Then She Was Gone

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Mystery

2018

Finished on September 23, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher’s Blurb:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Family Upstairs and None of This Is True comes an “acutely observed family drama” (People) about the lingering aftermath of a young girl’s disappearance.

Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her.

And then she was gone.

Now, her mother, Laurel Mack, is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her youngest child disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters—and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away.

Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie.

Laurel is haunted by her long unanswered questions. What happened to Ellie? Did she run away from home, as the police have long suspected? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?

Then She Was Gone is my first encounter with Lisa Jewell’s mysteries. Divided into five parts, and told from four perspectives, this sinister tale kept me guessing. I truly thought I knew what was going on, but was surprised by some of the revelations at the end of the book. I have to admit that this story made me feel anxious as I read late at night, not really sure I wanted to continue. It’s a story of obsession and deceit. The conclusion was satisfying, so I may give this new-to-me author another read.

The Trap

 

The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard

Mystery

Narrated by John Keating and Alana Kerr Collins

2023

Finished on August 4, 2025

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From award-winning, internationally bestselling crime writer Catherine Ryan Howard comes The Trap: an unsettling mystery inspired by a series of still-unsolved disappearances in Ireland in the nineties, wherein one young woman risks everything to catch a faceless killer.

One year ago, Lucy's sister, Nicki, left to meet friends at a pub in Dublin and never came home. The third Irish woman to vanish inexplicably in as many years, the agony of not knowing what happened that night has turned Lucy's life into a waking nightmare. So, she's going to take matters into her own hands. 

Angela works as a civilian paper-pusher in the Missing Persons Unit, but wants nothing more than to be a fully fledged member of An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. With the official investigation into the missing women stalled, she begins pulling on a thread that could break the case wide open -- and destroy her chances of ever joining the force. A nameless man drives through the night, his latest victim in the back seat. He's going to tell her everything, from the beginning. And soon, she'll realize: what you don't know can hurt you...

Nonlinear timelines and misdirection kept me guessing, and even shaking my head in disbelief, as the final pages drew near. This was my first read of Catherine Ryan Howard's thrillers, and it won't be my last. I enjoyed the audio narration, although the nameless abductor was creepy to listen to as he shared details of his process with one of the victims. It's been years since I've read anything by Mo Hayder, but there is something about The Trap that brought her Jack Caffery thrillers (Birdman, The Treatment, and Gone) to mind. Thankfully, this book didn't give me nightmares! 

Catherine Ryan Howard is an award-winning, no. 1 bestselling thriller writer from Cork, Ireland.

Her work has been shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel, the UK Crime Writers Association John Creasey/New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Awards, and the An Post Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year multiple times. Her novels have been included in the New York Times Best Thrillers of the Year, the Washington Post’s Best Mysteries and Thrillers of the Year and the Sunday Times Best Thrillers of the Year. She is published in 20 languages and a number of her titles have been optioned for screen.

I received a complimentary copy from Libro.fm. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The House in the Pines

 

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

Fiction - Psychological Thriller

2023

Narrated by Marisol Ramirez

Finished on July 17, 2024

Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend's sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed....

Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer.

Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can't account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer--the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.

At her mother's house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father's book that didn't stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank's cabin....

Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.

Here we go again. Maya is an unreliable narrator (ala Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, etc.) who is withdrawing from Klonopin, suffers from insomnia, and drinks far too much. She is certain that her best friend was murdered when they were seniors in high school, and that the man Maya believes is responsible for Aubrey's death has now killed another woman. But there is no evidence that Frank is guilty, and both events are treated as unexplained deaths. Sounds like the perfect set-up for a mystery/thriller, right? It started off with a strong opening, but fizzled about halfway to the end. I understood what was going on well before the main character did, and the ending was a disappointment. 

I listened to the audiobook and the reader's halting narration during the dialogue portions of the audiobook was noticeable and quickly became a distraction. She also failed to distinguish her voice between characters, male or female, so there were times when I wasn't sure who was speaking. Additionally, the transitions between chapters were confusing in this dual timeline narrative, making it difficult to know when a flashback was introduced.

The audiobook held my interest, but the story would make a better TV series than a book, especially if David Tennant (who was super creepy in Jessica Jones) were to play Frank. 

Can't recommend.

I received a complimentary copy from Libro.fm. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Since We Fell

Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane

Fiction - Suspense/Thriller

2017

Finished on February 26, 2024

Rating: 5/5 (Excellent!)

Publisher's Blurb:

Since We Fell follows Rachel Childs, a former journalist who, after an on-air mental breakdown, now lives as a virtual shut-in. In all other respects, however, she enjoys an ideal life with an ideal husband. Until a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon causes that ideal life to fray. As does Rachel’s marriage. As does Rachel herself. Sucked into a conspiracy thick with deception, violence, and possibly madness, Rachel must find the strength within herself to conquer unimaginable fears and mind-altering truths. 

By turns heart-breaking, suspenseful, romantic, and sophisticated, Since We Fell is a novel of profound psychological insight and tension. It is Dennis Lehane at his very best.

Phew! I almost missed out on a great thriller. I've had Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane on my shelves since April 2017! I was working at Barnes & Noble in Lincoln, Nebraska when I brought the ARC home, only to pack it up with the rest of my books, move it to Oregon, unpack it and place it on a shelf where it remained untouched until this month. I don't know why I ignored it for seven years, but had I read the buyer's sell sheet when I first got the ARC, I would have immediately begun reading the book. (I was about to share part of that sell sheet to entice you to read Lehane's page-turner, but this is one to go into cold.)

A word of warning, though. After reading over 50 pages, I considered calling it quits, not really caring about the main character and her quest to find her father. I'm not sure what pushed me to read further, but I did, and truthfully it still took another 100 pages before I was completely sucked into this riveting story, but by that point, I knew I was in for something great. I set the book aside and turned out my reading light, but woke up a few hours later, realizing that I had been trying to solve a part of the mystery in my sleep. I even had an ah-ha moment from my nocturnal sleuthing when I knew that I had figured out the motivation behind one of the characters' actions. In spite of the late hour, I turned my light back on, flipped back through the book to confirm my assumptions, then read for another hour! I know I'm being obtuse, but this is the kind of book that could be completely ruined by the revelation of spoilers. Don't read any reviews if you aren't certain that they're spoiler-free. The twists and turns in the final chapters kept me engrossed and marveling at Lehane's imagination. And, yes, I would love to see this book made into a movie. The intensity of at least a half dozen scenes would be so satisfying to watch on a big screen. Dreamworks optioned the rights, but don't get too excited. That was back in 2015.

I typically knock off half a point if I struggle with the beginning of a book, but the remainder of this one was so entertaining that I'm going with a full 5-star rating. Highly recommend!

The Push

 

The Push by Ashley Audrain

Fiction/Psychological Thriller

2021 Penguin Audio

Narrated by Marin Ireland

Finished on November 25, 2023

Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family--and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for--and everything she feared.

Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter--she doesn't behave like most children do.

Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.

Then their son Sam is born--and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she'd always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.

The Push is a tour de force, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed. 

Oh. My. Gosh. I could not stop listening to this suspenseful book, anxious to find out what was going to happen next. Marin Ireland does a superb job with the audio narration, and I was enthralled with the story. The further along I listened, the more I wondered if this was going to be another Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train. Hearing only her side of the story, could I believe in the reliability of Blythe's account of events? 

Without revealing too much, The Push is a disturbing (and at times sinister) psychological drama, but it's also a smartly told narrative about motherhood (particularly that of a new mom), unconditional parental love, as well as the genetics of mental health, all posing the question of nature vs nurture. This is one to talk about and would make for a terrific book group discussion. Avoiding the usual tropes of this genre, Ashley Audrain knocks it out of the park with her debut novel. I can't wait to read her new book, The Whispers.

A World of Curiosities

 

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #18

Mystery

2022 Minotaur Books

Finished on January 30, 2023

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

Publisher's Blurb:

It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators’ lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt these children beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered, and are they now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long-dead stonemason is discovered. In it, the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir, and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.

Another winner from Louise Penny! Looking back on my previous reviews of her books, I notice that most of her more recent installments in the series have been much more suspenseful than her earlier works. A World of Curiosities is no exception. As Gamache and Beauvoir learn the terrifying news about a notorious serial killer, the tension increases, and I struggled to put the book down at night. I was reminded of the powerful sense of foreboding while watching The Silence of the Lambs, and like Hannibal Lecter, Gamache's sinister nemesis is what nightmares are made of. It's no exaggeration that I was holding my breath while reading the final pages. 

The mystery is well-paced, and the characters (new and recurring) are fully realized. Penny does an excellent job leading her readers down one path, only to turn in a completely different direction, revealing what in reality transpired when one was ready to assume the opposite. While not for the faint of heart, this is an exceptional thriller and one which I'm tempted to quickly read again. (Who isn't tempted to revisit a mystery to see if they missed the obvious clues?)

Highly recommend!

Every Last Lie

 

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica

Thriller

2017 Park Row Books

Finished on September 16, 20

Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author of THE GOOD GIRL, Mary Kubica is back with another exhilarating thriller as a widow's pursuit of the truth leads her to the darkest corners of the psyche.

"The bad man, Daddy. The bad man is after us."

Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon.

Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick's death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out—and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Clara's investigation and Nick's last months leading up to the crash, master of suspense Mary Kubica weaves her most chilling thriller to date—one that explores the dark recesses of a mind plagued by grief and shows that some secrets might be better left buried.

Every Last Lie is another psychological thriller that's been on my shelf for a few years. I received the ARC from the publisher, probably through a giveaway on Goodreads, although I don't remember for certain. I added the book to my list for this year's RIP XV challenge and was excited to dive in as soon as I finished Behind Her Eyes. 

Every Last Lie does not have the annoying internal monologue device that Behind Her Eyes did, nor does the main character have a drinking problem, but Clara and Nick are both unlikeable characters and the narrative is drawn out far too long. I grew impatient with Clara and her paranoid suspicions (not to mention her lack of parenting skills) and felt the ending was weak with far too many loose ends. I'm sorry I wasted my time reading to the very end and I have no intention of reading more by this author.

I read Every Last Lie for the RIP XV Challenge.

Behind Her Eyes

 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Psychological Thriller

2017 Flatiron Books

Finished on September 10, 2020

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Why is everyone talking about the ending of Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes?

Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.

When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.

And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?

As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.

Reminiscent of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, Pinborough's psychological thriller is a compelling and fast-paced novel. The short chapters, narrated in the alternating voices of Louise and Adele, maintain the tension between the main characters and I had a difficult time putting the book down. As noticed in similar domestic thrillers, Pinborough includes not only an unreliable narrator, but one who habitually escapes reality in a bottle of wine. I can overlook these tired tropes, but Louise's internal monologues just about had me throwing the book across the room. Without a literary device of a diary or a trusted best friend, I understand the author's need to communicate a character's thoughts and feelings with these private monologues. What irritates me is that this rapid conveyance of thoughts sounds fake and not at all the way in which we would normally speak to one another. It doesn't ring true and is a distraction to the flow of the story. That said, I wasn't as acutely aware of these monologues in later chapters; they were either less frequent or I became immune to them.

Did the ending live up to all the hype? Yes and no. I raced through the final chapters, unable to stop reading, but that finale. Geez. It's not quite a Sixth Sense or Shutter Island ending, but it definitely took me by surprise, in spite of the need to suspend disbelief on several levels.

Sarah Pinborough won't win any awards for lyrical prose, but she managed to keep me guessing and entertained, in spite of my quibbles. Have you read Behind Her Eyes? Will you watch the upcoming Netflix series? Without leaving spoilers, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I read Behind Her Eyes for the RIP XV Challenge.

The Kind Worth Killing

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

Henry Kimball, #1
Mystery/Thriller
2015 Blackstone Audio
Read by Johnny Heller, Karen White, Kathleen Early, Keith Szarabajka
Finished on June 6, 2020
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A devious tale of psychological suspense involving sex, deception, and an accidental encounter that leads to murder. Fans of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train will love this modern reimagining of Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train from the author of the acclaimed The Girl with a Clock for a Heart—which the Washington Post said “should be a contender for crime fiction’s best first novel of 2014.”

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start—he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit—a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché.

But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.” After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . .

Back in Boston, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda's demise. But there are a few things about Lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth.

Suddenly these co-conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse, one they both cannot survive . . . with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.

After I read Swanson's thriller Her Every Fear a few years ago, several friends suggested I read his early book The Kind Worth Killing. Many of those bloggers said it was better than Her Every Fear and now that I've read this one, I have to agree. I didn't like any of the characters, but thoroughly enjoyed this noir thriller, which is full of twists and turns that kept me guessing up until the very end. The audiobook is well done with a strong performance by four narrators, although there were a couple of times when I wasn't sure if I was hearing from Lily or Miranda's point of view. Other than that one minor complaint, this is a compelling, tautly crafted story. Highly recommend!

A Ladder to the Sky

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
Fiction
2018 Hogarth
Finished on March 30, 2019
Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good!)

Spoiler Note: 

As is my usual practice, I didn't read the publisher's blurb before I began reading this novel. As I typed the blurb for this review, I was glad I hadn't learned some of the subtle details revealed below beforehand. I will keep the blurb for future reference, but you may wish to skip it if you want to be completely surprised by the early details of the narrative. The publisher doesn't give away major, significant details, but there is a bit more than I would have included. Fair warning.

Publisher's Blurb:

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for success. The one thing he doesn't have is talent - but he's not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don't need to be his own.

Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful - but desperately lonely - older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice's first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall...

Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso.

John Boyne did not become a favorite author after I read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, but The Heart's Invisible Furies won me over early last year. When I heard about this new release, I made a mental note to borrow a copy from the library, but as always, other books called for my attention and I forgot all about it. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago, as I was picking up a book for my husband, that I spotted A Ladder to the Sky. Thank goodness I didn't judge this book by its cover! It's one of the least appealing covers I've seen for a novel in a long time. 

But the book. Wow. What a great read! I started and finished the entire 362 pages in about three days, while we were on a camping trip. Granted, we spent a couple of days inside the RV due to the rainy weather, but the book called to me at every waking moment, so I ignored my email, Facebook, Instagram, and Bloglovin and curled up on the couch and read for hours on end. Bliss.

A Ladder to the Sky is divided into three parts, with an interlude between each, and with each new section, the point-of-view shifts from one main character to the next. Characters come and go, but one remains constant throughout the novel. Maurice Swift. It's rare that I enjoy a book so well when the main character is so unlikable and Maurice is one I grew to despise. He is calculating, heartless, ambitious and greedy. One might call him a charlatan or a sociopath, but whatever the label, he was not someone I would care to know.

While one part of the story is predictable, the outcome of that particular event was not. By the time I had finished the book, I was tempted to download the audio version and listen to it right away! This is one I will read again and recommend highly. 

On a final note, as I read this addictive, psychological thriller, I found myself comparing Maurice to Tom Ripley. Wow. Now glancing at the review blurbs on Amazon, I see I'm not the only one who felt this way. 

“Maurice Swift may not be much of a novelist, but he inhabits a literary tradition going to back to Patricia Highsmith. Boyne’s protagonist is Tom Ripley as literary climber... Boyne’s novel is about high literature but has lower, juicier ambitions, at which it wildly succeeds.”– Vulture

"For Patricia Highsmith fans, thriller aficionados, writers, publishers, literary wannabees, scoundrel sympathizers, John Boyne offers the perfect entertainment for dark winter days." – Boston Globe

"A Talented Mr. Ripley-esque novel of greed and deceit." – New York Post

“John Boyne’s new novel charts the rise and fall of an antihero cut from the same cloth as Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley…. Darkly comic and deliciously vicious, this mesmerizing portrait of a ruthless psychopath explores artistic endeavor, creative ambition and ‘whether our stories belong to us at all.’” – Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A Ladder to the Sky is clever, chilling and beautifully paced; a study of inner corrosion that Patricia Highsmith herself could not have done better... wickedly astute." –The Times (London)

"Maurice Swift is a literary Tom Ripley . . . a first-class page turner." –The Guardian

It's been a long time since I watched The Talented Mr. Ripley, but now I'm eager to watch the movie or read the book.

The Woman in the Window

UPDATE:

Just learned about this upcoming movie release. Should be very good with that great cast!

Release Date: October 4, 2019
Based On: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Fred Hechinger, Anthony Mackie
Synopsis: Anna Fox is an agoraphobic child psychologist who hasn’t left her home in 10 months. Her only view of outside world is via her window, through which she begins to watch her new neighbors, the Russells. Anna witnesses a crime while spying on her neighbors, leaving her with the decision of whether or not to alert the police.

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Thriller
2018 William Morrow
Finished on March 26, 2018
Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good!)

Publisher's Blurb:

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

WOW! If I hadn't been so distracted with travel plans, I could have easily curled up with this psychological thriller and read it from cover to cover in a single day. I love this sort of mystery/thriller and I can even overlook the overdone "main character who drinks at least two bottles of wine a day, plus self-medicates with a variety of pills, and may or may not be a reliable narrator," as we've seen in so many of these books since Gone Girl and Girl on the Train. The Woman in the Window is a great psychological thriller, although I figured things out early on. Maybe that's what made it so good; in spite of my sleuthing abilities, which proved me correct, I still couldn't put the book down! I will be on the lookout for more by A.J. Finn.

The Breakdown

The Breakdown by B. A. Paris
Thriller
2017 MacMillan Audio
Read by Georgia Maguire
Finished on December 6, 2017
Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

On a rainy night, Cass takes the shortcut home through the woods, even though her husband has warned that it could be dangerous. With just minutes left until she's at their house, she sees a car stopped on the side of the road with a woman sitting alone inside. Has the car broken-down? Does she need help? Cass waits for a moment, but as the rain crashes down, she soon continues on.

When the news reports the next morning that a woman was killed in the woods, Cass can't stop thinking about it. Pained by guilt, she has been forgetting everything: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code to the house. What she can't forget is the woman she might have saved... and that maybe the killer saw her. Then the silent phone calls start, and the feeling that someone is watching her...

I started reading this in print and was so annoyed with the mediocre writing, I quickly set it aside. Since I loved listening to the author's debut thriller (Behind Closed Doors), I decided to try this one on audio, as well. I was instantly hooked. Maguire is an excellent reader, which helped keep me interested in this predictable psychological thriller. Overall, I enjoyed the book but it wasn't nearly as good as Behind Closed Doors. I'm not sure I'll bother with her latest release (Bring Me Back) unless I start hearing rave reviews. 

Her Every Fear

Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
Thriller
2017 William Morrow
Finished on December 29, 2016
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The author of the wildly popular The Kind Worth Killing returns with an electrifying and downright Hitchcockian psychological thriller—as tantalizing as the cinema classics Rear Window and Wait Until Dark—involving a young woman caught in a vise of voyeurism, betrayal, manipulation, and murder.

The danger isn’t all in your head . . .

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life.

But soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London.

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves . . . until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment—and accidently learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? And what about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jetlagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself . . . So how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?

Yet the danger Kate imagines isn’t nearly as twisted and deadly as what’s about to happen. When her every fear becomes very real.

And much, much closer than she thinks.

Told from multiple points of view, Her Every Fear is a scintillating, edgy novel rich with Peter Swanson’s chilling insight into the darkest corners of the human psyche and virtuosic skill for plotting that has propelled him to the highest ranks of suspense, in the tradition of such greats as Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, Patricia Highsmith, and James M. Cain.

Note: I drafted this post quite a long time ago and since I like to keep the book reviews in order of when I read them, I am just now ready to publish it! Nah, I'll never get caught up, but who really cares, right?

As I say every year, December is not a very good month for reading. Christmas always seems to sneak up on me and with my busy work schedule and all the holiday preparations, I have a hard time settling down in the evening to relax with a book. Mysteries and thrillers work best at holding my attention, so when it was time to pack for our trip to Oregon, that's exactly what I needed to have in my carry-on bag. I wanted a book that would pull me in from the opening lines and have me on the edge of my seat until we landed. I've overcome my fear of flying over the years, but I still need something to entertain me for the long flights to the coast. Her Every Fear was just the ticket!

I started the book on our Christmas Day flight and was immediately engrossed in the plot (so much so, that I found myself dreaming about the characters and their dilemmas!). I've never read anything by Peter Swanson, but when I saw that he's the author of The Kind Worth Killing (which several bloggers mentioned after I finished Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris), I was eager to give his new book a try. Her Every Fear is very suspenseful and not at all convoluted (as a lot of thrillers tend to be) and Swanson kept me guessing. The grand finale was somewhat anticlimactic, but I was probably expecting a twist that wasn't necessary.

Final Thoughts:

Peter Swanson has a new fan! I can't wait to read The Kind Worth Killing.

Her

Her by Harriet Lane
Fiction
2015 Little, Brown and Company
Finished on May 30, 2016
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

You don't remember her--but she remembers you.

On the face of it, Emma and Nina have very little in common. Isolated and exhausted by early motherhood, Emma finds her confidence fading fast. Nina--sophisticated, generous, effortlessly in control--seems to have all the answers.

It's easy to see why Emma is drawn to Nina. But what does Nina see in her?

A seemingly innocent friendship slowly develops into a dangerous game of cat and mouse as Nina eases her way into Emma's life. Soon it becomes clear that Nina wants something from the unwitting Emma--something that might just destroy her.


Now that five months have passed, I'm tempted to drop my rating to just three stars. I had to re-read the final chapter to refresh my memory of the details of the conclusion and why I was so irritated when I finished the book. As I said on Goodreads, I would have thrown this book across the room when I read the final page, had it not been 3 a.m. It was definitely not the ending I was expecting! However, I was sucked in from the opening pages and couldn't stop reading long into the subsequent nights.

Final Thoughts:

This page-turner is one that you'll either love or hate. It's been compared to The Girl on the Train, with its sinister, ambiguous finale, but I didn't care for it quite as much as Paula Hawkin's debut hit. It's a compulsively readable story and perfectly paced, but nonetheless, a disappointment. Maybe that's not fair, though. Maybe my distaste is in the individual's actions rather than the book itself. And thus, my 4/5 rating. Not a keeper, though.

Note: 

I did find some of the British vocabulary a bit confusing, resorting to Google for clarification. For example, plane leaves are sycamore leaves; E-numbers are European food additive codes.