidence was X and it was what they were looking for all this time.  So, of course, knowing that I still had a good chunk of the story left at that point I knew the evidence wasn't X and then, a few pages later, it is confirmed the evidence was not X but was, in fact, Y.  So while the evidence being Y was a twist, the heavy handedness that St James made the one character go on and on about the evidence being X made me immediately suspicious and thus made the twist less of a surprise. At that point in the story, I was very invested in these investigations so as soon as the evidence was revealed, I also immediately thought it was X so, again, having the character go on and on made me immediately suspicious.

Overall, this book worked for me in pretty much every way.  I loved the way the mystery and supernatural elements went hand in hand.  The characters were all flawed, but I really enjoyed the feeling of them coming together to solve the mysteries.  I was intrigued from start to finish and I love the way the ending came together.  I'll be reading more from St James soon!

The Resting Place - Camilla Sten

 

This psychological horror/suspense/thriller follows Eleanor after she witnesses her grandmother's murder.  She came face to face with the killer as they fled the scene but Eleanor can't identify the killer because she has prosopagnosia - or face blindness. Eleanor's relationship with her cruel grandmother is complicated, but not being able to help find her killer and knowing that the killer could be right in front of her and she'd never know causes Eleanor's anxiety to spike, leading to stress-induced hallucinations. Months after the murder, after Eleanor got some psychological help, a lawyer calls and advises of an estate deep in the countryside that her grandmother never told Eleanor about.  Now, Eleanor, her boyfriend Sebastian, her aunt Veronika, and the lawyer all meet up at this house to inspect and inventory it.  The longer they stay there and more hidden secrets they unearth, the more they come to understand why the house has been left abandoned for over 50 years.

TW/CW: suicide, miscarriage, infidelity, child abuse

This was a really interesting blend of psychological horror, suspense, and thriller.   Some aspects were more successful than others but overall this was a really great creepy read.  We have a somewhat rundown estate in the middle of the wilderness, a snow storm blowing in, and uncovering unsavory family secrets from the past.  I just want to mention one pet peeve of mine that was really prevalent in this story - we have 3 characters with names that start with M and 4 characters with names that start with V.  For some reason, this just really bothers me and makes it harder for me to keep the characters distinct in my head.

I think the psychological horror portions of the book could have really been developed more.  We're told that a few months prior, Eleanor was having stress induced hallucinations and ended up staying in a mental health facility for a while.  We're told she's doing better now but when she mentions how she thought she saw someone out in the woods the first night, Sebastian is hesitant to believe her and thinks she's just getting too worked up with memories and grief of her grandmother.  This makes sense in the grand scheme of the story, but it falls a bit flat because we're in Eleanor's POV and she never really questions herself.  She's pretty much certain what she is seeing and experiencing in the house is real but just stops mentioning things to Sebastian because he thinks she's just getting stressed.  I think if we got more of Eleanor also questioning herself and her own mind it really would have upped the horror elements.  As it stands, this really felt more like an isolation thriller and less a psychological horror.

The thriller elements, I thought, were really well done.  I really enjoy a good isolation thriller and this book really hit the spot.  It really reminded me of Alice Feeney's Rock Paper Scissors with the tense interpersonal dynamic, snowy setting, and eerie feeling that our characters aren't alone. I feel like I could read a thousand snowy isolation thrillers and I'd never get tired of them. I think there was such a good gradual build up of the thriller elements where each character sort of came to the conclusion on their own that they might be in danger and then when the snow traps them at the house, they find out of their fears are correct. I also enjoyed how the thriller elements built on elements and places we'd seen in less-threatening situations.  For example, we see Eleanor and Sebastian exploring the estate grounds early on and then later, when they're trying to figure out what is going on and if they're in danger or not, we see them revisit the same places but now they have a much different tone.

There's a dual timeline element that worked fantastically.  I'm a big fan of dual timeline stories, especially when it isn't immediately clear how the two timelines will cross.  In this case, we're following Eleanor in the present day and also 1965 following a maid in the home.  The 1965 timeline starts off pretty mundane, but quickly becomes more interesting as we get more secrets revealed.  Some of these secrets Eleanor discovers as well but some she doesn't so the reader has some extra information at times.  Taken on their own, each timeline could be a bit slow but I think the simple act of flipping back and forth between the times allows the pacing to feel a bit quicker and more interesting.

Where this book lost me, a bit, was the ending.  We had a good amount of tension built up by that point but then when it comes to the actual ending reveal and twist, the pacing felt like it ground to a halt.  The actual twist, on paper, was good but just the way it was executed and the amount of exposition needed in that moment to put all the pieces together ended up really slowing down the story.  There's also a pretty significant time skip in the ending where I was a bit confused.  We get the big climax of the ending and then sort of skip over the resolution/come down portion and then to right to the epilogue.  I had so many questions that were really more logistical than actual plot holes but I still would have liked maybe a chapter with some of this information to act as a gentle calm down for the reader.  I did like the way Eleanor's face blindness came into play with the ending.  Her condition is really important in the set up of the story and then I sort of forgot about it in the middle.  It didn't feel, to me, like her face blindness was used as a crutch or 'easy' twist for Sten to use which I'm always concerned about when this particular condition is used in a thriller. 

This is the second book I've read from Sten and I really enjoy the way she writes character group dynamics in these isolated settings.  Both books I've read by her include a small group of characters who are somewhat connected, but often all members don't know each other super well which leads to some great tension moments.  In this case, Eleanor is a bit estranged from her aunt and the lawyer is a complete stranger to everyone in the group.  Despite only being in Eleanor's POV, Sten does a great job of giving us a good amount of characterization of the others in the group through their interactions.  For example, Eleanor's aunt wasn't initially going to come but once she's in the house where she has memories from her early childhood, she becomes almost wistful at times which is a stark contrast to the person Eleanor knows. I really loved the ramp up from little snide remarks and hidden digs to when the gloves are fully off and each character is done with trying to keep things civil. I would have liked a bit more interpersonal drama before we get the outside threats taking over.

Overall, this was a fantastically atmospheric read.  I loved the creepy atmosphere of this snowy, isolated estate. The character dynamics were spot-on and the thriller elements worked well.  I do wish the ending was a bit snappier and that the psychological horror elements were a bit more developed. Sten is quickly becoming an auto-read author for me and I look forward to reading more from her in the future. 

 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC

Expected publication date is March 29, 2022

Originally published in Swedish.  English translation by Alexandra Fleming

Secret Identity - Alex Segura

 

This literary mystery follows Carmen Valdez, an assistant at Triumph Comics in 1975.  Carmen has loved comics since childhood and followed her dream of one day writing a comic all the way to NYC from her childhood home in Miami.  She's tried pitching multiple ideas to her boss at Triumph, with no success.  But then one of the writers at Triumph who Carmen is friendly with enlists her help creating a new character.  And not just any character, but Triumph's first female superhero.  The writer wants to keep Carmen's involvement a secret, planning to reveal her as a co-writer later once the comic is successful.  But before any of that can happen, he is found dead and all the scripts they worked on together only bear his name.  Through her grief and frustration, Carmen starts piecing together what happened to him and if he was actually a friend to her at all.  

TW/CW: infidelity, suicide

Unsurprisingly, the comic industry aspect is key to the story and I think it was woven really well into the plot.  I'm a pretty casual fan of comics - translation: I like watching the movies/tv shows that are being made recently but I've never really read comics - so I really wasn't bringing in any sort of background knowledge or personal history to this read.  So of course there were things about the comic industry that I didn't know but Segura did a great job of trickling in this information to the reader.  There was a pretty lengthy set up to this book (we don't see the body drop until about the 40% mark) and that long set up time gave the reader plenty of space to get acclimated to this setting and these characters. We get to see not only Carmen's interactions with the people at her office, but we get a good sense of the industry as a whole.  I really enjoyed some of the more philosophical conversations about comics and their impact on society as a whole.  Based on the acknowledgements at the end of the book, Segura did a ton of research and talked to a lot of people about this time in the comic industry and I think that amount of care and dedication really comes through in the story.  There were many times where this really felt like a love letter to comics and what they can mean to people even if they aren't considered 'high literature'.

I absolutely adored Carmen as a character and thought she was so well developed. As I mentioned previously, we spend a good amount of time being introduced to this world and Carmen before the real meat of the plot gets started.  Segura uses this lead time to really immerse the reader in Carmen's character and her view on the world she's moving through.  We get to know her experiences as a woman in the comic industry in the 1970s but also get to see how her love of comics propels her forward in her day to day.  We're introduced to her parents back in Miami that she is semi-estranged from for a reason to be discovered later. We see her walk this tightrope of knowing how much she can speak up at her office and give her opinions on the comics, writers, and artists before she crosses some invisible line of propriety. By the time she accepts the deal to co-write a comic, the reader has seen just how much the day to day grind is slowly crushing Carmen's spirit and passion for the industry.  The first 1/3 of the book or so really reads more like a literary fiction where we're following this woman through her daily motions and interpersonal interactions.  The character development doesn't stop when the mystery kicks in, if anything, both the reader and Carmen discover new aspects to her character.  

The pacing for this story wasn't exactly what I was expecting but I think it was successful overall.  I thought that this would be more of a noir mystery set in the 1970s so the long lead in was throwing me off a bit.  I wasn't bored at all, but there was a sense of waiting for the shoe to drop because we're told in the description that there's a death that Carmen investigates.  I don't know if the official description has been changed from when I saw it initially on NetGalley, but I think calling this a literary mystery is a much more apt description.  We don't get a body drop until about the 40% mark and Carmen doesn't start investigating in earnest until about 60%.  Coming from the mystery side, that is very late to have the actual mystery start and it did make me worried that maybe the ending would be rushed (more on that point later).  However, with the framing that this is more of a lit-fic with a mystery element the pacing felt a lot more natural.  As I said above, I really enjoyed the long set up following Carmen in her day to day and learning about the comic industry.  But if readers were, like myself, expecting this to be a more traditionally paced mystery story they might be a bit disappointed.

Despite my previous note about the mystery not starting until really the 60% mark, I think Segura pulled off a pretty intriguing mystery.  It definitely wasn't as twisty and complex as I was expecting, but it still had some good dead ends and reveals in the investigation.  I think the narrative moved very seamlessly from lit-fic to mystery without shifting in tone or style which was great.  Carmen's investigation was interspersed with more of the daily grind scenes that we've been getting all along.  I think in a lot of mysteries, the investigating character often 'loses themselves' in the investigation and sort of shuns all other aspects of their lives until the case is solved.  In this case, we see Carmen still showing up to work, talking with her roommate, etc.  I really enjoyed how all the information we got early on in the story does come into play in the mystery investigation rather than the solution being completely out of left field.  I do think the actual investigation was wrapped up pretty quickly and I, personally, would have enjoyed a few more twists.  

Overall, this was a really fantastic read.  Carmen is an incredibly compelling character and I loved being so immersed in the world of comics.  I do think the pacing and mystery were a little different than what I was expecting, but they worked out well in the end (especially once I re-framed my expectations around this being a literary mystery). 

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC

Expected publication is March 15, 2022

The Vatican Secret - David Leadbeater

 

This is the first book in the Joe Mason series and follows Mason as he is tasked with being a body guard for a professor and his daughter.  They plan to spend a few days in the vaults of the Vatican, studying the dusty tomes.  For an ex-MI5 operative like Mason, the job sounds dull and below his skill set.  However, soon Mason and his clients find themselves caught in the crossfire of a clandestine group stealing the Vatican's most treasured possession - a book of secrets.  Now, Mason and the rag-tag crew he assembles are on a race across countries to find this group before they can reveal the book's secrets and, potentially, bring down Christianity as we know it.

On NetGalley, this was described as Dan Brown meets Jack Reacher and I could 100% see that is what Leadbeater was going for.  Unfortunately, I think the combination ended up not quite hitting what I was looking for on either end (but this would vary reader to reader). With this being the first book in a series, there was a good amount of character set up and introduction.  The way the book ends, it sounds like we will follow multiple of these characters into the next book in the series, not only Mason.  I did read an ARC so maybe some things have changed for the final version, but I found the beginning really rough and a bit hard to get through but by the last 1/3 of the book, I was invested and I think I would read on in the series in the future.

The most successful part, for me, was by far the action sequences.  Leadbeater is phenomenal at writing clear and thrilling chase sequences, shootouts, and hand to hand combat scenes.  I don't read a ton of 'action' books but the action scenes we get in most thrillers pale in comparison. I found Leadbeater's writing style to be incredibly straightforward on a line by line basis, but each line builds on the previous one and come together perfectly.  We are mostly following Mason during these altercations but Mason is constantly tracking and checking on his allies so we do get some pretty crowded scenes.  However, I never once had to backtrack or re-read a section to figure out who was doing what.  Also, the scenes themselves were varied enough that they never felt repetitive despite the majority of this book being these action scenes.  These scenes all read very cinematic to me and if this book was made into a movie, I'm pretty sure they could just do a shot-by-shot copy of the action scenes and it would be fantastic.

I really enjoyed the dual POV aspects of the book but they did mean some of the mystery aspects were gone.  The book opens with the leader of the secret group organizing the theft on the Vatican. From there, we're mostly following Mason and his group, but we do continue to get chapters following the leader of this group.  This felt very similar to The DaVinci Code where we get the occasional short chapter from the antagonist perspective but in that book those chapters still had a good amount of mystery to the reader.  We weren't sure who, exactly, the antagonist was or what they wanted.  In the case of The Vatican Secret, we basically get the villain monologue right from the beginning so there isn't much mystery left for the reader.  It was moderately interesting, at first, to follow the 'bad guys' in their planning but the stakes weren't really high enough for me to really feel drawn into that plot line. 

I really grew to like the characters by the end of the book, but the journey to get there was a bit rough.  The characters all have their own baggage that was pretty significant, especially given the backgrounds of the characters (most ex-military in some form).  I could see what Leadbeater was going for with these backgrounds and how the current situation would build on the backstories of each of the characters.  However, these backgrounds never felt like they really came into play during the action portions of the story.  Instead, they seemed to only come up when there was a lull in the action like when they are traveling to their next destination.  Knowing the backstories now, I would have expected that the characters would have been much more dramatically affected by them and they would have had a direct impact on the current plot.  For example, one character is described as being a rumored alcoholic and we see them drink pretty large quantities on page often but it never hinders that character's performance.  Which, sure, that could be seen as the character being so good at what they do that they know their limits, but when we get the reason for the drinking, that doesn't explanation doesn't really work.  Also, these characters felt like they were way more open with their backgrounds than I was expecting them to be especially considering the circumstances.  By the end of the book, we have most of the down and dirty details of all the characters which makes me wonder what else, character-wise, will be revealed in later books in the series.  I think if some of these reveals were turned down a notch or two, it would have given the reader a good enough idea of some aspects while also still leaving a bit of mystery to be revealed in later books.  All that being said, the group of characters Mason puts together worked really well and had fantastic chemistry.  There were some really great banter moments and I thought the slow team building was done really well. 

The pacing was all over the place which made this a rough read.  The action sequences were really fast paced but then once our characters escaped the situation, the pacing ground to a halt.  Then the characters would sit around just long enough to get some character explanation in and then we'd be on to another action sequence.  Now, of course the book can't be all action start to finish, but the sudden start/stop of the pacing was really jarring.  For example, our main group would walk into an area where they needed to find something and everything would be nice and calm until suddenly once of them would spot someone who looked suspicious and then it was an instant chase scene until our main characters get away and then they're suddenly back at the hotel ordering room service. A bit more lead in or calm down period would have smoothed out these pacing changed much better.  

The mystery elements and clues they had to follow to find the clandestine group were, honestly, pretty boring.  The steps were the same at each new place they went and then when they found the clue, they'd hide out somewhere so the one character could dig through some research before putting the pieces together and announcing to the group where the next clue would be.  In this story, Mason is literally just hired muscle so I understand why he doesn't have all this background knowledge on historical landmarks or facts.  However, since we are only in Mason's POV, the reader gets left out on a lot of the mystery solving parts.  Maybe if we got the POV from the character who was solving all the clues, it would have been more interesting.  Also, for a book that is literally called "The Vatican Secret", there were a lot fewer secrets revealed than I was expecting. The ending and seeing how all these clues came together was moderately satisfying and it left off on a "I don't think that's the last we'll be seeing of them..." type of ending so hopefully more secrets will be revealed in later books in the series.

Overall, I think this was an interesting beginning to a series but there was just too much jammed into this one book.  The action sequences were fantastic but I wish the character reveals were handled much more delicately and left some intrigue to be revealed in later books.  I did really grow to love the group of misfits that we're following and I think their chemistry together was great so I'd look forward to reading more in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC

Publication date was March 3, 2022

Romance Wrap-up 2/16/22 to 2/28/22

 Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

This is the first book in the Written in the Stars series and follows Darcy and Elle.  They're set up on a blind date by Darcy's brother (and Elle's business partner) but what starts out as drinks and dinner quickly devolves into the worst first date either of the women have had.  They part ways, both planning on never seeing the other again.  But when Darcy tells her brother that she and Elle hit it off, she convinces Elle to go along with the fake dating scheme.  Of course, as they spend more time together, it becomes increasingly clear that these opposites have more in common than they initially thought. I really enjoyed this romance and loved how complex Darcy and Elle's characters were. I really liked how they were opposites, but not in a caricature type of way. I loved how they each brought their own expectations and past histories into this new relationship in very different ways and how well they complimented each other.  The slow burn of the physical part of their romance was perfection so when they finally take that next step, I was cheering them on.  The side characters were well developed and I'm so excited that we get Darcy's brother's story next in the series.  I do wish we got a little more of the 'opposites' part of the opposites attract before Darcy and Elle got together.

The Suite Spot - Trish Doller

This is the second book in the Beck Sisters series and follows single mom Rachel as she takes a new job at Mason's budding brewery hotel.  When she arrives with her 3 year old daughter, she is shocked to find that the hotel hasn't been built yet.  She considers leaving, but Mason gives her the choice to stay and help him build the hotel from the ground up.  In need of a fresh start and new surroundings, Rachel accepts and the two start planning blueprints and picking out curtains. Mason and Rachel's relationship starts off a little tense as Rachel reminds him of everything he lost, but soon they both come out of the fogs of their pasts and come together to build something brand new. I really enjoyed this read and how Rachel and Mason's relationship developed. They were so deliberate with getting the timing right that once they gave in, they were both 100% in which I loved.  Rachel and Mason worked incredibly well together and really felt like two halves meeting.  I'm not the biggest fan of kids in books but I thought Rachel's daughter was written well.  There were also some cute small town moments as well which are always a win in my book. My one gripe would be that there were multiple time jumps of about a month each time and I really missed the character and plot development during those times. 

TW/CW: death of a child, sexual assault, suicide

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC

Expected publication date is March 8, 2022

 

Funny Business - Kayley Loring

This is the first book in the Brodie Brothers series and follows stand-up comics Owen and Frankie.  Single dad Owen is going on a month-long tour and needs someone to watch his eight year old son.  Frankie is a struggling comic and writer who just lost another job.  Her uncle is Owen's manager and gives her the chance to be Owen's nanny.  Owen and Frankie don't really get along but Owen's son Sam loves her so the three of them embark on a cross country tour together.  At the beginning, Owen thinks it will be easy to not sleep with the nanny but, as he and Frankie let their guards down, that promise becomes harder to keep.  Frankie and Owen are a perfect match for each other as evidenced by their fantastic banter!  I love how both of them use their comedy to keep a wall, of sorts, up but the perfect person to knock down those walls is another comic. Owen's son is a fantastic straight-man to Owen and Frankie's more outlandish style and I really think the kid stole the show a few times. I love stand-up comedy so getting a workplace-ish romance in that space was really exciting.  While the banter was great, I do think the written stand-up jokes in the story didn't really work for me.  I just personally think stand-up is such a visual and spoken medium that reading it doesn't really do it justice. 

On The Honey Side - Staci Hart

This is the second book in the Blum's Bees series and follows eldest daughter Daisy and brooding construction manager Keaton.  Daisy and Keaton are both attracted to each other, but due to past losses in their lives they've both resigned to not be in a relationship and admire each other from afar.  However, when their small town finds itself in need of a housing solution to the multiple homeless people who have moved into town, Daisy and Keaton end up working side by side.  Meddling family members on both sides push the two reluctant love birds together in what just may be a better match than anyone was expecting.  I really enjoyed this read and it made me go back through my TBR and move up other Staci Hart books.  This was a great small-town romance and I loved how much of the quirky town we got on page. I did enjoy the slightly sinister small town aspects we got as well which I think took this book out of the cutesy small town vibe that I think some readers don't like. I also loved all the familial meddling that was going on.  I do wish that Daisy and Keaton actually talked to each other more, especially once they got into the relationship.  It felt like they were talking with their families about the relationship more than with each other. I think their chemistry was great and I completely believed them as a couple, but I wanted some more heart to heart talks between them.

TW/CW: death of a loved one (both MCs), homelessness